The most common mistakes in payroll accounting

 

The preparation of the payroll is a fundamental task for any type of company, since we must follow certain criteria and regulations so that everything is in order and there are no problems that affect the workers or the company itself. Unfortunately, many companies make various mistakes when calculating their payroll. Therefore, today we are going to analyse in detail these common mistakes in the business world.

The 5 most common mistakes in payroll accounting

No pre-planning

While it may seem unnecessary, preparing the payslip requires some advance planning. This is done to verify that all the data used for completion is correct and truthful, and to analyse the relevant information with regard to the legislation in force.

Reusing previous payslips as a basis is one of the main mistakes made in each section. Personnel information must be updated on an almost daily basis and contract terms and considerations may vary from month to month. Therefore, it is important to process each payslip separately.

The preparation of payslips must be done in the first three weeks of each month and focus on compiling the necessary information about each worker, managing all tax aspects and social security, and managing registrations and dismissals in working life.

Reduce specialist staff in administrative procedures

Many companies forego professionals who specialize in this type of administrative procedure and instead use the budget for other areas such as production or advertising. If an agency is not subcontracted or the professionals responsible for payroll are not adequately prepared, this can lead to numerous problems.

The lack of internal control over the preparation of payslips is another common problem, especially in SMEs. If a worker does not have the skills to extract and analyse the information from the databases, or does not know in detail the regulations and processes to be followed, there is a high likelihood that payroll incidents will occur.

One of the most common mistakes these inexperienced professionals make is to recalculate a payslip that has already been paid, ignoring some aspects that will vary in the next month's result. For this reason, we make it a point to treat each payroll individually and process it independently.

 

Errors in interdepartmental communication

Another large part of payroll incidents is caused by poor communication between the different departments of the company. In these cases, those responsible for filling out the payslips may not be aware of the incidents affecting the particular situation of each worker, leading to serious errors in the preparation of the payslips.

Use of outdated templates 

The use of templates in preparing payslips is widespread and useful, but requires a careful review of all the data and sections included before the information is formalized and filled out for each employee.

Many models that we find on the Internet omit or forget certain data required by law, which can cause problems for the company when using them. Therefore, it's important that if you don't have your own model, you review everything that the template includes and add any omitted data or mandatory sections.

Confusion when filling in the consideration of each worker

Due to the large number of remuneration concepts and remuneration that each employee can receive depending on their individual situation, errors or disputes often arise in this context. This situation is more common given that many of these concepts are conveyed without written formalization (through phone calls or face-to-face meetings).

To avoid this inconvenience, software specialising in payroll accounting is the most efficient solution. With such a program, you can quickly and easily integrate all relevant information, it is recorded and is available for immediate use in the creation of payroll accounting.

As we have seen, preparing payroll is a task that can be complicated due to various factors. Therefore, it makes sense to analyse these errors and understand their solutions in order to avoid disputes and conflicts in the company.