Knowledge Base

Understanding Payroll

Payroll is the process of paying a company’s employees, which includes tracking hours worked, calculating employees’ pay, and distributing payments via direct deposit to employee bank accounts or by check. However, companies must also perform accounting functions to record payroll, taxes withheld, bonuses, overtime pay, sick time, and vacation pay. Companies must put aside and record the amount to be paid to the government for Medicare, Social Security, and unemployment taxes.

What is the purpose of payroll?

Payroll refers to the process by which employees receive their salary. Functions involve balancing and reconciling payroll data and depositing and reporting taxes. The payroll department takes care of wage deductions, record keeping and verifying the reliability of pay data. The payroll department delivers payroll checks, maintains compliance with tax laws, records paperwork for new hires and edits existing employee files. Payroll professionals are also responsible for calculating reimbursements, bonuses, overtime and holiday pay.

Increasingly, payroll is outsourced to specialized firms that handle paycheck processing, employee benefits, insurance, and accounting tasks, such as tax withholding.