What Skills does a Payroll Manager Need - CareerAlley

What Skills does a Payroll Manager Need - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. While Payroll Manager may not be the most glamorous of job titles, its an interesting role that requires a good balance of skills, and so great for people who enjoy both working with numbers and working with people. As the person in charge of getting the salaries right you play an absolutely vital role both in the success of your organisation and in the wellbeing of your colleagues. Career path Many Payroll Managers start as payroll Administrators and simply work their way up the chain. If thats the way you want to do it you will need some GCSEs or equivalent, including maths, but there will be no need for further qualifications: you can do your training on the job. Others start at managerial level, often having come from another kind of managerial or accounting position. It is rarer to come in to Payroll Management straight from education, but it does happen. Qualifications Payroll Management is not a career where any particular qualification is essential. However, NVQs/SVQs in Payroll Administration are available and can be a great way to kick-start your career. If you get one of these qualifications you will automatically become an affiliate of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT). There are also further qualifications you can get once youve started. The Institute of Payroll and Pensions Management (IPPM) provide several of them, so see their website for more details. More general management qualifications may also be useful. Numeracy You will need decent mathematical skills to be a successful payroll manager, but they dont need to be at a particularly high level. You do not, for example, need a maths degree. Its more important to have a general aptitude for working with numbers. Customer focus Most careers in the modern world involve a strong focus on the needs and requirements of your customers, but this is true of Payroll Management more than most. Delivering through other people A Payroll Manager is a manager before anything else, and managers manage people. You will need to be able to build up a good rapport with your staff, develop an instinct for when its good to get involved and when its better to stand back. You will deliver results not (just) by doing the work yourself but by motivating and enabling others to do it. These are skills that can only be developed by practice, in either a work or voluntary capacity. However, if it sounds like an exciting challenge to you, you may be well suited to management. Information Technology (IT) Specialist payroll software is right at the heart of the business of Payroll Management, and so it is not a career for technophobes. You will need to develop proficiency with the systems your organisation uses. It doesnt necessarily matter whether IT comes naturally to you, but if it doesnt you will need to be persistent in learning. Attention to detail Are you a big picture person or a little details person? As a Payroll Manager you will need to be a bit of both, but the latter of the two is more significant. You will need to be meticulously accurate in everything you do because little mistakes can mean big problems for your organisation. BIO: This is a guest post on behalf of small business software experts IRIS. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Visit me on Facebook