It pays to go to school

College students getting a formal education in the industry represent the new face of payroll

The payroll process has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past two decades. 

Long gone are the days when skilled bookkeepers would calculate paid hours, deductions, taxes, absences and everything else involved for weekly, bi-monthly or monthly payroll for an entire company and then issue the actual cheques or put money in pay envelopes. 

Today, those bookkeepers have evolved into multidisciplinary professionals who need to understand, and often be experts in, accounting, taxation, compliance and legislative issues, labour relations, HR practices, computer software and even people management.

“The last economic downturn highlighted the business need for data around human capital expenses, labour costs and other decision-support metrics,” says Dave McIninch, vice-president of marketing at ADP Canada, a provider of business outsourcing solutions, including payroll services.  “Payroll professionals need to be at the forefront of this trend with the ability to gather, track and analyze this type of data.” 

Meredith Delaney, program co-ordinator for Seneca College’s accounting and payroll program agrees.

 “Unless they’re with a very large organization, most payroll professionals don’t just do payroll all day,” she says. “They usually spend between 30 to 40 per cent of their time on payroll and the rest on accounting, administrative or HR functions. They need a wide range of skills.”

As a result, the next generation of payroll professionals is looking to colleges to help prepare them for the workforce. 

Seneca College and Centennial College, both based in Toronto, are two of the schools that have created comprehensive payroll programs for those wanting to enter the profession and those seeking to upgrade their existing payroll designations. Both have full-time and continuing education programs.

Seneca offers accounting and payroll, a four-semester diploma program that teaches the fundamentals of payroll, accounting, human resources and business.

Students have the option to apply for a co-op option where they spend an additional semester working in the field.
All graduates enter the workforce with a Payroll Compliance Practitioner Certification (PCP) and three of five required credits towards the Certified Payroll Manager Certification (CPM) with the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA).

A post-graduate CPM program is available through the college’s continuing education division that requires two years of work experience in payroll.

“Payroll was not my first choice,” says accounting and payroll student Amit Bitnan. “I’d enrolled in the accounting program but quickly fell in love with payroll. I love math and analyzing figures and I’m also really interested in law — I was fascinated by the legislation behind all the payroll requirements — so the payroll program combined my two great interests.”

She switched her focus to payroll after the first semester and is now just a few credits shy of graduating.

“It’s an amazing, amazing program,” she says. “The variety of courses required really opened my eyes to how much is involved in administering payroll. Of course accounting is extremely important, but so is an understanding of compliance and how compensation programs are designed.  And I was learning from people who had worked in the field for many years so they knew their subjects inside out.”

One of those instructors is Nav Gill, who combines a full-time job as a payroll manager with teaching one-half day a week. She helped get the Seneca program on its feet four years ago.

“The program was created by an advisory committee that included accounting firms, the CPA and Canada Revenue Agency. I worked with Seneca’s program co-ordinator to iron out all the kinks,” she says. “Payroll continues to get more and more complicated, so businesses need payroll practitioners who can stay abreast of legislative and technological changes and who possess broad business knowledge.”

Both colleges also require payroll students to spend an entire semester mastering some of the payroll software used in the industry — a huge advantage for employers because graduates require little on-the-job training and are able to step directly into a payroll role.

“For ADP as a solutions provider, these graduates are delivering tremendous value not just to the organization, but to our clients who trust us to be an authority on all matters related to HR, payroll and benefits,” says McIninch. “Proactive payroll graduates will move beyond data entry to a role that assists with business growth and decision-making as it relates to human capital.”

Centennial, like Seneca, also has several options that include a standalone payroll administrator course that’s an elective for HR management and accounting students, a full-time two-semester payroll management program and two post-grad certificate courses —a Payroll Compliance Practitioner program and Certified Payroll Manager program.

The latter requires students to have three years experience in the payroll industry. 

All these new payroll courses and programs are proving popular with the younger generation.

“A lot of our students sign up for our payroll management program because a payroll career offers stability and opportunities,” says Centennial College payroll management professor Alan Dryden, who has more than 30 years experience working in financial and senior management roles  “Every organization needs someone to oversee the payroll process —whether it’s outsourced or not. And payroll skills are transferable and flexible. Our graduates can work in virtually any sector.” 

Dryden adds that because payroll is such a stable career, people tend to stay in the profession.

“Taking a post-secondary payroll program is, for many students, a fast-track to a career,” adds Delaney.

“Grads are armed with an Ontario College Diploma, a designation from the CPA and hands-on experience in a variety of computer systems used in the industry. They’re ready to hit the ground running.”

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