Question

Explore how much of an impact payroll is on the overall liabilities for an organization and if payroll is becoming excessive in the eyes of an accountant, how do you handle those topics with the leadership team?Explore how much of an impact payroll is on the overall liabilities for an organization and if payroll is becoming excessive in the eyes of an accountant, how do you handle those topics with the leadership team?

Answer 1

1. Payroll as a cost has a significant impact on the PnL of any company and obviously the liability to pay salaries to staff is with the management.

2. Generally, Payroll checks or paychecks are made by the Accountant for distribution to the entire staff monthly and hence the Accountant is privy to those salary numbers. It is not only the Accountant but also the Accounts team who are aware of the salaries of other individuals.

3. This does cause a greater amount of say disgruntlement within the accounts team or the Accountant.

4. To deal with this issue >>> (a) First is at the time of recruitment, we need to take extra care about the choice of persons recruited for this position. This accountant needs to be matured, qualified, socially amiable person and well informed of the industry salary scales.

5. As far as involving the Leadership team, my view is only if the Finance or Accounts Department head is not able to solve this issue should the leadership team be involved.

6. More advanced step is  training given to Accounts Team to maintain confidentiality.

7. we can get the MD / CEO or other BU Heads to have a frank discussion with the Accountant / Accounts team of how to handle this sensitive issue.