The one person who does it
A week of annual leave, an illness, a resignation — and a date that does not care about any of them.
Nobody elseif the person who does this is away
The Week Off
A week of annual leave in the wrong week stops five of the seven things a payroll run needs. The date does not care, and the problem is entirely foreseeable.
Writing It Down Properly
The sequence exists in somebody's head and works perfectly there. Getting it onto a page is an hour's work and is the single highest-return thing in this subject.
The Second Person
A deputy does not need to understand payroll. They need a written sequence, four kinds of access, and somebody to ask. That is an afternoon, not a training programme.
Where the Keys Are
Payroll depends on four or five credentials held by one person. It is the most common thing that strands a substitute and the easiest to fix.
Handing It Over
A payroll handover transfers a sequence, five credentials and a body of undocumented knowledge. Most handovers transfer the first two.
Changing How It Is Run
Moving payroll between software, bureaux or people is the event most likely to go publicly wrong. Doing it at a year boundary removes most of the risk.
What a Year of Runs Shows
Twelve runs read as a set, rather than one at a time, tell a small business which of its own habits cost it money and attention.