SOLUTION MANUAL for Payroll Accounting 2026, 35th Edition by Bernard J. Bieg, Bridget Stomberg (All Chapters 1 - 7 Complete)

SOLUTION MANUAL for Payroll Accounting 2026, 35th Edition by Bernard J. Bieg, Bridget Stomberg (All Chapters 1 - 7 Complete) As the payroll clerk, your task is to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the information you maintain for the company. If a student group—or any personnel aside from the company’s payroll employees and officers—wishes to review confidential records, you should deny their request. If needed, you should refer the group to your department’s manager to discuss the matter in more depth. The laws that apply to this situation are the Privacy Act of 1974, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Privacy Act , Common-Law Privacy Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and potentially HIPAA. Large vs. Small 1. Large companies face issues with multiple departments, employee access to online personnel portals, employee data security, and timekeeping accuracy. 2. For small companies, payroll processing will involve fewer employees than for larger companies. Smaller companies could maintain their payroll needs using company personnel because of the lower volume of transactions. Larger companies need to consider their available trained payroll accountants and other staff to determine if they can reliably handle the volume of payroll needs in a timely and accurate manner. What Is the Difference? a. Manual payroll systems involve the use of paper and pencil recordkeeping or a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel. This is most appropriate for very small firms. b. Computerized payroll systems can be used by any company, regardless of size. Examples of computerized systems include QuickBooks, Sage 100, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 GP. These computer packages range in price, depending on the company size and operational scope. c. Outsourced payroll involves the engagement of a third party to manage a company’s payroll data, issue employee compensation, and prepare tax forms. d. Certified payroll pertains to companies with employees who work on federal government contracts. Certified payroll ensures that a company reports payroll expenditures of contractually allocated money. ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER MATERIALS REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What is the purpose of a payroll system? a. Provide for internal and external reporting of employee wages and associated taxes, payment of employee compensation, and monitoring of benefits to employees. It also serves as a means of tracking labor costs that managers use for decisionmaking, budgeting, and planning. 2. What is certified payroll? Which companies must use it? a. Certified payroll is a reporting requirement for companies that work with federal contracts that are subject to Davis-Bacon wages. Only those companies that have these types of employees would be required to complete a certified payroll. 3. Why might it be a good idea to let employees manage their payroll records? What are some of the pitfalls? a. An advantage of allowing individuals to self-manage their payroll records would be the employee would be able to answer some simple questions on their own without having to come to the payroll accountant for answers. If employees have access to their payroll records, there would be the need to allow multiple access points to the confidential information. These open channels would require security settings to ensure the requirements of confidentiality are maintained.