Payroll Relief’s public documentation describes configurable client permissions, including access to selected setup, payroll, compliance, and reporting functions. It also identifies certain firm functions, such as establishing electronic services and monitoring payrolls, as restricted to accountants. This supports a shared-work model, but it does not establish which permissions are active in a particular account. Source: AccountantsWorld’s collaboration documentation.
Before configuring access, define what each participant is responsible for doing. Then verify that the proposed settings support that arrangement. This guide provides a permission-planning method rather than an unverified sequence of interface clicks.
Describe tasks before naming roles
Labels such as administrator, manager, and payroll contact can conceal different expectations. One employer may use “payroll manager” for someone who only submits hours. Another may use it for the person who authorizes every payroll change.
Write the task itself: submit hours, maintain approved employee information, review a draft result, obtain reports, or authorize a sensitive change. Identify the person accountable for the decision and the person expected to perform the action. They may be the same person, but that should be deliberate.
This exercise also reveals work that has no owner. If the client assumes the firm checks every submitted rate while the firm assumes the client has already approved it, a permission setting alone will not resolve the misunderstanding.
Build a proposed access matrix
The table below is an example of responsibilities to discuss. It is not a list of Payroll Relief’s exact role names or a claim that every combination can be configured.
| Participant | Proposed task | Boundary to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Firm processor | Prepare payroll from authorized information | Which changes require additional approval? |
| Firm reviewer | Review results and unresolved issues | What evidence shows the version reviewed? |
| Client payroll contact | Submit agreed payroll information | Can access be limited to the intended work? |
| Client owner or approver | Authorize business decisions | How is authorization communicated and retained? |
| Employee | Access personal payroll information | What information can the employee view or maintain? |
Ask the provider to demonstrate the relevant boundaries with representative accounts. Seeing what a role cannot do is as useful as seeing what it can do.
The payroll review guide explains the review process itself. This page concerns who should be able to participate in it.
Examine delegated access
AccountantsWorld states that clients granted permissions can create logins and grant a subset of those permissions to their employees. That makes delegation an important evaluation point. Ask how the firm can understand the resulting access arrangement and how the client is expected to maintain it. Source: collaboration documentation.
The practical question is who notices when a person changes jobs or leaves. Agree on the notification route and the person responsible for modifying access. Include temporary cover and role changes, which can otherwise leave old permissions in place after the original reason has ended.
Treat delegated access as part of the client service arrangement. If the client is allowed to create additional users, it should understand the boundaries of that authority and its responsibility for keeping the information current.
Distinguish access review from activity review
Access review asks whether a person should hold a permission. Activity review asks what happened while that permission was available. Both matter, and neither automatically substitutes for the other.
Payroll Relief’s management materials describe logs and an audit trail for changes to sensitive payroll information. The public description does not establish every event captured or the precise fields available. Ask to see how the relevant change appears and whether the evidence meets your review need. Source: management tools.
A useful demonstration would connect a permitted change to the information a reviewer can later inspect. If the firm requires evidence the system does not provide, identify the additional record it will maintain rather than assuming that an audit trail covers everything.
Investigate a missing feature without assuming a fault
When a user cannot see a function, first identify the task and intended responsibility. Then ask the authorized administrator to compare the user’s configuration with the agreed access plan. A missing option can be consistent with the intended role, but public documentation cannot establish the cause in an unseen account.
Record the exact symptom without circulating confidential information. “The client contact cannot access the agreed report” is more actionable than “the portal is broken.” If provider assistance is needed, use the official support route appropriate to the customer account.
Make access part of service acceptance
Before rollout, have the firm and client confirm the responsibility matrix and test representative access. Repeat the relevant review when staffing or service scope changes.
The Payroll Relief evaluation guide places these checks within the buying decision. A permission arrangement is useful when it supports the agreed work, has an owner, and can be explained to the people expected to use it.