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Payroll Specialist Duties, Skills & Responsibilities: a Guide for Employers

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Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.

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When hiring Payroll Specialists, it’s important to properly describe the job opening with the duties, skills and responsibilities of the role. We’ve compiled a guide to Payroll Specialist Duties, Skills & Responsibilities using data from actual job postings on Indeed.

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Popular Payroll Specialist Duties and Skills

Here are some commonly found skills and other specifications in job postings for Payroll Specialists.

Payroll

  • Definition : Experience processing or auditing payroll with the use of software such as Excel, QuickBooks, PeopleSoft, ADP, Workday, Kronos, Ceridian, or Lawson.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 82.3% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Accounting

  • Definition : Experience with or knowledge of accounting principles, including the recording and measurement of business or financial transactions in any field of practice.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 20.5% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

ADP

  • Definition : HR and payroll software.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 4-5
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 13.3% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

HRIS

  • Definition : Software used to manage the data information needs of the Human Resources, payroll, management, and accounting functions within an organization.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 12.6% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Kronos

  • Definition : Workforce and human resources management software.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 6.1% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Benefits administration

  • Definition : Experience or skill related to administering employee benefits.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 5.5% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Data entry

  • Definition : Experience or skill entering data into a database or computer software.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 5.5% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

10 key calculator

  • Definition : Experience or skill using a 10 key calculator.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 4.1% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

PeopleSoft

  • Definition : Human resources and business requirements management software.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 3.9% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Tax experience

  • Definition : Knowledge of or experience with financial taxes, such as filing, preparation, and compliance.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 3.7% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Workday

  • Definition : Management software suite that includes business planning, human capital, and financial management applications.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 3.4% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Accounts payable

  • Definition : Experience or skill in accounts payable.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 3.1% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

QuickBooks

  • Definition : Accounting software developed by Intuit.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 3% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

UltiPro

  • Definition : Human capital management (HCM) cloud application used to manage payroll, compensation, talent, attendance, and more.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 2.9% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Paychex

  • Definition : Payroll and HR management and data analysis software.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 2.6% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Accounting software

  • Definition : Experience in or knowledge of using a software system for processing accounting transactions.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 2.4% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Account reconciliation

  • Definition : Experience in the reconciliation of financial records or statements, typically using record comparison methods of analysis.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 2.1% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

General ledger reconciliation

  • Definition : Experience with processing and reconciling the account balances of an organization.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.6% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Governmental accounting

  • Definition : Experience in or knowledge of governmental accounting methods.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.4% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Bookkeeping

  • Definition : Experience in recording financial transactions for organizations or individuals.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.4% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Ceridian

  • Definition : HR and workforce management software from Ceridian. Specific products include Dayforce and Ceridian HR/Payroll.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.2% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Non-profit accounting

  • Definition : Experience in or knowledge of non-profit accounting methods.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.8% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Payroll management

  • Definition : Knowledge of or experience managing the various forms of employee monetary compensation.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 4-5
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.8% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Journal entries

  • Definition : Experience entering individual credits and debits into an organization's accounting system to maintain an accurate and comprehensive record of all financial transactions.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 4-5
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.7% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Accounts receivable

  • Definition : Experience or skill in accounts receivable.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 1
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.3% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.

Technical accounting

  • Definition : Experience in or knowledge of financial or accounting regulatory and reporting standards.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 1-2
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.3% of Payroll Specialist job postings on Indeed.
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    Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.