Catawba County News
Catawba County 101: Finance: Accounts Payable & Payroll
Published: February 04, 2025
MAKING. LIVING. BETTER: FINANCE: Accounts Payable & Payroll
What is its mission/purpose?
The mission or purpose of Accounts Payable is to ensure vendor payments are made timely, accurately, and in compliance with regulations, while managing public funds responsibly and maintaining transparency in all financial transactions. This enables the county to serve its citizens effectively and maintain public trust.
The mission or purpose of Payroll is to ensure that all employees are paid correctly and on time, in compliance with laws and policies, while maintaining accuracy, confidentiality, and accountability. This enables the county to effectively manage its workforce and contribute to the efficient delivery of public services.
How do you achieve your mission – what services are offered?
Accounts Payable provides several key services aimed at ensuring accurate and timely payment of vendor invoices in compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations and requirements. These services include establishing and maintaining vendor payment profiles, validating disbursement vouchers with available budget, creating weekly ACH payment files and generating vendor checks when applicable, internal control compliance, monitoring purchase order balances, processing annual sales tax refund requests, submitting escheat data to the State, and generating vendor tax form 1099s as well as other reporting requirements. From July-December 2024 staff processed over 8,700 payment vouchers.
Payroll services include a wide range of functions designed to ensure employees are paid accurately, timely, and in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. These services include processing employee compensation, submitting payroll data to the appropriate regulatory authorities, submitting employee and County contributions to the Local Government Employee Retirement System, payroll reports, updating direct deposit information when requested by staff, processing payroll checks for election workers, and submitting payment files. These services are crucial for maintaining an efficient, legally compliant, and well-functioning payroll system within a county government. From July-December 2024 staff processed 17,267 direct deposit transactions and generated 565 checks.
Who does this department/service area/program serve?
Both of these services provide support to county employees, while Accounts Payable also engages with county vendors. When county employees require assistance with payroll or accounts payable services, this is the most suitable option to consider.
How and where are services delivered?
Accounts Payable - Services are delivered through the collection and verification of vendor invoices, payment processing, and vendor communication. This enables the successful transfer of payment to the vendor utilized by various departments.
Payroll - Services begin with the reconciliation and validation of timesheet reports for each pay period and entails multiple steps to generate payment files and reporting to regulatory authorities.
How many staff members are involved in delivering services?
There are seven staff members engaged in the provision of these two services, listed as follows:
How does our community and/or organization benefit from these services?
These services offer considerable advantages to the Catawba County Government by facilitating the seamless and effective functioning of its financial systems, enhancing compliance, increasing transparency, and nurturing constructive relationships with both employees and vendors. For instance, we guarantee prompt payments to vendors and ensure that employees receive their compensation accurately and on schedule.