Breakfast Event

Payroll Risk is Moving Upstream

Thursday 23 July 2026 | Sydney
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Managing payroll compliance before it reaches the pay run.

The risk isn't in payroll. It's in everything that feeds it.

Most payroll compliance failures don't start in the payroll system. They start upstream in a rostering decision that wasn't validated, a time capture gap that nobody caught, a manual handoff that everyone assumed someone else owned.

By the time payroll processes a pay run, the risk has already been baked in.

The regulatory environment is making this harder to ignore. Award interpretation is growing more complex. Underpayment scrutiny is intensifying. And the cost of getting it wrong is no longer landing on payroll teams alone, it's landing on boards.

Yet most organisations are still focused on fixing the output, the pay run, rather than the inputs feeding it. This session flips that lens.

Join us at the APA and Datapay Breakfast Roundtable. A small, invitation-only session for senior payroll and HR leaders who are ready to look upstream.

Event Details

Date: 23 July 2026
Time: 7:30am - 9:30am
Location: Hyatt Regency, Heritage Room 1, Sydney
Catering: Complimentary breakfast, barista coffee and refreshments provided. 
Format: Roundtable format: active participation welcomed and expected.

Places are limited to 18. Be sure to register to secure your place. 

 

AustralianPayrollAssociationMay26-33

How the session works

Each expert presentation is followed by open roundtable discussion giving you and your peers the chance to interrogate the content, share your own challenges and hear how others are navigating the same issues. You're not just attending. You're part of the conversation. 

Expert Presentation

From leading professionals and the regulator

Expert Presentation

From leading professionals and the regulator

Expert Presentation

From leading professionals and the regulator
Three topics. Open discussion after each.

What we'll discuss

The cost of disconnected systems and manual processes

When workforce management, HR and payroll operate in silos, data quality degrades at every handoff. Manual workarounds become embedded. Errors compound silently until they surface as underpayments, audit findings or regulatory penalties. It's an honest conversation about what system fragmentation actually costs and what's worked (and failed) when trying to close those gaps.

 

Where payroll risk really begins

Payroll teams inherit risk from decisions made well before a pay run is processed. Rostering errors, time capture gaps, misclassified workers and inconsistent award interpretation all flow into payroll as compliance exposure. Most organisations know this intuitively, few have mapped it clearly. This discussion names the upstream pressure points and opens where others are seeing the same patterns.

 

From reactive fixes to shared accountability

The organisations managing payroll risk well have shifted to a model where payroll, HR, finance and operations share ownership of data quality and compliance upstream. This discussion gets into the practical reality of making that shift: who needs to be in the room, what governance looks like when it works and how to navigate cross-functional ownership in practice. 

What You'll Walk Away With

    • A clearer picture of where payroll compliance risk actually originates in your organisation beyond the payroll function itself
    • Practical insight into how disconnected systems and manual upstream processes create hidden exposure
    • Peer perspectives on how other organisations are building shared accountability across payroll, HR, finance and operations
    • Real conversation with people navigating the same pressures
AustralianPayrollAssociationMay26-40
Expert voices. Direct access. A seat at the table.

Our Speakers & Facilitators

Ross Heron

Chief Executive Officer, Australian Payroll Association

Ana-Mari Gates Bowey

Associate Director, Growth and Revenue, Datacom

Chris Mar

Senior Principal Consultant, Datacom

David Fox

Associate Director, Datacom

Ross Heron

On realising that his dream job of professional football player for Dundee United wasn't going to fit with his immigration plans from Scotland to Australia, payroll was the obvious next step (naturally).

With a strong background in payroll technology and professional services, Ross leads APA as CEO, driving our national service and delivery teams with a focus on excellence, innovation and genuinely great customer experiences.  He’s passionate about raising the bar and occasionally reminding us that if things had gone differently, he’d be on the pitch, not in the boardroom.

Ana-Mari Gates Bowey

Ana-Mari Gates-Bowey is a senior growth and revenue leader specialising in scaling SaaS businesses through integrated go-to-market strategy, data-driven commercial execution, and strong cross-functional leadership. She currently leads the Growth and Revenue function for Datacom’s SaaS portfolio, including Datapay and Datascape, where she is responsible for driving market expansion, revenue performance, and customer growth across product marketing, demand generation, partnerships, and sales enablement. Ana-Mari is known for building high-performing teams and aligning brand, product, and commercial strategy to deliver sustainable growth. With a strong focus on operational discipline, customer outcomes, and innovation, she brings a pragmatic leadership style that combines strategic thinking with the ability to execute at pace in complex technology environments.

Chris Mar

Chris has been with Datacom for over two decades and was the driving force behind the successful construction and implementation of Datacom’s Enterprise Payroll product DataPay as well as Smartly specifically designed for the SME market.

Chris now works on our product and strategy and, in particular, the legislative compliance of our payroll products and services. Chris has been on several government working groups related to tax calculations and employment law in Australia and New Zealand.

 

David Fox

David Fox is Associate Director – Sales at Datapay, part of Datacom, leading client engagement across Australia and New Zealand. He works with organisations navigating complex payroll environments, helping senior leaders strengthen compliance, reduce operational risk and build confidence in the way payroll is governed and delivered.

David brings senior commercial leadership experience across enterprise technology, consulting and SaaS, with a track record of supporting large organisations through transformation across Asia, Pacific and Japan. At Datapay, his focus is helping organisations modernise payroll, navigating complex legislative requirements ensuring long-term resilience whilst harnessing the potential of AI and new ways of working.

 

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