Provision Of Effective And Efficient Administration

1. Executive Summary

This project takes a deep intuition into the pay methods and pays distribution arrangements, types of audit, management, design and distribution of payroll outputs in Bury PayPlan team and also explains total quality management in the entire organization (NGA Human Resources). This project describes how these things implement in to the current Live Operations phase effectively and efficiently.

The objective of the study is to describe the effective and efficient management of Bury Payplan and the procedures which follow to assure the quality of service and the methods to improve quality of services.

Generic information, if any, has been sourced from relevant books or online and has been mentioned in the reference or bibliography and any information specific to the program is in my own words and I conform to the authenticity of the same.

2. Introduction

ABOUT MY COMPANY – WHAT NGA DO AND WHAT NGA STAND FOR
NorthgateArinso (NGA) is a market-leading global Human Resources services provider offering innovative HR business solutions through HR Technology, HR Outsourcing (HR BPO), and HR Consulting. NGA help employers improve the quality and optimize the cost of HR services, resulting in increased business agility. Our 8,500 employees are dedicated to delivering excellence through HR consulting, HR outsourcing and HR technology. As a recognized global HR services leader, NGA have offices in 35 countries on five continents, supporting customers in more than 100 countries. More company details can be found in our corporate fact sheet. NGA FACTS & FIGURES

1,000 multinational enterprise customers
2,700 large and medium enterprise customers
7,000 small and medium customers

Ref: http://www.ngahr.com/

ABOUT MY PROCESS – THE WAY NGA RUN OUR PAYROLL BUSINESS

Bury PayPlan undertakes payroll activities and has its onshore base in Bury. The process has since been migrated to Kochi office.

In Kochi the payrolls were migrated from Star to PayPlan and the activity was called Project Phoenix. This activity was completed by end of July.

In Kochi the team is headed by a Group Leader with a team leader, 3 senior associates and 14 associates.

Please find the team structure chart in the Appendix – 1.0

This payroll process for the financial year ideally goes through a calendar which details the input receive deadline and the payment date amongst other important dates for every payroll period – weekly/Fortnightly/Lunar or monthly.

Process flow is mentioned below

Receiving Inputs from Client
Processing Inputs
Auditing of Inputs
Calculation Of payroll
Send Preview Reports to client
Process the Amendments received from client after preview
Auditing Amendments
Resend Preview Report to Client
Receive approval from client
Finalisation of Payroll
Send Copy payslip to Internal and External Bodies
After Pay date run Backup reports
Roll forwarded payroll to next period

3. Main Text

Bury Payplan team was facing several issues at the time of its transition and migration and now the process is in stabilised stage. Effective and efficient administration plays an important role in the stabilisation of Bury Payplan. 1) Pay methods and pay distribution arrangements

Most of the Bury Payplan clients choosing BACS payment method and some of our clients are interested to pay their employees via Cheque. To ensure on time processing and output delivery NGA have implemented a schedule which is known as Master Schedule. Which consist of Name and reference of payrolls, Frequency of payrolls, Pay Method, Pay date, Payroll Input due date, Preview Date, Preview cutoff date, Payroll Final report due date , BACS submission date and current status of payroll(Process pending, processing, processed, audit pending, auditing, audited, input awaiting, query to client). NGA give different colours for each payroll status this help NGA to identify the payroll status easily. To ensure on time processing of BACS NGA create another spread sheet called BACS control sheet for BACS clients, which includes BACS transmission date, BACS processing date and pay date. Both the schedule help NGA to process the payroll and pay the employees on time and this ensure 100% Turn Around Time (TAT) for all payrolls. NGA sending each client’s forthcoming period’s schedule along with their payroll output therefore our clients also aware about their schedule for each pay period. NGA reduce the number of errors and TAT miss by implementing master schedule and BACS control sheet.

NGA receiving inputs from the employers via e mail; NGA have a list of authorised persons for each payroll. While receiving input NGA will cross check that whether the inputs receive from authorised person or not. The employers decide the pay rate, pay frequency and pay method for their employees as per the contract with employees.

