Payroll Manager

Reporting: Human Resources Executive

Location: Maitland until May 2027, then Montague Park

Proposed start date: February 2027

Purpose:

To lead and manage the end-to-end weekly and monthly payroll function for Cape Herb & Spice, ensuring employees are paid accurately, completely and on time and that payroll is administered in accordance with applicable legislation, tax requirements, company policies and approved remuneration practices.

The Payroll Manager is accountable for effective payroll governance, controls, reconciliations, statutory compliance, employee data integrity and payroll reporting, and for providing specialist payroll support to HR, Finance and Operational Management.

The role leads and develops the payroll team and safeguards the confidentiality and integrity of employee and remuneration information.

Role Objectives:

Key Success Measure:

• Weekly and monthly payrolls completed accurately and within approved payroll calendars and cut-off deadlines.
• Payroll errors, reversals and off-cycle corrections maintained within agreed tolerance levels.
• Payroll, statutory, benefit and General Ledger reconciliations completed accurately and timeously.
• Statutory submissions and payments completed accurately within prescribed deadlines.
• Material payroll variances and exceptions identified, investigated and resolved before final payroll approval.
• Effective payroll controls and segregation of duties maintained.
• Employee payroll queries resolved within agreed standards.
• Payroll reporting delivered accurately and within agreed reporting timelines.
• Internal and external payroll audit findings appropriately addressed and recurring findings prevented.
• Payroll procedures, process documentation and business-continuity arrangements maintained and tested.
• Continuous improvement initiatives implemented to enhance payroll accuracy, control, efficiency and employee service.

Key Functional Duties:

Payroll Management:

• Manage and oversee the complete weekly and monthly payroll cycles, from approved input and validation through to final review, authorisation and payment preparation. This includes employee benefit related elements such as retirement fund.
• Review and validate time and attendance-related payroll inputs, including hours worked, overtime, shifts, leave and other variable remuneration, and investigate material exceptions prior to payroll finalisation.
• Maintain appropriate access controls and confidentiality over payroll data, employee personal information, banking information and remuneration information.
• Working knowledge of POPIA requirements and appropriate controls governing access, processing, retention and confidentiality of personal and remuneration information.

2. Payroll Reconciliation & Controls

• Perform and/or review weekly and monthly payroll reconciliations.
• Reconcile payroll reports against supporting documentation and approved payroll changes.
• Review payroll variance reports and investigate unusual or material movements.
• Reconcile payroll-related deductions and contributions.
• Ensure payroll information supplied to Finance is complete and accurate.
• Reconcile payroll control accounts to the General Ledger in conjunction with Finance.
• Ensure payroll journals and payroll cost allocations are complete, accurate and submitted within Finance month-end deadlines.
• Investigate and resolve payroll-related balance sheet reconciliation differences.
• Provide Finance with payroll accruals and payroll cost information where required.
• Maintain adequate supporting documentation and audit trails for payroll transactions, relevant approvals and auditing purposes.
• Assist with month-end and year-end payroll requirements.

3. Statutory, Audit and Governance Compliance

• Ensure payroll administration complies with applicable South African tax, labour and payroll legislation.
• Ensure accurate calculation and processing of PAYE, UIF and SDL, together with other applicable statutory deductions and contributions.
• Complete the preparation, reconciliation and submission of EMP201s, EMP501 reconciliations, IRP5/IT3(a) employee tax certificates and other applicable payroll statutory returns.
• Ensure payroll information required for UIF and other Department of Employment and Labour requirements is accurate and submitted within prescribed deadlines.
• Support payroll information and earnings requirements relating to COIDA/Compensation Fund reporting where applicable.
• Ensure payroll treatment of employee remuneration, benefits, allowances, deductions and termination payments is compliant with applicable tax and labour requirements.
• Prepare payroll documentation for internal and external audits.
• Support payroll-related SMETA requirements and audits.
• Provide payroll information for compliance and customer questionnaires where required.
• Keep abreast of legislative, tax and regulatory changes and implement required payroll changes.

4. Reporting

• Prepare monthly/Quarterly/ad hoc payroll reports for management, HR and Finance which covers a range of payroll elements.
• Provide payroll information required for budgeting, audits and statutory reporting.

5. Payroll Team Management

• Manage, support and develop the payroll team.
• Allocate work and monitor delivery against weekly and monthly payroll deadlines.
• Review payroll work and ensure appropriate quality and control standards are maintained.
• Manage team performance and identify training and development requirements.
• Ensure adequate payroll cover and cross-training to support business continuity and reduce key-person dependency.
• Maintain payroll procedures and promote continuous improvement in payroll processes.
• Provide specialist payroll guidance to all stakeholders.

Education & Required Knowledge:

Qualifications

• Relevant diploma or degree in Payroll, Accounting, Finance, Human Resources or a related field.
• A recognised payroll qualification would be advantageous.

Experience

• Minimum 5 years relevant payroll experience on SAGE 300 People. Including demonstrable experience independently managing or overseeing an end-to-end payroll function.
• Experience with high-volume payroll in an FMCG/manufacturing environment, including weekly and monthly payrolls would be strongly advantageous.
• Strong experience in payroll reconciliations and statutory payroll requirements.
• Demonstrated experience supervising, developing and reviewing the work of payroll employees.
• Advanced Excel capability and strong practical experience with an established payroll/HRIS platform; Sage payroll experience would be advantageous.

If you have not received a response within two weeks of submitting your application, please consider your application unsuccessful.

To consider any application for employment, we will have to process your personal information. The Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA), provides that when one processes another’s personal information, such collection, retention, dissemination and use of that person’s personal information must be done in a lawful and transparent manner.

To give effect to the above, we are required to provide you with information regarding the processing of your personal information. This information is recorded under the HR Processing Notice, which can be accessed and viewed on the Company website at https://www.libstar.co.za/legal/. Printed copies of this Processing Notice can also be accessed from the HR department. We kindly request that you read the HR Processing Notice to ensure that you understand how Libstar uses and processes your personal information.