SAQA

All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.

SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY

REGISTERED QUALIFICATION:

Advanced Occupational Certificate: Payroll Manager

SAQA QUAL ID	QUALIFICATION TITLE
121787	Advanced Occupational Certificate: Payroll Manager
ORIGINATOR
Development Quality Partner - SERVICES SETA
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY			NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
-			OQSF - Occupational Qualifications Sub-framework
QUALIFICATION TYPE	FIELD		SUBFIELD
Advanced Occupational Cert	Field 03 - Business, Commerce and Management Studies		Finance, Economics and Accounting
ABET BAND	MINIMUM CREDITS	PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL	NQF LEVEL	QUAL CLASS
Undefined	240	Not Applicable	NQF Level 06	Regular-ELOAC
REGISTRATION STATUS		SAQA DECISION NUMBER	REGISTRATION START DATE	REGISTRATION END DATE
Registered		EXCO 1121/24	2024-01-30	2029-01-30
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT		LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2030-01-30		2033-01-30

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.

This qualification does not replace any other qualification and is not replaced by any other qualification.

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION

Purpose:
The purpose of this qualification is to provide qualifying learners with the knowledge, understanding, competence and experience required to operate as a Payroll Manager.

A Payroll Manager manages the organisation's employment costs and directs the activities of payroll staff and monitors the payroll processing objectives including audits and relevant legislative compliance (affecting employer/employee relationship).

The learner attributes (including problem solving, interpreting information and communication) will be integrated in the learning process. Learners will have to prove competence of the above knowledge, skills, attitudes, responsibilities, and tasks imbedded in the exit level outcomes.

A qualified learner will be able to:

Manage accurate payment of employees within a company.

Oversee and manage overall company payroll objectives.

Manage compliance to policies, procedures, and legislation to mitigate governance risks.

Rationale:
Currently, no formal training qualifications exist targeting this specific occupational group and instead some unit standards from other related qualifications are used to enhance employee skills. This qualification is important to address the skills of the current and future employees serving all sectors of the economy. Many commercial entities draw Payroll Managers from payroll clerks and several other internal employees trained either by software providers, bookkeeper, and other occupations.

The need for formalisation of the qualification was emphasised by many role-players that included the following tprofessional body, i.e. The South African Payroll Association. This specific qualification is aligned with one of the three designations registered with the SAQA. The specific function of Payroll Manager is critical for all public and private sector organisations for the specific purpose of complying with statutory requirements related to pension administration, tax compliance and various labour legislation.

The performance of the function is important for adherence to good corporate governance and corporate risk management. Adherence to the rule of law is important for economic performance and promotion of credible environment for investment. Whereas the immediate challenge is formalisation of existing employees' experience into this qualification, the actual training will increase the intake of young people into the occupation. Opportunities for growth are abundant for many qualified people. Not only will they have a qualification that can very easily enable them to move horizontally in human resource management amongst others but vertically into Payroll Executive and Financial Management.

This qualification will contribute to the full development of the learner within the commercial industry by providing recognition, further mobility, and transportability within various sectors. This qualification forms part of a suite of related qualifications as registered by the professional body with SAQA.

Learners wishing to become a Payroll Manager can enrol for the Occupational Qualification: Payroll Practitioner, NQF Level 5. Should such a learner wish to, at a later stage, enrol for the Occupational Certificate: Payroll Manager he/she will be granted recognition for modules already completed (CAT). In a similar manner, learners will be able to move from any of the designations registered with SAQA by the professional body.

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL):
RPL for Access to the qualification.
Learners will gain access to the qualification through RPL for Access as provided for in the QCTO RPL Policy. RPL for access is conducted by accredited education institution, skills development provider or workplace accredited to offer that specific qualification/part qualification.

RPL for Credits
Learners who have acquired competencies of the modules of a qualification or part-qualification will be credited for modules through RPL.

RPL for access to the external integrated summative assessment
Accredited providers and approved workplaces must apply the internal assessment criteria specified in the related curriculum document to establish and confirm prior learning. Accredited providers and workplaces must confirm prior learning by issuing a statement of result.

Entry Requirements:
An NQF Level 5 qualification (Human Resource Management or Accounting or Finance).

RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING?

QUALIFICATION RULES

This qualification is made up of compulsory Knowledge, Practical Skill and Work Experience Modules:

Knowledge Modules

121102-000-00-KM-01, Business Management Concepts and Applications, Level 5, 16 Credits.

121102-000-00-KM-02, Payroll Theory and Application, Level 6, 26 Credits.

121102-000-00-KM-03, Introduction to Management, Level 6, 21 Credits.

121102-000-00-KM-04, Introduction to Human Resource Management, Level 6, 26 Credits.

121102-000-00-KM-05, Payroll Accounting, Level 6, 31 Credits.

Total number of credits for Knowledge Modules: 120

Practical Skill Modules

121102-000-00-PM-01, Determine Employee Cost to Company and Remuneration Elements, Level 5, 8 Credits.

121102-000-00-PM-02, Identify and Manage Areas of Customer Service Impact (Internal and Third Party), Level 5, 10 Credits.

121102-000-00-PM-03, Plan, Organise and Monitor Work within the Payroll Environment, Level 6,12 Credits.

121102-000-00-PM-04, Coordinate Completion of Year End Procedures (Monthly, Quarterly and Bi-Annual), Level 6, 10 Credits.

121102-000-00-PM-05, Conduct (Predictive Analysis) Business Intelligence Report for Payroll Functions, Level 6, 10 Credits.

121102-000-00-PM-06, Develop and Manage Audits for Payroll, Level 6, 10 Credits.

Total number of credits for Practical Skill Modules: 60

Work Experience Modules

121102-000-00-WM-01, Procedures for Determining Employee Cost to Company and Remuneration Elements, Level 5, 9 Credits.

121102-000-00-WM-02, Procedures for Managing Areas of Customer Service Impact (Internal and Third Party, Level 5, 11 Credits.

121102-000-00-WM-03, Procedures for Completion of Year End Payroll Procedures, Level 6, 14 Credits.

121102-000-00-WM-04, Process of Conducting (Predictive Analysis) Business Intelligence Reporting to Improve Employment Cost, Level 6, 13 Credits.

121102-000-00-WM-05, Procedures for Developing and Managing Audits for Payroll, Level 6, 13 Credits.

Total number of credits for Work Experience Modules: 60

EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES

1. Manage payroll environment to ensure accurate payment of employees.
2. Manage compliance to policies, procedures and legislation to mitigate governance risks.

ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1:
ELO 1: Manage payroll environment to ensure accurate payment of employees.

Discuss various business concepts and practices (ethics in business, customer management, communications) to demonstrate application within the payroll management environment.

Discuss basic uses of critical personal computer applications (word processing, spreadsheet) and social media platforms for their impact in business environments.

Apply various regulatory requirements of payroll systems to determine accurate salary for various types of employees.

Demonstrate Discussions on payroll environment in appreciation of various interactions between payroll and other business functions within the organisation.

Apply management practices in assigning unit functions, managing performance and plans within payroll.

Review the cost to company to ensure organisational efficiency in remuneration of employees based on actual employment contract.

Determine of payroll business unit functions in understanding span of control, separation of duties and performance management.

Manage year-end procedures by ensuring compliance to legislation and management of all corporate stakeholders.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2:
ELO 2: Manage compliance to policies, procedures and legislation to mitigate governance risks.

Discuss budgeting and financial statements to demonstrate payroll responsibilities towards financial accounting and reporting.

Identify and systematically address organisational risks within the payroll environment to mitigate the risks.

Review payments and general ledgers for quality management and assurance of the payroll environment.

Analyse income and financial statements to review accuracy of the payroll information.

Prepare for audit in demonstrating an understanding of payroll legislation and importance of compliance to all audit functions = within payroll environment.

Address audit outcome action plan on the root causes and policy gaps arising from all audit work.

Integrated Assessment:
Learner competence must be demonstrated through a variety of options which can include formative assessment including but not limited to tests, case studies, problem solving assignments.

Integrated Formative Assessment:
The Skills Development Provider will use the curriculum to guide the learners on the stipulated internal assessment criteria and weighting. They will also apply the scope of practical skills and applied knowledge as stipulated by the internal assessment criteria. This formative assessment leads to entrance into the integrated External Summative Assessment.

