Personnel Commission
CLASS TITLE: Payroll Audit Specialist
DESCRIPTION OF BASIC FUNCTION AND RESPONSIBILITIES
To perform a variety of highly responsible duties involving the analysis, audit, and processing of assigned school district classified and certificated payroll transmittal records, deduction registers, and retirement documents requiring an advanced degree of initiative and independent judgment. Employees in this classification receive limited supervision within a broad framework of policies and procedures including, but are not limited to, the understanding, interpretation, and application of appropriate laws, codes, regulations, rules, statutes and district contractual agreements. This job class is responsible for the recommendations for policy and procedural changes in relationship to the proper and accurate reporting of payroll and payroll related information.
TYPICAL DUTIES The following duties are examples of assignments performed by incumbents in this classification. It is not a totally comprehensive list of duties, nor is it restrictive regarding job assignments.
Receives, organizes, analyzes, and processes classified and certificated payroll documents for assigned school districts, processing time sheets, calculating salary payments and ensuring salary payments and absence data are properly input, recorded, and posted
Ensures compliance with Federal, State and retirement regulations, pertinent Education Codes, and with school district's contractual agreements, preparing certificated employment contract modifications and adjusting salary information
Verifies salary/pay rates, new employment status changes, terminations, and related information for accuracy such as salary computation, credentials, retirement information and date of employment
Reviews and processes payroll documents for non-regular district employees and/or special employee payments, preparing manual salary payments and creating net pay adjustments when necessary
Works with school district accounting/payroll personnel in resolving problems and discrepancies regarding payroll information, researching payroll system discrepancies, providing advice to school district personnel regarding the payroll system, the audit function, calculations, final adjustments, retirement regulations, and other policies and procedures
Maintains control records for auditing employee retirement memberships, processing retirement applications and refunds, researching discrepancies in retirement status, processing status changes or separation forms, submitting retirement forms, and processing death of member forms
Monitors, revises, and updates costs associated with health benefit premiums, ensuring proper amounts are charged to district programs
Determines and establishes payroll codes relating to retirement, bargaining unit, State Disability Insurance (SDI), social security, mandatory Medicare, deferred pay, and other codes related to payroll processing
Performs W-2 corrections, researching and analyzing W-2 exceptions, revising on-line data, and verifying the accurate reporting of annual salary data
Maintains salary history data and responds to requests related information, researching and providing salary and wage data to Payroll Deduction/Retirement Specialists
Establishes, prepares, distributes, and maintains a variety of correspondence, routine and special reports, logs, and related records
Operates and uses standard office equipment, accounting-payroll information systems, microcomputer hardware and software including spreadsheets and word processing programs as well as calculators, fax machines, copiers, and printers
Provides in-service training to school district human resources and payroll staffs
Performs related duties as assigned.
EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS
Knowledge of:
General principles and procedures of record-keeping as related to payroll auditing, preferably in a public school or agency setting
Retirement eligibility and systems
Appropriate laws, codes, rules, regulations, statutes, and guidelines
Business and modern office methods, practices, and procedures
Standard office equipment including microcomputer, calculator, typewriter, copier, and fax machine
Software application programs including spreadsheet and word processing
Research methods and procedures
Ability to:
Understand and follow instructions without continuous supervision
Communicate effectively both orally and in written form
Make arithmetical calculations with speed and accuracy
Understand, interpret, and apply appropriate laws, codes, rules, regulations, statutes and contractual agreements of assigned school districts
Analyze and determine accuracy of payroll prepared by assigned school districts
Process, analyze, verify, research, and audit payroll related data with speed and accuracy
Establish, prepare, and maintain standard and special payroll audit records, summaries, and reports
Identify problem areas or situations, evaluate problem causes, and take corrective action to resolve, identified problems
Plan, organize, and perform assigned tasks under stringent time requirements
Effectively operate and use office and microcomputer equipment, hardware, and software including spreadsheet and word processing programs
Establish and maintain effective work relationships with those contacted in the performance of required duties
TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
Generally, the any combination of experience and training that provides the required knowledge and abilities is considered qualifying. A typical method of demonstrating these qualifications would be: three years of increasingly responsible financial or statistical reporting, reviewing, and auditing, preferably in public schools or related agencies, supplemented by college or university coursework in accounting and records management.
Bargaining Unit: Office, Technical, and Business Services (OTBS) Unit
Approved by the Personnel Commission: 02/26/98
Revised: 06/21/01
Former Class Title: Payroll Support Specialist