By Adrienne Silla | Head of Advisory, APA
This is perhaps the most important message for payroll professionals.
You cannot outsource your payroll knowledge to AI.
AI can give you an answer.
But you need enough payroll knowledge to assess that answer.
Think about someone who is new to payroll.
If they don’t understand Award interpretation, PAYG withholding, superannuation, leave entitlements, termination payments or STP reporting, giving them access to an AI tool doesn’t suddenly give them the knowledge and experience required to run payroll correctly.
In fact, it could create another risk.
If you don’t understand the fundamentals of payroll, how do you know when the AI is wrong?
That’s why payroll training remains so important. The stronger your payroll knowledge, the more effectively you can use AI.
You can ask better questions. You can challenge an answer that doesn’t look right. You can identify when something needs further investigation.
And you can understand the difference between a general answer and one that applies to the specific circumstances you’re dealing with.
The conversation around AI sometimes makes it sound as though technology is going to replace people. In payroll, we see it differently. The future is payroll professionals using technology to become more efficient and effective.
AI can help with the research. It can help you get started. It can help you find information at 10 pm when the payroll team is trying to close the pay run.
But the professional judgement still belongs with the payroll professional. That’s why the combination of payroll knowledge + AI is so powerful. The AI can help you get to the information faster.
Your knowledge helps you understand what to do with it.
This is where Beryl can become a valuable addition to your payroll toolkit.
Payroll questions don’t always arrive during business hours.
You might be processing a termination late in the afternoon.
You might be checking an allowance during a payroll run.
You might be reviewing a leave payment before the pay run closes.
Or you might simply have a question you want to investigate before you speak to someone else.
Beryl is available 24/7. And because Beryl has been designed specifically for Australian payroll and works from APA’s defined payroll knowledge sources, it provides a focused starting point when you need an answer.
It doesn’t replace your payroll expertise. It helps you use it more effectively.
The payroll professionals who will get the most value from AI won’t necessarily be the people who ask it the most questions.
They will be the people who understand payroll well enough to:
That’s why payroll training and technology need to work together.
At the Australian Payroll Association, we help payroll professionals build the knowledge and confidence they need to manage payroll effectively, and we also give them access to technology that can help them work smarter.
Build your payroll knowledge with APA training. Get payroll support whenever you need it with Beryl, APA’s 24/7 AI payroll assistant. Because AI can give you an answer, payroll knowledge helps you know whether it’s the right one.
For more information or to sign up for Beryl visit https://austpayroll.com.au/beryl