Why Bookkeeping and Payroll?

Bookkeepers and Payroll administrators fulfil demanding roles at the heart of any company – and prospective bookkeepers and payroll administrators should be able to handle the basics of their role, which is as much about personality as it is talent. Bookkeepers and payroll staff are more than just number-crunchers; while numerical proficiency is obviously important – they face a wide variety of professional challenges and technical duties in addition to calculations – they need to be able to communicate with colleagues across the organization, and externally.

Depending on their organization size, bookkeepers/payroll administrators may have to deal with multiple tasks and duties at any given time, so an organized, logical approach to work will be essential. These staff work as part of a team, and therefore also need to be a flexible, creative-thinker in order to address unexpected problems and scenarios quickly and effectively.

Bookkeeping and payroll processes can sometimes be stressful in meeting staff requests and strict compliance requirements, therefore, the individual must be able to work under pressure, without compromising performance standards. Good timekeeping and an ability to meet strict deadlines is an essential part of these roles, as they will need to deliver projects/salaries, wages and pay slips on time. In practice, this means being able to priorities and delegate to ensure the task is completed to deadline.

Course Overview

Bookkeepers work in close proximity with core business operations to ensure that the most economically viable and safe decisions are made to keep finances and budgets under control. This programme will provide you with the ability to use a computer accounting programme, in order to track and record the financial transactions and records for the company. Part of the bookkeeping process also includes calculating, recording, and balancing financial reports, including payroll, in order to be able to communicate with regard to salaries, benefits, and employee’s pay.

Payroll is an essential part of any business ensuring that salaries, wages and pay slips are issued to staff on time consistent with their contract details. Succeeding as a payroll administrator involves more than just delivering pay and deducting taxes – you may have to deal with multiple tasks and duties at any given time. An organized, logical approach to your work is essential, and this programme will prepare you to undertake standard, day-to-day, duties of a payroll administrator including:

• Tracking and recording employee work hours and annual leave
• Calculating pay, taxes and social insurance
• Incorporating variables, like overtime, sick-pay, holidays and expenses
• Processing and paying salaries and wages – by cash, cheque or EFT
• Issuing pay slips to employees
• Addressing problems and answering queries

This programme will provide you with the knowledge, skills and competencies required to be able to full the payroll task in a SME and/or support the payroll function in a larger organization.

With legislative requirements affecting almost all aspects of the role, this programme will also provide you with the skills required to remain current in the field – by identifying the legislative (revenue) requirements affecting almost all aspects of your role, and also where to find the information on a recurring annual basis to ensure you are able to carry out your duties with ongoing confidence and accuracy.

Course Content

The programme is designed to deliver material on the two streams, Bookkeeping and Payroll, and includes the following topics

Bookkeeping

This module supports you to:

• develop a keen understanding of the main principles of bookkeeping and accounting
• understand a broad range of accounting terms
• be able to carry out a broad range of bookkeeping and accounting procedures
• Be able to produce a computerized trial balance.

PRSI Classes

This module supports you to:

• Acquire the important knowledge and skills required to use both manual and computerized payroll systems
• Appreciate the importance of accuracy and security in preparing and maintaining payroll records
• Acquire the knowledge and understanding of how the cumulative, emergency and temporary tax systems operate.

Computerized Accounts

• The use of computer systems (particularly Sage) in an accounts environment
• File Management – Hardware and Software
• Computerized Accounts v Manual Accounts
• The security of computer systems including passwords, anti-virus protection software, Data Protection and GDPR.

Payroll

The Payroll module is delivered in two parts:

– Manual Payroll – topics include payroll terms & frequencies, tax credits, standard cut offs and cumulative, emergency and temporary tax systems, cumulative tax deduction/emergency/temporary tax deduction form, calculating gross pay & tax liability, PRSI & income levies and statutory documents.

– Computerized Payroll – using SAGE, the industry-standard computing package – will involve tasks such as including entering company details, setting a payroll period, entering employee details including tax credits, standard cut offs, base codes for PRSI, salary details, processing payroll, editing employee data, printing payroll reports, printing pay slips, printing relevant statutory documents.

Career Opportunities

Possible future careers in this area, which may be facilitated by you completing this programme, include in the following roles

• Accounts Payable/Receivable
• Bookkeeper
• Bookkeeper(with Accounting Technician/Accounts Administrator/Office Manager)
• Credit Controller
• Finance Assistant
• Junior Payroll Administrator
• Payroll and Bookkeeping Clerk
• Payroll Administrator/Coordinator
• Secretary/Bookkeeper