interview questions and answers for payroll

Payroll administrators record and post time and payroll data for employees. Administrators ensure payroll information is accurate and employees are paid on time. Payroll administrators review time sheets, calculate wages, reconcile discrepancies and process information into the payroll system.

The interview questions below can be used for Payroll positions such as: Payroll administrator, Payroll analyst, Payroll assistant, Payroll associate, Payroll consultant, Payroll controller, Payroll clerk, Payroll coordinator…

Sample Payroll interview questions

• Tell me about yourself?
• Why did you leave your last job?
• What is your greatest weakness?
• What experience do you have in Payroll field?
• What are key tasks for Payroll…position?
• What are top 3 knowledge/top 3 skills for Payroll…position?
• What are KRAs/output of Payroll…position?
• How to measure/appraise your Payroll…position?
• What do you know about this company?
• Describe two or three major trends in your Payroll field?
• Did you choose this profession/field?
• What tertiary qualifications have you attained that related to Payroll…position?
• What is the most recent skill you have learned that related to Payroll…position?
• What do you do to stay current with provincial, federal, state, municipal regulations?
• A payroll clerk often has to face employees’ ire due to a payroll error. How would you handle such a situation
• Define payroll. Mention the various payroll procedures conducted regularly for updating the payroll database?
• What are monitoring methods for Payroll activities?
• Describe ISO 9001 for Payroll?
• What made you choose to apply to Payroll…position?
• Tell me about your last position and what you did?
• What do you know about the Payroll…position?
• What have you done to improve your Payroll knowledge in the last year?
• What have you learned from mistakes on the Payroll job?
• What was the most complicated payroll you are responsible for?
• State the payroll principles and standards defined to work and maintain an organization’s payroll system.
• Name the payroll software you can access? Do you have knowledge of some accounting software as well?
• What’s your experience level with Microsoft Excel and access?
• Tell me about the most complicated report you have to prepare related to personnel. For example, over time, these, headcount, retirement contribution and so on.
• Payroll is run every two weeks, which means a lot of pressure to meet the deadline. When have you had to work under pressure?
• What are some of the most important reports you have written? How difficult were they to write? Why? What reactions did they get?
• Describe the employment laws that affect your work?
• Please tell us something about payroll tracking, reconciliation and reporting.
• Please rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on your data entry skills and general math and book keeping skills.
• Are you willing to work overtime or off-shift during emergency or special situations like auditing, financial year-end etc?
• What were the challenges you faced in payroll operations while following either company or government policies?
• What kind of training and certification, do you have related to payroll?
• Tell me about a time when you took disciplinary action against an employee. How did you decide what to do?
• How do you monitor your department’s productivity or performance as a Payroll Administrator? Give some examples.
• What training or certification program have you gone through in this field?
• Do you have adequate technical knowledge of the computer software programmes and applications that will be required in your work?
• What do you know about the regulatory standards, policies and procedures of payroll?
• What are methods that are used to manage Payroll?
• How to maintain Payroll activities?
• What are common risks for Payroll? And how to face?
• Describe steps to manage Payroll?
• How to measure performance of Payroll activities?
• Describe your experience with the administration of electronic timekeeping.
• Do you have experience of handling typical payroll issues raised by the employees? If yes, tell us about your strategy to deal with such a situation?
• Explain your role with payroll administration. Discuss the nature of problems generally occurred during the payroll record submission?
• What do you understand from employer’s social security, compensation payments and payroll liabilities? Discuss the relationship between these three entities.
• Tell us the formula for calculating provincial income and social security taxes.
• How do you make sure that employee records are entered and accurately and on time?

Payroll interview answer tips

• Make a full list of interview questions for Payroll field: specialized interview questions, common interview questions, interview tips, interview thank you letters, types of job interview questions…
• Identify key goals, tasks, job specs and attributes for Payroll positions then ask question: How to do, how to become …
• Listen job interview questions carefully, then ask by your-self: what are things related to Payroll field before answering.
• Always ask by yourself: What are proofs that are required for this position?