[New Zealand] Novopay payroll failings continue to disrupt schools

[New Zealand] Novopay payroll failings continue to disrupt schools
23 Nov 2022

The failed Novopay payroll system was decommissioned in October 2021, however, its legacy is creating ongoing problems for New Zealand’s schools, Reseller News reports.

The Auditor-General found that the $182 million Novopay Online system was still producing one crucial report when it was decommissioned. Without that report, auditors cannot rely on payroll controls in most schools during the 2022 financial year and will have to undertake additional testing.

The processing of payroll transactions had reportedly moved progressively from Novopay Online - said to be NZ's largest IT project failure - to its replacement 'EdPay' in recent years.

But many schools still relied on a Novopay Online transaction report to check the accuracy of payroll-related changes. 

In a letter to the secretary for education and Ministry of Education chief executive Iona Holsted - released on November 22 - deputy controller and auditor-general Greg Schollum wrote, "Schools were not given any guidance about what they could do instead to check whether payroll changes had been correctly processed."

Auditors reportedly sought to rely on such controls to reduce the amount of other testing required, where possible. But in the absence of the report, auditors were not able to rely on payroll controls for most schools.

"The absence of the Novopay Online transaction report meant we had to carry out additional and unplanned payroll testing for many of our school audits." The letter continued.

Various transaction history reports became available to schools through EdPay, allowing the accuracy of payroll changes to be checked. 

Because these were not all in place until the end of March 2022, however, the Auditor-General expected that auditors would be unable to rely on payroll controls for the 2022 school audits. 

"Controls need to be operating for the full year for an auditor to be able to rely on them," the letter said. "Therefore, additional payroll testing will again be required for many school audits for the 2022 year."

This reportedly contributed to a noticeable delay in the completion of audits.

 

Source: Reseller News

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

The failed Novopay payroll system was decommissioned in October 2021, however, its legacy is creating ongoing problems for New Zealand’s schools, Reseller News reports.

The Auditor-General found that the $182 million Novopay Online system was still producing one crucial report when it was decommissioned. Without that report, auditors cannot rely on payroll controls in most schools during the 2022 financial year and will have to undertake additional testing.

The processing of payroll transactions had reportedly moved progressively from Novopay Online - said to be NZ's largest IT project failure - to its replacement 'EdPay' in recent years.

But many schools still relied on a Novopay Online transaction report to check the accuracy of payroll-related changes. 

In a letter to the secretary for education and Ministry of Education chief executive Iona Holsted - released on November 22 - deputy controller and auditor-general Greg Schollum wrote, "Schools were not given any guidance about what they could do instead to check whether payroll changes had been correctly processed."

Auditors reportedly sought to rely on such controls to reduce the amount of other testing required, where possible. But in the absence of the report, auditors were not able to rely on payroll controls for most schools.

"The absence of the Novopay Online transaction report meant we had to carry out additional and unplanned payroll testing for many of our school audits." The letter continued.

Various transaction history reports became available to schools through EdPay, allowing the accuracy of payroll changes to be checked. 

Because these were not all in place until the end of March 2022, however, the Auditor-General expected that auditors would be unable to rely on payroll controls for the 2022 school audits. 

"Controls need to be operating for the full year for an auditor to be able to rely on them," the letter said. "Therefore, additional payroll testing will again be required for many school audits for the 2022 year."

This reportedly contributed to a noticeable delay in the completion of audits.

 

Source: Reseller News

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

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