Our first but most important piece of advice:

make sure your advisor actually understands payroll.

The Right Advice Starts With the Right People

Payroll Is More Than a Process

Payroll spans finance, HR, law, and even IT. Few individuals or systems truly cover all of these areas - and unlike accounting or law - payroll has no formal degree. It is a practical, experience-based discipline that depends on sound judgment and pattern recognition.

That is why you should not rely solely on advice from finance, HR, or IT independently when it comes to payroll. Each perspective is crucial to forming the entire picture. At PPS, payroll is what we do. Our specialists bring proven expertise in compliance, legislation, and data - connecting the dots across disciplines to deliver advice that is complete, accurate, and practical.

Systems Don’t Solve Everything

You may have invested in top-tier payroll systems and skilled staff. Yet audit issues still arise. Why? Even the most advanced systems cannot guarantee compliance or accuracy on their own. They process data, but do not interpret legislation, handle exceptions, or apply judgment when rules collide with real-life scenarios.

That is why we recommend speaking with us before any major payroll investment. At PPS, our strength begins with people - advisors with the right knowledge and real-world experience who truly understand payroll. We know the strengths and limitations of every major system, and more importantly, the risks hidden behind complex rules and exceptions. By combining deep human expertise with technology, we close the gaps and deliver solutions that are compliant, accurate, and practical.

What we’ve helped solve in hundreds of payroll cases

At PPS, we’ve reviewed hundreds of payroll cases across all industries and systems. Whether the issue was a compliance failure or a system that no longer worked as expected, we’ve consistently found that the real problem is rarely what the client thought it was.

That is why strategic advisory matters. Before any decision is made or any fix applied, you need the right perspective. You need a partner with the experience to see the full picture, understand the context, and guide you in the right direction.

PPS is here to provide that clarity and direction when it matters most.

De-risk: Strategic Compliance Advisory

Payroll risk isn’t always visible, but it becomes expensive when discovered too late.
Most businesses don’t realise they have a payroll problem until something forces them to look closer. It could be an audit, an employee dispute, or a pattern of small errors that finally add up. By then, the risk has already turned into cost. In New Zealand, compliance failures are rarely the result of intentional actions. They emerge because payroll is not a recognised field of study - there’s no degree, no universal framework, and no single place to find the right answers. Without clear guidance, businesses rely on outdated practices or incomplete understanding, allowing risks to remain hidden for years.

At PPS, we find risk faster, and we resolve it better, because we bring the right minds together and all in-house.
We don’t rely on external vendors or siloed departments. Every case is reviewed by a team that includes payroll compliance experts, data scientists, and experienced payroll processors who have worked on thousands of real-world scenarios. Together, they see what others miss and solve what others avoid.

While other providers may take weeks to figure out where the problem starts, we quickly trace the issue across your agreements, system setup, and calculation logic. Then we provide clear, practical recommendations based on what matters most: compliance, accuracy, and risk protection.

Expertly Managing Payroll: Advisory-led Operational Support

You might ask: if payroll is already being managed, why do you still need an advisor?

The answer is judgment. Even with capable staff in place, many organisations struggle with interpreting edge cases, managing exceptions, and maintaining consistency across different roles and pay types. It’s not the process that fails. It’s the unclear decisions within the process that cause errors.

At PPS, we provide operational payroll support grounded in strategic thinking. Our team has processed thousands of payrolls across complex business environments, and every action we take is informed by deep compliance knowledge and practical experience. From calculating entitlements to managing high-volume pay cycles or reviewing leave logic, we strengthen your internal capability without replacing it.

You stay in control. We help you stay compliant, consistent, and confident.

Optimise & Modernise: Advisory for Smarter Payroll Design

Many vendors and advisors will tell you things like this: upgrade your system, increase automation, and invest in the latest technology to improve payroll performance.

But before you request a budget or align multiple departments for a full digital transformation, ask yourself this.
Do you really need a new payroll system, or do you simply need your current one to work better?

In payroll, if the root cause lies in human error, such as incorrect system setup, poor understanding of legislation, or mishandling of exceptions, then no upgrade or investment will solve the problem. Transformation should not happen just for the sake of it.

At PPS, we approach optimisation as a strategic advisory process. We analyse how your payroll actually operates, including your people, platforms, policies, and handovers. We look at what slows things down, where mistakes occur, and how decisions are made. Then we show you which small changes can deliver real impact, without disrupting what already works.

What’s your payroll pain?
What’s your payroll pain?

Explore Our Advisory Services

Leverage over a decade of payroll expertise and experience across hundreds of New Zealand businesses to gain clear, actionable insights.

Our Strategic Advisory Services help you assess your current payroll framework, uncover opportunities for improvement, and equip your team with the skills and strategies to operate with confidence and compliance.

Start Your Advisory Journey
Start Your Advisory Journey