Page 121 - Essentials of Payroll: Management and Accounting

ESSENTIALS of Payr oll: Management and Accounting
number of processing steps, screens, and online forms that differ from
the systems being replaced,so both the payroll and human resources staffs
will require training prior to the “go live” date for the new system.

Cost:

Installation time:

Consolidate Payroll Systems
A company that grows by acquisition is likely to have a number of pay-

roll systems—one for each company it has acquired. This situation may
also arise for highly decentralized organizations that allow each location
to set up its own payroll system.Though this approach does enable each
location to process payroll in accordance with its own rules and pay-
ment periods, while also allowing for local maintenance of employee
records, there are several serious problems with this setup that can be
solved by the consolidation of all these systems into a single, centralized
payroll system.
One problem with multiple payroll systems in one company is that

employee payroll records cannot be shifted through the company
when, say, an employee is transferred to a different location. Instead, the
employee first must be listed as having been terminated from the pay-
roll system of the location he or she is leaving and then listed as a new
hire in the payroll system of the new location. By repeatedly reentering
an employee as a new hire,it is impossible to track the dates and amounts
of pay raises;the same problem arises for the human resources staff,who

cannot track eligibility dates for medical insurance or vesting periods
for pension plans. In addition, every time employee data is reentered
into a different payroll system,there is a risk of data inaccuracies that may
result from the input of incorrect pay rates or checks sent to the wrong
address. Also, a company cannot easily group data for companywide

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