An official State of Ohio site. Here’s how you know
Contact

Welcome,
New User

User: New User

Date: 08/20/2025

Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

Compile and record employee time and payroll data. May compute employees' time worked, production, and commission. May compute and post wages and deductions, or prepare paychecks.

View All

    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Process paperwork for new employees and enter employee information into the payroll system.
    • Compile employee time, production, and payroll data from time sheets and other records.
    • Review time sheets, work charts, wage computation, and other information to detect and reconcile payroll discrepancies.
    • Distribute and collect timecards each pay period.
    • Conduct verifications of employment.
    • Prepare and balance period-end reports, and reconcile issued payrolls to bank statements.
    • Provide information to employees and managers on payroll matters, tax issues, benefit plans, and collective agreement provisions.
    • Keep track of leave time, such as vacation, personal, and sick leave, for employees.
    • Train employees on organizations' timekeeping systems.
    • Prepare and file payroll tax returns.
    • Complete, verify, and process forms and documentation for administration of benefits, such as pension plans, and unemployment and medical insurance.
    • Record employee information, such as exemptions, transfers, and resignations, to maintain and update payroll records.
    • Issue and record adjustments to pay related to previous errors or retroactive increases.
    • Prepare and file payroll tax returns.
    • Compute wages and deductions, and enter data into computers.
    • Prepare and balance period-end reports, and reconcile issued payrolls to bank statements.
    • Complete, verify, and process forms and documentation for administration of benefits, such as pension plans, and unemployment and medical insurance.
    • Keep informed about changes in tax and deduction laws that apply to the payroll process.
    • Verify attendance, hours worked, and pay adjustments, and post information onto designated records.
    • Complete time sheets showing employees' arrival and departure times.
    • Process and issue employee paychecks and statements of earnings and deductions.
    • Compile statistical reports, statements, and summaries related to pay and benefits accounts, and submit them to appropriate departments.
    • Balance cash and payroll accounts.
    • Compute wages and deductions, and enter data into computers.
    • Process paperwork for new employees and enter employee information into the payroll system.
    • Coordinate special programs, such as United Way campaigns, that involve payroll deductions.

    Skills

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    4
    Workplace Documents
    4
    Graphic Literacy
    4

    Abilities

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    Knowledge

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    Career Video

    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 51460/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 24.74/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 4,420
    • Yearly Projected Openings 400

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Integrity
    • Cooperation
    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Self Control
    • Independence

    Tools

    • Desktop calculator
    • Desktop computers
    • Mainframe console or dumb terminals
    • Personal computers

    Technology

    • Accounting software
    • Business intelligence and data analysis software
    • Compliance software
    • Data base reporting software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
    • Financial analysis software
    • Human resources software
    • Internet browser software
    • Office suite software
    • Presentation software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Time accounting software
    • Word processing software

    Tags

    • Apprenticeships are available for this occupation. These programs can help you get hands-on experience and build your skills.
    Need help on researching occupations and careers? Download the Guide to Researching Occupations (PDF).

    Need help on how to research education and training programs? Download the Guide to Higher Education (PDF).

    Budget Calculator

    Answer a few questions to determine your target salary. Use this target salary to help choose the right occupation for you.

    Lifestyle Calculator

    Answer a few questions to determine your target salary. Use this target salary to help choose the right occupation for you.

    Workforce Supply Tool

    Workforce Supply Tool

    The Workforce Supply Tool provides statistics for the occupations in highest demand throughout Ohio.

    You can view statewide statistics as well as more region specific information.

    Visit Site
    Powered By: