The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals

Diploma in Payroll Management

 

What will I learn?

The final year of the Foundation Degree can only be completed following successful completion of year two and gives students an understanding of how payroll impacts on their organisation and business overall, not just as a standalone department. Students will be required to complete a work based project, which will have a direct, positive benefit to their employing organisation and will develop their managerial skills.

Content

Following a timetable, each module should take approximately eight weeks. Students will have a module review day and tutorial per module.

Module 1 - Personal Effectiveness and Professional Development

This module gives students the opportunity to develop self-evaluation, critical reflection and self-development skills. Through the synthesis of theory and practice, using the tools and techniques contained in the module, students will have the opportunity to record their self-development and prepare personal development plans. Development plans and the processes which students undertake to generate them are an important part of formative assessment.

• Career planning/goal setting
• Recognise and use opportunities for the transfer of own skills, especially work based skills
• Consideration of evidence for accreditation of prior learning and experience
• Application of a range of models to self enhance personal performance

Module 2 - Work Based Project

This double module provides students with a vehicle to express their learning on the Foundation Degree in Payroll Management. Students address a work based issue in a systematic way: draw on a variety of primary and secondary sources; produce an analytical and evaluative research project of use to their own organisation to adopt the findings. In this way, the module encourages the student to integrate the cumulative learning acquired from the Foundation Degree in Payroll Management modules and their own prior learning into an analytical framework which underpins the research. This module develops the student’s competence in framing and writing up the results of their investigation and enhances the students personal learning and self-awareness.

• Induction to project
• The worker as researcher
• The proposal; formulation of research question
• Supervision allocation
• Critical reading/literature review
• Research methods in context; qualitative (interviews; forums; participant observation)
• Research methods: quantitative (small sample surveys; questionnaire design)
• Data analysis
• Developing the organisation through the work based project
• Tools and techniques to support individual reflection

Module 3 – Flexible Benefits, Finance and Budgets

This module explores the importance of various different flexible benefits and the costs of offering them to the employer as well as looking at how to process these benefits and the relevant legislative returns that are required. Other financial information is also considered and the importance of controlling expenditure.

• Year end return for benefits and expenses
• Salary sacrifice
• Creating and controlling budgets

Module 4 - Understanding Payroll Customers and Clients

This module explores the importance of a range of essential managerial skills. Additional skills required during a period of change management are also investigated, such as time and stress management.

• Marketing skills and techniques
• Negotiation skills and techniques
• Verbal communication and body language
• Managing time
• Effective presentations
• Decision making
• Taking part in and chairing meetings
• Problem solving
• Creativity

Module 5 – Improving Payroll Services and Operations

The mix of skills and techniques appropriate to an operation level manager are explored in this module.

• Managing operations for services
• Planning, obtaining and monitoring resources
• Benchmarking quality issues
• Planning and delivering projects
• Managing change and continuous improvement
• Appraising investments