‘Not insurmountable’: What accountants need to know ahead of Payday Super

Martin said superannuation was already complex, with an average underpayment for wages and salaries of 1–3 per cent of total payroll, which superannuation could be a “knock on” effect from or the underlying set-up in a platform.

“It’s really important to look at that setup in the platform. The increased frequency is actually going to expose any underlying payroll configuration issues faster, which can be a really good thing to help you get on track much sooner than you would at the moment,” she said.

“The key is the change management piece, so you need to loop in stakeholders early. Get everyone on board, create a team environment and discuss those impacts on the various areas of the business.”

Martin noted she believed there to be lots of “offshoots” apart from the actual processing, meaning cash flow changes needed to be looked at.

According to Martin and Spinks, within this upcoming change, it was crucial to view collaboration as a key piece of the puzzle, as everyone needed to be on the same page, across the same messaging, and briefed with the same information.

This is linked to the fact that accountants would now need to be more closely aligned with payroll teams, as efficiency and ability to adapt to the Payday Super changes would depend on this.

“We need financial literacy for payroll and payroll literacy for accounting teams to ensure we get that fluency and identify all the stakeholders to discuss how to manage this change,” Martin said.

Spinks added: “None of this is insurmountable. And as Kirsty said, there are multiple people that we need to be involved with, and will be, the key to making sure that this is done successfully at any business.

“It’s really important to bear in mind that tax, finance, and HR teams are all going to need to be involved while we are waiting for software companies to update their tech. Give them a minute. Payday Super is going to really require you to update and implement new processes.”

The pair flagged it was increasingly important with this new process that, if anything out of line was noticed, a voluntary disclosure would need to be made to the ATO as soon as possible. 

Spinks said typically it was required for tax to be involved in these conversations and vary across what’s happening with any ATO interaction, as it was critical to identify any shortfalls, how shortfalls would be rectified, and how these would be disclosed. 

According to Spinks, it was important for accountants and finance teams to look at how often voluntary disclosures were being made, the process, ensuring the payments were being made, and if the assessment was being made by the ATO. 

“We’ve got tech and we’ve got new processes, so what do your governance policies say and how is your board going to react to all of this?” she said. 

“You’re going to need to have it all outlined for them. Practitioners can really be involved with all of these steps, really making sure that everyone is across and helping to get through all these processes that need to be done… not insurmountable.”