Integrated Summative Assessment:
An External Integrated Summative Assessment conducted through the relevant QCTO Assessment Quality Partner is required for the issuing of this qualification. The External Integrated Summative Assessment will focus on the Exit Level Outcomes and Associated Assessment Criteria.

The external summative assessment will be conducted through an evaluation of practical tasks and theoretical questions at an assessment centre accredited by the QCTO and conducted by an assessor registered by the AQP. The assessment will take place over a minimum of 1 day.

INTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITY

An international comparability exercise was undertaken to compare and draw lessons for the current Occupational Certificate: Payroll Manager with related qualifications from specific countries in terms of their scope, levels and curriculum content. The specific qualifications that were compared with are the National Diploma of Payroll Management from the Australia Payroll Institute and Diploma in Human Resources (HR) and Payroll from Reeds in the United Kingdom (UK).

United Kingdom
In the UK, Reeds provides a Level 5 Human Resource and Payroll Diploma covering 100 credits. No prior requirements are indicated but the qualification is designed by specialists for people already working in established businesses to cover the job and professional requirements for payroll management. On completion of 10 modules carrying 10 credits each, the learner completes an online assessment test.

The qualification modules are as follows, viz. human resource management; payroll management system; achieve and record management; budgets and financial reports; communication strategies; creative problem solving; hiring strategies; employee motivation; managing personal finances and organisational skills.

This qualification is exclusively an on-line training qualification and therefore does not assist learners with actual application. However, since this is intended for working people, the focus is on continuous skills improvement. The duration of the qualification is extremely short and the level of training relatively lower than South Africa's qualification. The curriculum content, although similar in many respects, is also at the lower level and is not as extensive as the RSA's qualification.

Australia
The Australian Payroll Institute requires a minimum of level 5 HR qualification or 3-year industry working experience in payroll administration for a learner to enrol for the qualification. In addition, the learner is required to complete a language, literacy and numeracy assessment before commencement of training in this qualification.

It takes sixteen (16) months to complete this qualification. During this time, the learner will cover a total of 10 of the following modules, namely, manage payroll, comply with legislation and industry codes of practice relevant to payroll, report on financial activity, plan and implement administrative systems, lead and manage team effectiveness, facilitate continuous improvement, manage budgets and forecasts, manage people performance, manage personal work priorities and professional development and, lastly and participate in a quality audit.

On completion of the above modules, as part of the existing assessment, the learner is required to complete several short answer assessment as well as a final project for each unit of competency in this qualification.

The modules listed above compare almost directly with some of the modules for the South African qualification in both knowledge and practical application. The differences are predominantly in the naming of modules, two months' difference in duration and a bit on assessment in that learners complete significant part of their practical training throughout and not at the end of the training.

Conclusion
The qualifications analysed from these two countries are comparable to the Occupational Diploma: Payroll Manager. However, the UK qualification is shorter as is aimed at continuous professional development whilst the Australian qualification is strictly online.

ARTICULATION OPTIONS

This qualification provides opportunities for horizontal and vertical articulation options.

Horizontal Articulation:

Occupational Certificate: Management Accounting Specialist, NQF Level 6.

Diploma in Human Resource Management, NQF Level 6.

Vertical Articulation:
Occupational Certificate: Management Accounting Practitioner, NQF Level 7.

Diagonal Articulation

Advanced Diploma in Human Resource Management, NQF Level 7.

NOTES

Qualifying for External Assessment:
To qualify for an external assessment, learners must provide proof of completion of all required knowledge and practical modules by means of statements of results and a record of completed work experience including Foundational Learning Competences.

Additional Legal or Physical Entry Requirements:

None

Criteria for the accreditation of providers
Accreditation of providers will be done against the criteria as reflected in the relevant curriculum on the QCTO website. The curriculum title and code are: Payroll Manager -121102-000-00-00.

Encompassed Trade:
This qualification encompasses the following trades as recorded on the NLRD:

This is not a trade qualification.

Assessment Quality Partner (AQP)

Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA).

RELATED PART-QUALIFICATION(S)

None.

LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION:

NONE

PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS QUALIFICATION:

This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionaries have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionary should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.

NONE