heart2How important is payroll in the grand scheme of things? Why should finance, HR, and payroll departments work more congruently for the benefit of the company?

During the Wednesday afternoon workshop “Payroll at the Heart of Finance and HR,” Barb Muellerleile, CPP, Director of Finance/Payroll at Panera Bread; Tasha Moore-Wright, Manager of Payroll Services at Christiana Care; and Shelly Mix, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Workday, spoke about how collaboration among these key departments can help combat fraud, eliminate undetected errors, and deliver key insights to the business.

“I believe finance, HR, and payroll departments need each other in order to ensure that the business is functioning at its highest level,” Moore-Wright said. “One cannot do it without the other. It’s a partnership. It’s important that the lines of communications stay open in order to be successful.”

In today’s business environment, Muellerleile said payroll sits at the heart of HR and finance bringing us all together.

“Everything is very connected from time-tracking by job to issuing payments and posting the expense to the financial statements,” Muellerleile said. “Teams need to be aligned with business labor cost, when a cost is going to be incurred and where it is charged.”

Muellerleile hopes attendees of “Payroll at the Heart of Finance and HR” saw that success starts with strong systems to support the business.

“The more seamless and connected the systems, the smoother the process, greater efficiency, and better cost control for a business,” she added. “Better tools and systems allow managers to focus on the business and not manual paperwork.”

An audience of about 200 came to the listen to the three-person panel and took part in a question and answer session afterward.

Toni Jack, CPP, and Monique Allen, both Senior Account Analysts at the Salt River Project in Phoenix, are part of a team who will be responsible for implementing a new payroll and human resources system at their company. Both said they gathered valuable insights from the workshop.

“The way they laid out the segregation and duties was very beneficial,” Jack said.

Kim Cato, CPP, a Senior Tax Accountant at Rollins Inc., said the session was valuable in re-emphasizing the importance of payroll to finance and human resources. She said she would take back to her office a clearer understanding of the responsibilities of payroll and other departments.

“Now, we can work together better by understanding the lines of responsibilities,” she said.

Additional reporting by Greg Mellen