Payroll Manager

Job purpose:

To manage various different payrolls (SAP & PaySpace) for various Operating Companies within a group, with a total headcount of approximately 6000 employees; differentiating between permanent and contract or fixed term staff. Ensure that an effective and efficient payroll management system is provided to the various countries.

To execute and manage the accurate and timely implementation of the end-to-end Payroll process and ensure adherence and compliance to established company Payroll standards, processes, and procedures, and in country legislation.

Engage with In-country Finance Lead and manage payroll sign-off, approvals and payments.

Duties and responsibilities

1. Payroll governance

Develop the policies, procedures and standards related to Payroll, in line with all relevant procedural/legislative requirements and the overarching business strategy.

Remain current on new legislation and regulatory rulings influencing payroll and reporting requirements.

Enforce adherence to requirements and advise management on required actions.

Evaluate and analyse existing payroll policies and procedures; draft, propose and implement changes and/or quality control measures leading to best practice operations.

Sets objectives, prioritizes workload, and develops and recommends changes in policies, procedures, and methods. These tasks ensure proper control, improvement, and efficiency of the businesss payroll function.

Drive the development and adoption of relevant payroll systems including payroll delivery, vendor management and development of service level agreements metrics to meet business needs and ensure end-to-end controls for payroll.

Lead the design, implementation and operational delivery of standardised payroll tools and maintain oversight over systems and relevant off-the-shelf modular updates, to enable continuous improvement of

Payroll business processes

2. Payroll processing:

Manage workflow to ensure all payroll transactions are processed accurately and timeously, whilst ensuring that procedures are in place to provide strong internal controls ensuring good governance in the payroll.

Assisting in processing of payrolls in South Africa as well as the rest of Africa to ensure timely and accurate payment to staff as well as to submit the necessary legislative returns

Oversee the submission of the monthly payroll run and lead the provision of the required consolidated reports to Finance, ensuring that all measures are taken to safeguard the confidentiality of pay information and that all statutory obligations (PAYE etc.) are met timeously.

Preparation and verification of the businesss payroll data for the purpose of ensuring accurate and timely payments for employees.

Oversee the management of payroll processes including the calculation, deductions, and payments of salaries, to identify bottle necks and inefficiencies and provide solutions for continuous improvement.

Oversee the revision of monthly entries on the system against approved documents, as well as verification of end of service notifications and fulfil final settlement procedures, as per the delegation of authority matrix.

Manage all operations of the payroll function by ensuring that work processes are implemented as designed, established standards and procedures are complied with, and targets and objectives are met.

1. Reporting:

Balance and reconcile payroll related payments and deductions to reports produced via the Payroll systems prior to transmission in order to validate confirmed reports.

Timely review and sign off on all required payroll and tax reconciliations.

Prepare and submit legislative returns , in conjunction with In Country Finance representative.

Prepare accurately and timely reports as required by the Finance and HC Departments

Carry out self-audits on the master payroll schedule Check Bank Control Account reconciliations.

Reconciliation and submission of Employee benefits. Manage the interface of Employee benefits with the outsource service provider. Ensure reconciliations are done to match the records of the third parties.

Drive the analysis of payroll data for trends, drivers and performance results against industry benchmarks and facilitate the delivery of payroll initiatives and special projects to augment service delivery and improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Ensures accuracy and completeness of data in master files and various support tools.

Track and monitor the replication of data across HR and other IT platforms, as well as other HR API integrations.

Attend to errors and red flags on replication and API error reports.

Prepare and distribute TAX certificates each year.

3. Stakeholder Management

Build and manage relationships with Heads of operating companies across the Group (South Africa and International).

Participate as a member of the Global Services leadership team, and partner with broader HC Community.

Work closely with the HC Operations to ensure month-end payroll processes run in a timeous manner and in accordance with applicable PAYE legislation.

Oversee of all outsourced payroll providers and ensure that they routinely document and update all of the businesss payroll procedures in line with the scope of the outsource service agreement.

Collaborate with Reward and the wider HR Operations team to integrate specialised technological, digital and data solutions that enable a seamless transactional and operational Payroll service delivery, across the business.

Liaise with appointed internal auditors and maintain oversight and involvement in payroll tax audits to ensure the company has been fully tax compliant from a SARS perspective as well as in country tax regulator perspective.

Prepare and manage the budget related to Payroll by ensuring that adequate provision is made for all activities and related initiatives; monitor and control expenditure against the approved budget and reconcile budget variances to deliver on-target performance against budget.

Engage with In-country Finance Lead and manage payroll sign-off, approvals and payment

4. Budget Management

Assist Global Services Leadership team in managing day to day and strategic project budgets.

Monitor and get necessary approvals for expense items including developing budget proposals, justifying expenses and monitoring accounts.

5. Leadership:

Lead the recruitment, induction and development of subordinates to ensure alignment.

Develop performance contracts for direct subordinates and conduct performance reviews to measure performance against agreed objectives and identify developmental needs.

Manage the administration of direct reports through the approval of leave and travel expenses.

Monitor the provision of adequate resources available for HC Payroll team, to enable optimal

performance.

Provide guidance, coaching, mentoring and advice to subordinates.

Address team dynamics in accordance with HC policy and procedures.

Conduct regular scheduled team meetings to discuss updates, process improvements, process changes, and other issues affecting the team.

Monitor compliance to company policies and the required codes of conduct, ethics etc.

Develop and implement training initiatives for staff to build and develop skills within the team.

Develop and implement strong culture, well-being and flexible working practices.

Provide leadership and direction to the team to drive a high-performance culture.

Qualification and experience:

3 Year Degree / Diploma (NQF 7) in Finance / Accounting / Economics / Business Analytics

Certified Payroll Administration Practitioner (SAPA)

SAP Cert HCM - Human Capital Management (advantageous)

8 years experience in Payroll / Finance / Accounting environment, of which at least 2 years should at Supervisor/Specialist level.

Engagement with diverse, external international stakeholders in managing legislative risk

Experience in working across a broad spectrum of industries from white collar to unionised environments

Salary - R1.3 - R1.7 mill pa CTC