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.
Senior payroll specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior payroll specialist resumes:
- 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.
- Research and updating of all payroll maintenance; PTO (paid time off) eligibility and set up.
- Process, audit, analyze and review timekeeping, payroll and benefit deductions make on a biweekly basis.
- Search and send data for registration to ADP of new jurisdictions to be setup as per payroll reports generate from PeopleSoft.
- Work on various HRIS projects including, but not limit to, tax updates, system updates, and system migrations.
- Maintain & process payroll records & reports for accounting of salary/wages due, accruals, deductions and other payroll relate duties.
- Balance and reconcile timekeeping records.
- Conduct periodic reconciliations of accounts to ensure accuracy.
- Provide accruals to plant division leadership for budget reconciliation.
- Reconcile payroll prior to final calculation, processing, and validate confirm reports
Senior payroll specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Senior Payroll Specialists are proficient in PeopleSoft, Payroll Data, and Reconciliations. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Math skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Payroll Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- PeopleSoft, 15%
Assisted business integration team with developed testing PeopleSoft GL interface, taxes and benefits
- Payroll Data, 5%
Gathered and verified all required payroll data and customer information to ensure accurate processing of payroll.
- Reconciliations, 4%
Developed a new process for controlling the completion of reconciliations including the appropriateness and timeliness of such reconciliations.
- HRIS, 4%
Worked on various HRIS projects including, but not limited to, tax updates, system updates, and system migrations.
- ADP Workforce, 3%
Processed various payroll reports for each payroll as well as developing custom reports in ADP Workforce Now reporting.
- Data Entry, 3%
Processed payroll for 100+ companies tax administration, heavy data entry and customer service via telephone Problem resolution
"peoplesoft," "payroll data," and "reconciliations" are among the most common skills that senior payroll specialists use at work. You can find even more senior payroll specialist responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior payroll specialist to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "financial clerks should be able to explain policies and procedures to colleagues and customers." Senior payroll specialists often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "assisted the director of payroll with the communication and adherence to the dstrict's payroll policies and procedures. "
Math skills. Many senior payroll specialist duties rely on math skills. "the job duties of financial clerks includes calculating charges and updating financial records.," so a senior payroll specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways senior payroll specialist responsibilities rely on math skills: "compiled productivity statistics, conducted payroll system and employee research, and provided query support for field operations. "
Organizational skills. This is an important skill for senior payroll specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how senior payroll specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "financial clerks must be able to arrange files so they can find them quickly and efficiently." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior payroll specialist: "provided excellent customer service throughout the organizational process".
The three companies that hire the most senior payroll specialists are:
- Deloitte97 senior payroll specialists jobs
- SS&C Technologies37 senior payroll specialists jobs
- Advent Software
31 senior payroll specialists jobs
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Compare different senior payroll specialists
Senior payroll specialist vs. Commission clerk
A Timekeeper works in various industries and organizations and is typically hired as the acting liaison between payroll coordinators and employees. This is to make sure the pay distribution process runs smoothly. As a timekeeper, you will be required to maintain an accurate track of the total number of hours worked for payroll purposes. This involves compiling payroll data from timesheets, computing wages, including the removal of taxes and social security withholding, and putting it into the computer system.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior payroll specialists and commission clerk. For instance, senior payroll specialist responsibilities require skills such as "peoplesoft," "payroll data," "reconciliations," and "hris." Whereas a commission clerk is skilled in "planning commission," "legal notices," "commission payments," and "word processing." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, commission clerks reach similar levels of education than senior payroll specialists. Commission clerks are 1.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior payroll specialist vs. Timekeeper
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior payroll specialist responsibilities requires skills like "peoplesoft," "reconciliations," "hris," and "adp workforce." But a timekeeper might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "human resources," "per diem," "turnaround," and "purchase orders."
Timekeepers earn similar levels of education than senior payroll specialists in general. They're 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior payroll specialist vs. Benefits clerk
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior payroll specialists are more likely to have skills like "payroll data," "reconciliations," "adp workforce," and "multi-state payroll." But a benefits clerk is more likely to have skills like "payroll system," "open enrollment," "cobra," and "human resources."
Benefits clerks earn the highest salary when working in the government industry, where they receive an average salary of $40,253. Comparatively, senior payroll specialists have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $67,284.When it comes to education, benefits clerks tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior payroll specialists. In fact, they're 1.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior payroll specialist vs. Paymaster
Types of senior payroll specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
