Payroll accountants supervise and process payments. They are responsible for ensuring that payments are processed efficiently, on time, and following legal regulations. Additional responsibilities include calculating deductions, resolving salary conflicts, and generating salary statements for employees.
Generally, payroll accountants have a bachelor’s degree in finance or administration. Keep in mind that it’s important to demonstrate your knowledge of relevant tax laws on your resume.
As a payroll accountant, you should demonstrate proficiency in payroll functions. This includes calculating wages, deductions, bonuses, and processing payments for each employee. That’s why you should include skills such as payroll processing, auditing, tax deduction, and financial reporting.
There are numerous tools out there that help you automate payroll tasks. Some of the most popular ones include QuickBooks Payro, Gusto, and OnPay. However, you can mention any payroll tool that you are familiar with. It’s also a good idea to check your potential employer’s requirements to see if they have a particular program they use.
Payroll accountants are responsible for processing companies’ employee compensation. Each pay period, they calculate each employee’s earnings, deduct the proper amounts for income tax and benefits, and issue paychecks. To get a payroll accountant position, use your resume to show that you have general accounting skills, experience using payroll software, and a working knowledge of labor and tax regulations.
Payroll accounting requires some specialized knowledge. You’ll need to know your local labor and tax laws to ensure your company is in compliance. You may also use software such as ADP Payroll to process your company’s payroll. A resume skills section allows you to list your job-specific hard skills in a place where they’ll be easy to see.
Always target your resume to the job you’re applying for. Adding the job title “Payroll Accountant” near the top of the document can help your resume get through automated tracking systems (ATS) and other resume screening tools. Make your resume even more relevant to the position by adding accounting keywords throughout your work experience and skills (“payroll”, “processing”, and “reporting” are just a few of many examples).
Here are examples of popular skills from Payroll Accountant job descriptions that you can include on your resume.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Payroll Accountant job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more likely you should include it in your resume.
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