Responsibilities and professional standard of a payroll accountant

The accounting officer working in the payroll area is the most common and necessary unit demanded in every organization. The main task of such a specialist is to calculate and formalize salary payments to employees of the organization.

The duties of a payroll accountant also include the formation of reports, as well as the transfer of information on each employee to the state supervision authorities and funds.

The payroll accountant performs not only settlement operations, but also provides information to the chief accountant on accounting for the movement of the payroll fund. The description of the position also implies the calculation of taxes and fees that are imposed on wages. It is the accountant who conducts payroll calculations that is responsible for their calculation and payment. A specialist in this category, if necessary, has the opportunity to advise employees of the organization on all issues related to payroll calculation.

Often, the duties of an accountant-calculator include maintaining personnel records management. Besides accounting duties, a specialist prepares documents for the acceptance and dismissal of an employee, fills out a personal file form, draws up vacation orders, stores and draws up work books, and so on.

For any commercial or budgetary organization, the position of a payroll accountant implies a certain range of functional responsibilities, which are formed in a special document called a job description. The document regulating the functions of the accounting employee, defining his functions, is coordinated by the chief accountant and finally approved by the head of the organization with his signature.

Job responsibilities determine the rules of the relationship between the organization and the employee - the payroll accountant. The instruction contains a list of duties that the employee performs, for example, submits reports, prints out personnel records and much more. In addition, the job description contains the requirements for a specialist - the level of education, his knowledge and skills, the required work experience. It also indicates to whom he reports, whose orders he fulfills, who has the right to appoint him to the position and remove him from it. The activity of a calculating accountant involves the performance of a number of duties. Let's consider them in more detail.

The accountant-calculator makes all charges based on the study of primary documents. The time sheet is taken into account, reflecting the number of days worked by the employee in the month for which he is paid. Orders for the organization are being studied, containing information that affects the amount of monetary remuneration. Another important document is certificates of incapacity for work, the payment for which depends on the length of service of the employee.

Accounting employee pobeys the rules of the internal document flow established in the organization. The procedure is approved by the management and ensures uninterrupted office work, thanks to which all primary documents are received on time and in full to the responsible persons for accounting. The payroll accountant is responsible and controls the timely transfer of primary documentation to him. If these documents do not reach him on time before the salary is calculated, payments will not be made correctly and adjustments will be required afterwards.

Accrual of all payments due to an employee in accordance with the law is the direct responsibility of the accountant... In addition, the accountant also takes into account the charges provided within the company, in accordance with the local acts and norms that have been put into effect. For example, in organizations there is a "Collective agreement" or "Regulation on bonuses". Based on these documents, according to the results of their work, employees receive a cash bonus to the basic salary. Sometimes, in the event of disciplinary action based on the Order of the management, the employee may be deprived of bonuses.

Deviation is understood as the circumstances in which the employee performs his work in different from normal working conditions or other unforeseen situations. For example, all types of leave are referred to as deviations - annual, maternity leave, for caring for a sick child, educational leave, if the employee is studying at a state educational institution. Unforeseen circumstances can be complete downtime, which arose through no fault of the employee, overtime work, on weekends and holidays. Harsh climatic conditions, work with hazardous substances and more are special working conditions with a wage supplement. The calculation of wages for any deviations is regulated by the norms of the law and by the internal local acts of the organization.

A payroll accountant makes deductions from an employee's earnings. For example, it can be a transfer of alimony, debts or other payments that are made on the basis of a court order of execution. In addition, there are deductions from earnings and on the personal initiative of the employee. For example, he can write a statement on the voluntary transfer of a certain amount to his personal account with the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation.

To pay wages, the accountant-calculator generates a payment order for the bank, where the organization has a current account. On such an order, the bank transfers the payment to each employee according to the payroll register.

According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, all labor incomes of citizens are subject to certain types of taxes. Besides, deductions are made from the salary to the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation.

Any accruals and deductions for each employee are reflected in the accounting of the organization. The employee is assigned a personal account number, to which the accountant-calculator enters all the operations performed. For the timeliness and correctness of the reflection of such operations in accounting the calculator is responsible.

The responsibilities of a payroll accountant include not only the processing of primary documentation and operations for calculating and retaining wages. Another of his tasks is the preparation of certain forms of reporting:

• report form SZV-M, which is handed over no later than the 15th day of the month following the reporting month, to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation;
• 6-NDFL report - it is handed over on a quarterly basis to the IFTS for personal income taxes;
• RSV-1 form report all employers pass in the form of calculation of insurance premiums to the IFS;
• 4-FSS report - it reflects insurance payments to the FSS to pay for incapacity for work of employees;
• form 2-NDFL contains information about the amounts of taxes and contributions paid, is done for each employee individually;
• form SZV-STAZH - contains information about the employee's work experience;
• form P-4 and P-4 (NZ) - reports to Rosstat on the number of employees and their wages.

The duties of an accountant-calculator include the formation of pay slips, which are handed out to employees on the day the salary is received. If the employee has questions, he can contact the accountant for clarification. In some organizations, a payroll accountant may have other responsibilities. For example, provide information on the wage bill to the economist of the organization.

Like any other profession, the position of a payroll accountant has its own professional standard, according to which a specialist must have a certain list of knowledge and documents on education:

• have a diploma of higher or specialized secondary specialized education;
• a certain professional category must be assigned, confirming the level of qualifications according to the professional standard;
• an employee must know what accounting is, and be able to do more than just calculate wages;
• own office equipment, have computer skills, and also own accounting software.

When applying for a job, an accountant-calculator indicates his professional skills and knowledge. Salary directly depends on the level of education and practical skills of a specialist.During the probationary period, the accountant is accepted as an intern.

The salary of an accountant depends on his category, which implies certain requirements:

• accountant of the 1st category - an employee with higher education and work experience of 3 years in the position of an accountant of at least category 2;
• accountant of the 2nd category - an employee with higher education without work experience or an employee with specialized secondary education and 3 years of work experience as an accountant;
• accountant - an employee with specialized secondary vocational education without work experience or graduated from specialized courses, having worked for at least 3 years in the field of accounting and control.

Jobseekers for the position of payroll accountant have a greater chance of employment if they have a specialized education and practical work experience.

An employee performing the duties of a payroll accountant has certain rights and a list of responsibilities.

The list of rights that the accounting accountant has:

• contact the management for clarification on issues related to work;
• within the limits of their authority to make decisions concerning their sphere of activity;
• be familiar with the orders of the management concerning the work of the accounting department and the organization;
• control the timely transfer of primary documentation;
• inform the management about the facts of violations of the term and procedure for document flow;
• make suggestions for improving the workflow.

The detailed list is reflected in the document "Job Description". It also prescribes in detail not only the rights and obligations of the employee, but also the measure of his responsibility for their implementation.

The list of employee liability provisions provides for certain penalties:

• in case of non-fulfillment or poor-quality fulfillment of their duties;
• for causing material damage to the employer;
• when committing offenses provided for by the norms of the law of the Labor Code, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation;
• in case of violation of labor regulations and labor safety standards;
• for violation of norms and confidentiality when working with personal data of employees.

The degree of responsibility and penalties do not depend on the will of the employer, and are regulated by the norms of the law.

To carry out his job functions as a payroll accountant must have certain knowledge, namely:

• legal norms governing accounting work;
• accounting, economics, tax and business law, finance and credit;
• HR administration, staffing structure and its formation;
• accounting operations, document flow, reporting and inventory;
• the procedure for working with funds, conducting settlements with employees.

This will allow the employee to keep abreast of changes in legislative acts, and also help to learn how to understand the software innovations in accounting.