Hi Christine

Although the Payroll Management Diploma is taken using software packages (Sage being the default) it is also based on manual systems and using the various tables, so I guess it will depend on your knowledge of the inner workings PAYE and NI. If you have none, I would recommend Ideal Schools course. It is the same course work as the IAB (Think they should offer me a free course with all the recommendations I give for them!!).

If you are fully up to speed on PAYE and NI then the cheaper option is find your way round Sage

Bill

Good thing with Ideal Schools is you get to pay it over 10 months. OK - it isn't keeping the costs down, merely spreading them out. But that's the main reason I'll likely be going with them for my next course.

I am studying the for the Payroll Management Course at the moment with Ideal Schools and for me it is great that I am able to spread the payments and pay monthly. You firstly get a folder full of manual payroll explanations and assignments and then once this is completed, you are sent another folder and the payroll disc to do the computerised section of the course. So far I am onto my fifth manual assignment and I am really enjoying the course. Other than getting a pay slip when I used to work before having children, I had no previous payroll knowledge so for me learning with a provider gives me the confidence that I need. So far I haven't needed any help from them other than marking assignments but it is reassuring to know that they are there if I need additional support and I have heard really good things about Ideal Schools from people on this forum which helped me decide to go with them in the first place.

Good luck with your studies

Terri

Do you think its essential to be able to handle payroll manually?

I suppose if someone were to ask me that about bookkeeping i would answer yes, as i learnt to bookkeep manually, not on a computerised system. (AAT Qualified) But - i am bumbling along fairly happily using sage payroll, and am wondering whether i do really need to know all the ins and outs?

Or let me see what the Bookkeepers Forum says

Yes i suppose you're right. I better sign up too then. I've always been very grateful for doing the AAT foundation even though i was exempt as it set me up well with the basics for the next years.

Agree. I couldn't do computerised of anything (at all) without knowing the reason behind the mechanism. Actually I have to admit, it would be so easy just do do things without questioning the reason but I am not the sort of person. ;)

Hello Christine.
I have done the Sage 50 Payroll self study and passed both levels of the course with Sage.

I have also done the level diploma in Payroll management  with the ICB and passed that aswell getting a merit and 93%.

But I believe it was the sage 50 payroll books that helped me. I did not do any courses for the payroll at all. It was all from my sage books! Although there is some manual elements in the exam but I found them quite easy. The Sage 50 payroll books also have manual information in them not just computerised.
 
Although Ideal schools is great. I am doing two courses this very moment with them, and would recommend them. But as I said I coped quite well with the Sage payroll books.


Hope this was of some help.


Karen   

semsley wrote:

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HMRC are also now fully geared up to everything being computerised and I think this is the best option

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We would all like to think they are!!! I have just spent the day trying to sort out a cock up with an electronic VAT payment.

Help Desk is an oxymoron

Bill

 

Did you ring the agents helpline number? I've only ever phoned twice and got through within about 5 rings to someone. I appreciated you probably did but here it is anyway: 0845 366 7855

Tried this morning - and they just gave the original phone number to ring for VAT!!! I asked if there was a magic trick I didn't know about to get through as I have been ringing for 2 days. He said to maybe try again next week as some of the staff had been moved to the Tax Credits helpline -  marvellous!! 

Thanks Bill - I'll try that next. Wish me luck!!

-- Edited by Susie Sue on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 02:58:48 PM

Or Forii

Quentin Pain wrote:

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I am trying to keep costs down without cutting corners

Hi Christine, working the tables manually is pretty easy and HMRC cover it all for free - contact them for the booklets. These days there are free online payroll sites (eg. Payroo and 12Pay) so you can test out your calculations. It will only take you a day to understand it 

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You'll get different answers from the tables to the free online calculators when it comes to the national insurance calculations.

 

You can do payroll in Pro without a subscription, but it is limited. You will have to manually calculate all taxes and withholdings. You will also have to create all tax forms (including W2's, W3's, 941's, etc.) manually outside of the program.

If you consider all the time you will spend doing these things manually) with a greater likelihood of making a mistake, it might be cheaper to get the subscription. Your time is worth something, isn't it?
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Life Insurance | Life Assurance

My advice would be to go self-study. The Sage Instant Payroll course is worth the money: you get Sage Instant payroll (good for 180 days) and the five manuals alone are worth the cost of the pack (£57). These study materials alongside a good review of the the HMRC PAYE / NI guidance notes should see you right.

There's enough in Level III Payroll Management Diploma (ICB) to catch you out, so I think you do need to know your stuff. That said, I spent two weeks studying payroll and completed the ICB Level III Payroll Management Diploma and got 97% - but that took a lot of hard work. My submitted answer paper totalled 40 pages.

There have been comments about "just leaving it up to the computer" - this is not something I would feel comfortable wtih. Even if you are using Sage Payroll, if you subscribe to the Employers Updates you get updated software that includes the new TAX & NI tables each year, but if you don't subscribe to this, then you need to know how these tables work and then update the software tables yourself. In this case you need to know what you are doing - manually.

For me, the Level III Payroll Management Diploma was one of the nicest ICB exams that I've done. Learned a lot and really enjoyed it. Looking through a lot of the posts on this forum, there are many who talk about what they need to do to jump over the next hurdle. Learning isn't about just knowing enough to meet an assignment or an exam, learning is about taking knowledge on board that will stick with you throughout your bookkeeping career.

I've just got the Level III Manual Bookkeeping Diploma to do and then wrap up with Self-Assessment. I'll have achieved all the ICB exams in five months, but the exams are just the start, learning never ends.

Definitely go for the Sage Self Study, definitely worth the money.