Establishing and Analyzing Payroll Benchmarks and Metrics
Learn how to start benchmarking payroll, choose the right metrics, collect data and identify your payroll customers' needs so you can improve department performance.
Speaker
Mark Schwartz
Employment tax specialist · Former California payroll tax auditor
Overview
As the payroll department has evolved, payroll professionals need skills to keep improving its performance. This 90-minute payroll benchmarks and metrics training gives you a practical starting point.
You'll review how payroll best practices have evolved, benchmarking basics, the types of benchmarking and how to get started. The session then covers metrics basics, what to measure and why, and data collection methods.
Finally, it looks at customer focus: the different types of payroll customers and how to identify their requirements, so you can use what you measure to keep your department current.
Why attend: Payroll is one of the largest corporate expenses on the financial statements. Analyzing those costs, knowing what you can control and reducing expenses can make a real difference to company performance, and benchmarking shows where to focus by comparing you with competitors and industry standards. This session suits payroll, HR and benefits professionals, CPAs, accountants, controllers, CFOs, finance directors, bookkeepers, business and operations managers and executives.
What’s covered
- Evolution of payroll best practices
- Benchmark basics
- Types of benchmarking
- How to start benchmarking
- Metrics basics
- What to measure and why
- Data collection methods
- Types of customers
- Identifying customer requirements
Who should attend
What you get
About the speaker
Mark Schwartz is an employment tax specialist and has over 15 years of employment tax experience as an independent consultant and as a payroll tax auditor with the State of California. He has managed an audit caseload of 20 ongoing audits, from small home-based businesses to large multi-national corporations. He is expert at defining regulatory and statutory requirements from local, State and Federal government agencies; and helping the average businessperson understand what that mean to their business. He has processed weekly and bi-weekly payroll checks plus tax forms for businesses with hourly as well as exempt workers, multistate operations and a wide variety of benefits.
Mr. Schwartz provides consulting services encompassing payroll processing and payroll tax issues. These include payroll tax minimization, payroll tax compliance reviews, independent contractor studies, use of electronic transfers, deductions, benefits, etc. Mark has represented both clients and the State in front of the State Appeals Board. He understands the complexities of local wage laws, unemployment and disability claims, and other wage and benefit issues affecting your employees.
Mark prides himself on his outstanding customer service skills. He listens attentively to his clientele, helping them bridge the gap between the small business world and Government bureaucracy. He eagerly assists with clients needs, and feels that educating clients toward faster, accurate and more complete payroll processes provides the most value.
Mark is a participating member of the American Payroll Association. He earned his BA and MBA in Finance at Santa Clara University. He has held Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Investment and Derivatives Auditor Credentials. Mark is currently pursuing a Certified Payroll Fundamentals Credential with the American Payroll Association.

