Tick through compliance, award, cost, integration, data and contract checks before you commit to payroll or HR software.
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Use this checklist before you sign up to payroll or HR software, and again before go-live. It is grouped so that the non-negotiable compliance items come first: if a product fails one of those for your business, the price does not matter.
How to use it: print or copy the list, tick each item only when you have seen it working (in a trial with your own data or a recorded demo with your awards), not when a sales page says so. Write the evidence next to each tick: a screenshot, an email from the vendor, a clause number in the contract.
Worked example: a retailer with 18 employees on the General Retail Industry Award shortlists two products. Both pass the STP and Payday Super checks. In the award test, it enters four real fortnightly timesheets with Sunday and public holiday shifts. Product A matches the payroll officer's manual calculation to the cent; Product B misses a minimum engagement top-up for a junior casual. The retailer asks B to fix the configuration and retest before deciding.
The checklist does not replace professional advice on awards or tax. See the full selection guide and the switching guide.
Payroll Pitfalls, Switching Risks and Official Sources
How the Privacy Act's employee records exemption works for payroll and HR software in Australia, where it stops, TFN rules, data breaches, offshore storage and security checks to demand from vendors.
Worked Costings and Selection Checklists
A practical eight-step process for choosing payroll and HR software that fits your awards, rosters and headcount, from requirements and trials to costing and contract checks.
Payroll Pitfalls, Switching Risks and Official Sources
The most common leave accrual mistakes in Australian payroll software, how they build up, worked examples of the cost, and how to test annual, personal/carer's and long service leave settings.
Payroll Software Costs, Pricing Models and 2026 Rules
What Payday Super means for payroll software in 2026–27, from qualifying earnings and the 12% rate to paying with every pay run, the 7-business-day rule and the clearing house closure.
Worked Costings and Selection Checklists
How payroll software connects to accounting software, rostering and time clocks, super funds and clearing services, bank files and HR tools in Australia, and the integration risks to test.
Payroll Pitfalls, Switching Risks and Official Sources
The payroll and HR software failures that cost Australian employers most, from award misconfiguration and late super to bad migrations, and which official body to check or contact for each.
