Payroll supervisor vs senior payroll specialist

The differences between payroll supervisors 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 supervisor and a senior payroll specialist. Additionally, a payroll supervisor has an average salary of $64,422, which is higher than the $59,503 average annual salary of a senior payroll specialist.

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

Payroll supervisor vs senior payroll specialist overview

	Payroll Supervisor	Senior Payroll Specialist
Yearly salary	$64,422	$59,503
Hourly rate	$30.97	$28.61
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	6,668	6,310
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

What does a payroll supervisor do?

A payroll supervisor ensures employee salaries are released in a timely manner and accounts for all payrolls and cash released by the company. The payroll supervisor organizes all financial transactions and generates reports for accounting. This position ensures employees are paid accurately and calculates all deductibles such as insurance, child support, taxes, and payroll adjustments. The payroll supervisor must have accounting and bookkeeping skills and has pertinent experience in relevant fields of study.

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 supervisor vs senior payroll specialist salary

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

	Payroll Supervisor	Senior Payroll Specialist
Average salary	$64,422	$59,503
Salary range	Between $46,000 And $89,000	Between $42,000 And $82,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New Jersey
Best paying company	eBay	MongoDB
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between payroll supervisor and senior payroll specialist education

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

	Payroll Supervisor	Senior Payroll Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Accounting	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Payroll supervisor vs senior payroll specialist demographics

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

	Payroll Supervisor	Senior Payroll Specialist
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 21.3% Female, 78.7%	Male, 23.2% Female, 76.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Asian, 6.0% White, 58.2% 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 supervisor and senior payroll specialist duties and responsibilities

Payroll supervisor example responsibilities.

Manage the administration and processing of KRONOS time reporting system.
Manage installation of automate timekeeping systems in facilities, ensuring accurate, timely processing of time and attendance information.
Act as the HRIS backup running queries and reports as scheduled and upon request via PeopleSoft for management and key stakeholders.
Create journal entries and account reconciliations for key benefit programs and maintain account reconciliations of liability accounts.
Assist in implementing new PTO plan, work with ADP to interface system.
Check all new hire information, ensuring accuracy of information complete in KRONOS system.

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 supervisor vs senior payroll specialist skills

Common payroll supervisor skills

Customer Service, 9%
Payroll System, 6%
Payroll Tax, 5%
Reconciliations, 5%
Human Resources, 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 Supervisor vs Senior Payroll Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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