Payroll administrator vs senior payroll specialist

The differences between payroll administrators and senior payroll specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a payroll administrator and a senior payroll specialist. Additionally, a senior payroll specialist has an average salary of $59,503, which is higher than the $46,596 average annual salary of a payroll administrator.

The top three skills for a payroll administrator include customer service, data entry and payroll system. The most important skills for a senior payroll specialist are peoplesoft, payroll data, and reconciliations.

Payroll administrator vs senior payroll specialist overview

	Payroll Administrator	Senior Payroll Specialist
Yearly salary	$46,596	$59,503
Hourly rate	$22.40	$28.61
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	55,490	6,310
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

What does a payroll administrator do?

A payroll administrator is responsible for processing the wages of employees in a company or organization. Aside from issuing payments, it is also the payroll administrator's task to audit, process taxes and other deductions, keep and maintain an organized record of data, respond to inquiries and resolve issues, and tally employee work hours. Furthermore, a payroll administrator needs to have efficient attention to detail as most of the tasks require accuracy and speed. It is also essential to communicate and coordinate with team members at all times.

What does a senior payroll specialist do?

Senior payroll specialists are professionals who are responsible for calculating the wages of employees of an organization accurately. These specialists are required to analyze and verify payroll reports and documents for accuracy while making the necessary corrections through journal entries or other established procedures. They must authorize and review payroll transactions as well as complete appropriate forms to adjust salary account funds. Senior payroll specialists must also conduct training sessions for other payroll professionals to explain information regarding payroll policies and procedures.

Payroll administrator vs senior payroll specialist salary

Payroll administrators and senior payroll specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Payroll Administrator	Senior Payroll Specialist
Average salary	$46,596	$59,503
Salary range	Between $33,000 And $64,000	Between $42,000 And $82,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Maine	New Jersey
Best paying company	Northern Trust	MongoDB
Best paying industry	Construction	Technology

Differences between payroll administrator and senior payroll specialist education

There are a few differences between a payroll administrator and a senior payroll specialist in terms of educational background:

	Payroll Administrator	Senior Payroll Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Payroll administrator vs senior payroll specialist demographics

Here are the differences between payroll administrators' and senior payroll specialists' demographics:

	Payroll Administrator	Senior Payroll Specialist
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 16.0% Female, 84.0%	Male, 23.2% Female, 76.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.1% Asian, 6.2% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5%	Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 6.0% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between payroll administrator and senior payroll specialist duties and responsibilities

Payroll administrator example responsibilities.

Manage year-end W2 audit/corrections and distribution.
Manage employee direct deposit accounts and initiate ACH reversals when necessary.
Manage all requisitions using PeopleSoft for the administrator and all assign departments.
Maintain KRONOS timekeeping system, review, sort and distribute employee upload file and multiple misc.
Maintain and monitor PTO balances and provide executive reports relate to vacation accruals.
Assist in implementing and training of MyTime and Lawson systems.

Senior payroll specialist example responsibilities.

Manage payroll imports into and out of HRIS, including master file and pay data additions and changes.
Update the maintenance of all job-relate records in the KRONOS timekeeping system, for all employees.
Perform thorough analysis of UltiPro timekeeping system prior to uploading to the payroll system on a biweekly basis.
Process payroll using ADP/ KRONOS for multiple companies.
Load pay changes for pay period into UltiPro.
Process regular wages, overtime wages, PTO, tips and toke incomes, etc.

Payroll administrator vs senior payroll specialist skills

Common payroll administrator skills

Customer Service, 9%
Data Entry, 7%
Payroll System, 6%
Human Resources, 5%
Payroll Data, 4%
Process Payroll, 4%

Common senior payroll specialist skills

PeopleSoft, 15%
Payroll Data, 5%
Reconciliations, 4%
HRIS, 4%
ADP Workforce, 3%
Data Entry, 3%

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Payroll Administrator vs Senior Payroll Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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