On Monday, May 26, Tina Brown walked into Innovative Patios to begin her new job as Payroll Manager. She was met by Julie Thornbury , President and major shareholder of the company. Julie got to the point: âGood, youâre here. I need a payroll plan by Friday. This place is a mess.
Yesterday I got a call from Human Resources & Skills Development Canada . He said we arenât filing ROEs. Do you know what they are?
Weâve got employees telling us that they get more tax deducted than their friends who earn the same amount. Jim, our production manager is barking that he should have a tax credit for his kid. Weâve been fined for sending in employee taxes late. I donât get it. I pay two people to run the administrative side of things and they mess things up.
I hear there are changes in the pipeline. I heard the federal budget, but I donât know if we will benefit or not. Will it be just more paperwork? The bottom line is that I donât want any more government types coming around here threatening me. Tell me what we have to do.â
Company History
Innovative Patios is a private corporation that installs patios stones made from recycled material. The company was started twenty years ago by Julieâs parents Elena and Seamus. Elena and Seamus were immigrants to Canada and earned a living through a small landscaping business. They hired workers on contract and paid in cash for many years until they were audited by the tax department.
To avoid further problems, they incorporated the company five years ago, put their workers on the payroll and hired Mary as a bookkeeper to fill out all the government forms.
Payroll Department
Mary quickly became Innovative Patiosâ office manager, human resources manager, financial administrator and payroll manager. The workload was overwhelming and she convinced Julie to hire Liza to help her. Liza suggested they use Quicken to keep track of all accounts including payroll.
Mary and Liza fill out all cheques by hand for the ten employees and fill out all the government forms by hand. The companyâs remittances are based on a checklist Mary developed in 2009 (See Exhibit), Mary is unhappy because she works very hard, but everyone complains about things being wrong. When Julie landed a large contract that would require 15 more people be hired, Mary recommended that Julie hire a professional payroll manager. âI can handle the other stuff, but the Canada Revenue Agency and the employee complaints are driving me crazy. I just canât keep up. I will be as helpful as I canâ.
Julie led Tina to her office and rushed off to take care of a crisis on the loading dock. Before Tina could get settled, Mary walked in, âIâm so happy to meet you. Just tell me what you need and Liza and I will get it for you. The employees are paid bi-weekly and this Wednesday is a payday. I havenât prepared anything
because I knew you would be here.
Exhibit: Maryâs 2009 Remittance list