Please find the sample of Master Schedule for Bury Payplan in the Appendix -1.1 2) Audit

To reduce errors and increase quality NGA conduct auditing for all payrolls. For high profile fully managed clients onshore also double check the payrolls after processing and before generating reports to clients. For audit purpose NGA implement a checklist called audit checklist, which ensure that NGA following each steps in auditing without any failure. Letters for new appointments, leavers, changes in contracts, time sheets, forms covering deductions from pay including HMRC notices such as income tax codes, copies of output, which include pay advice slips, payroll summaries, control sheets etc. are required for an audit purpose. NGA using following output reports for auditing purpose

Diagnostic Warning Report
Diagnostic error Report
NI Diagnostic Report
Net Pay Exception Report
Copy Payslips
Payroll Analysis Report

Diagnostic Warning Report shows warnings related to NI Number error, department code, occupation code, bank sort code, leave reason, negative values, name and address fields, post code, employee status, invalid birth date and start date, negative taxable pay, tax YTD and warnings related to NI deferment. Diagnostic error reports help to identify employment status, whether the employee is suspended, excluded, paid or repaid. NI Diagnostic Report shows warnings related to NI contributions.Net pay exception report compare the difference of current payment and previous payment and shows the percentage of difference. NGA can easily rectify the underpayments and over payments by using this report. NGA used to cross check copy payslip and payroll input and this helps to reduce keying errors. Payroll analysis report shows the details of statutory payments (SMP, SPP, SSP, etc.) starter, leaver details and tax refund details. By checking payroll analysis report NGA can ensure the correct payments for leavers and starters also this helps to avoid errors related to statutory payments. Three Prime Objectives of Audit are

1. To ensure that the gross payroll costs have been correctly calculated to represent the authorised salaries/wags due to each employee 2. To ensure that all deductions from gross pay are properly authorised, accurately calculated and paid over as required 3. To ensure that payroll expenditure has been correctly classified to fulfil the accounting requirements of the organisation concerned.

The auditor equally has an obligation to insist on proper documentation which should be regularly reviewed and updated. NGA keeping the records of all the employers for 6 year + current tax year.

External Audit
Once in each year HMRC will be conduct audit in our offices located in United Kingdom to ensure that the deductions of income tax and NICs (including application of SSP, SMP, SAP, SPP and student loan deductions) are being applied within the law.

3) The Management, Design and Distribution of Payroll Outputs The main three payroll output areas are Employees and Pensioners, Employers and Other organisation and services which include HMRC, Child Support agency, Councils etc.

The main payroll outputs for employees and pensioners are payslip, P45, P60, P11D, Pension report etc. The main payroll outputs for employers are preview report, starters and leaver report, record cards for employees, final report, BACS authorisation letter which include the details of amount need to be paid to BACS, HMRC, Child care voucher etc. Payroll outputs for other organisations are Statement of Deduction Orders’ amounts for the Child Support Maintenance Group, Payment schedules for all deductions/attachments from earnings orders, Real time information submission to HMRC and EDI out bounds to HMRC

Payroll Outputs
Payroll outputs should be clear, concise and cost effective. The reports need to design by consulting department managers especially HR managers and accounts department because all the queries related to payroll are directly go to HR department or accounts. The payslip should contain details such as gross pay, net pay, basic salary, overtime, commission, bonus, tax deduction, NI deduction, pension and health care deduction, cumulative values of payments and deductions etc. Payroll outputs are classified into two, they are essential reports and desirable reports. Essential reports needs to be produced to comply with legislation which includes pay advise slip, P60, P45, etc. Essential accounting information enables the employer to ensure Employees are receiving the correct pay. Desirable reports are managed on the basis of employer’s desire and particular needs. All the reports need to be treated with confidentiality and security.

For Bury Payplan clients NGA providing the preview reports via a software called MyReport. NGA have provided login id and password to each client to access MyReport portal, this ensures the security and confidentiality of reports. While generating preview reports client will receive an auto response by stating that your reports are ready to view in MyReport. Later client review the reports and send their amendments. If the clients are facing difficulty to access MyReport due to technical issue then send the reports to the client via email as [send secure].As NGA provide the soft copy of reports, NGA can also reduce the cost of printing. Through this NGA can maintain the confidently of reports in each step of processing. Once the client approves the payroll then NGA generate the final reports this will directly despatch to employee’s home address or employers office address as per the requirement of employer.

