Before we dwell into the concepts of Payroll functions, let us step back briefly into the history of Payroll. Much prior to automation and electronic era, Payroll processing used to be a laborious manual activity. Given the plethora of activities ...

Before we dwell into the concepts of Payroll functions, let us step back briefly into the history of Payroll. Much prior to automation and electronic era, Payroll processing used to be a laborious manual activity. Given the plethora of activities that needed to be completed for processing a pay cycle, it used to be a fulltime activity. Larger the organisation, larger the payroll team used to be in order tocoordinate all these activities. With the advent of technology in early ‘80s, companies gradually began to automate their processes in order to make their tasks easier, risk-free and smarter. Government oversight on statutory compliance were tough and complex (and continues to be so), though many statutes have recently been simplified and complexities removed to a large extentthrough automation & simplification of rules. Regular audits, a demand for transparency and thereach of government into individual & corporate data has made Payroll a very important and essential function of an organisation. Owing to all this, trained professionals or software or payroll service providers are in steady demandand trend is increasing by the day. A profession that was considered highly administrative and a number-crunching job a few years ago has now carved out an important niche for itself, with companies vying to implement robust & compliant payment processes and systems. It is now an industry by itself as payroll outsourcing market is expected to reach US$10.3B by 2023 worldwide with an estimated CAGR of 6% per year Within the last two decades or so, these opportunities have encouraged not only local companies to provide payroll services but helped create MCPO companies to provide global payroll support.Superior technology such as RPA, AI, Chatbot, etc have made in-roads to provide best of technology & user experience to companies and employees alike. This book helps readers to understand the basic concepts of payroll and it’s best practices. If you are aspirant to be a good payroll processor for your organisation or wish to enter into this unique profession, then this book is highly recommended for you. A million thanks to my peers, friends, publisher and well-wishers who encouraged me in this project. It has been a satisfying experience for me to put together my thoughts into this book. Best wishes to all!!