A Solid Payroll Management Foundation

When performing tasks in Payroll Management, it is essential that no mistakes be made. Employees count on the payroll departments of their companies to not make any errors on their cheques. Additionally, Payroll Management is critical to businesses and other organizations because of the significant amounts of money involved in employee remuneration and the complexity of the legal requirements. As such, those employed in Payroll Management must be comfortable and confident in their positions. The confidence and know-how to execute the tasks swiftly and precisely can be obtained at Centennial College’s Payroll Management program.

The emphasis of this graduate certificate offering is on ensuring that after two semesters of study, students graduate with an extensive knowledge base, fully developed and enhanced crucial skills in a number of key areas and are prepared to begin working as payroll generalists with a solid foundation for subsequent career advancement. This advancement may include positions such as: payroll clerks/ officers, payroll and benefits clerks/ administrators/ payroll accountants, human resource and payroll generalists, general accounting coordinator, and small business bookkeepers/accountants.

The emphasis of the Payroll Management program is delivered through a variety of lecture and practical courses, 50 per cent of which are supplied by the Canadian Payroll Association (CPA). As such, qualified students are eligible to earn the Payroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP) professional designation granted by the Association. Registration in this will incur costs in addition to tuition. Meanwhile, the Payroll Management program’s industry leading payroll curriculum is supplemented by graduate level instruction in managerial accounting, strategic compensation, pensions and benefits. As such, among the specific courses are: Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, Business Presentations, Payroll Compliance, Strategic Compensation, Human Resources Management in Canada, Pensions and Benefits, Payroll Systems and more. Each of these Payroll Management courses employs various learning approaches such as: case studies, simulations, project-based learning with a focus on develping project management, teamwork, report writing and presentations. An emphasis is also placed on emerging trends and issues in payroll management, such as the use of promising technologies and changing legislative requirements, which has led to the teaching of the SAP application for Payroll system training.

It is worth noting that students attending Payroll Management who wish to enroll in the Introduction to Payroll Management and Applied Payroll Management Canadian Payroll Association CPM level payroll courses “must meet a payroll experience prerequisite to register”. To satisfy this prerequisite, students must have “at least two years of experience being responsible for an organization’s payroll function, which includes being accountable to management for the accuracy of employees’ pay and all government statutory remittances, or equivalent experience, obtained in the past five years.”

Payroll Management program applicants must possess at minimum a college diploma or university degree in any discipline or have a partial post-secondary education and relevant work experience.  In addition, Payroll Management applicants may be asked to participate in an interview process, during which a transcript and resume review may be requested. English proficiency will also be considered.