4) Total Quality Management
The total quality of our organisation is managed by using ISO,
CMMI(Capability Maturity Model integration and Six Sigma standards. NGA conducting audits to maintain the quality of these standards.

Quality Management
Quality Management focuses on quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement in order to achieve an agreed set of quality KPI’s (Quality Attributes). QM uses the results of quality assurance and control to continuous improves the quality plans and teams of an organization / project. Our Quality Management Services include: • Quality Consulting

• Testing Needs Analysis
• Policy and Strategy
• Requirements Definition

Quality assurance and Quality control are important concepts for both project and test managers to understand. There is often confusion regarding the differences between quality assurance and quality control activities and how testing is associated.

Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance, commonly known as “QA”, refers to the process used to create the deliverables, and can be performed by a manager, client, or even a third-party reviewer. Quality Control
Quality Control, also known as “QC”, refers to quality related activities associated with the creation of project deliverables. Quality control is used to verify that deliverables are of acceptable quality and that these deliverables are complete and correct.

Internal Audit
Northgate Group Internal Audit provides an independent and objective evaluation of internal systems and processes across the Northgate group with the aim of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of these systems and processes by analysing controls in operations and functions to provide assurance with regards to their adequacy. Internal Audit support the achievement of Northgate’s business objectives by: Evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of the corporate control framework Conducting risk based reviews of all internal systems, advising on the adequacy and effectiveness of controls in new and developing systems Promoting Best Practice across the Northgate group

Advising on effectiveness of systems set for prevention and detection of risk or fraud within Northgate group Advising on compliance to internal policies and external regulatory requirements

Authority and Accountability
To ensure independence Group Internal Audit is directly responsible to the Audit Committee, which consists of directors from the Main Board, and reports to this body on a quarterly basis. Group Internal Audit has been given a clear mandate to perform audits across the Northgate group Introduction to Quality Documentation

Northgate is regularly asked by its stakeholders to provide evidence that it follows best practice for its critical processes. An accepted way of doing this is for the organisation to adopt best practise standards that are internationally recognised. The standards that NGA have adopted are those developed by ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) and the British Standards Institute (BSI).

ISO 9001:2008-Quality Management System
ISO 9001:2008 specifies the requirement for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

ISO 27001-Information Security Management System Standard
ISO 27001 specifies requirements for establishment, implementation, monitoring and review; maintenance and improvement of a management system for managing the organizations information security risks.

CMMI-Capability Maturity Model Integration
CMMI is a process improvement approach that’s helps organizations to improve their performance.CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division or an entire organization.

Compliance versus Certification
Evidence that we follow the ISO standards can be demonstrated in two ways either by compliance to the standard or certification. Certification
Certification requires an external third party audit by a UKAS accredited audit body (i.e.BSI). Key benefits of certification are that we can use the registration and certification as evidence of compliance for multiple clients, therefore achieving cost savings over a compliance only strategy. For example a single BSI audit will cover the processing for multiple clients if it covers a department or service centre. Recent bids and tenders have stipulated that the parts of Northgate processing data must be certified to ISO 27001. This is to ensure that an independent security audit is completed. Compliance

Compliance to ISO standards does not require an external audit. However this approach becomes expensive in comparison to certification for example, when a number of clients require proof of compliance i.e. by completion of extensive questionnaires or regular individual client on-site audits.

4. Conclusions / Recommendations

Efficiency and effectiveness are the main terms to assess and measure business performance of an organization

Training Need Analysis should be done at pre-determined intervals and the results derived should be followed up with effective action plans which have immediate results

Payroll is not something that learn once and stop learning on. It requires continuous improvement initiatives and creating a learning atmosphere and the implementation of new quality measures.

The most important factor while processing payrolls are the deadlines. The deadlines should be worked backwards from a payment date and a Payroll Calendar should be made every month and distributed to all concerned parties

Documentation is a key aspect of Payroll. Having updated process instructions, to error analysis reports and feedback forms all point to the health of a program and help NGA to take right decisions for the program.

NGA need to create action plan for each errors and need to work on that particular area to avoid re-occurrence of errors.

5. References

www.cipp.org.uk
www.ngahr.com
www.wikihow.com
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payroll

6. Bibliography
Essentials of Payroll: Management and Accounting
By Steven M. Bragg
Payroll: A guide to running an efficient department
By Vicki M Lambert