The APA PayTrain College/University Program
The IRS and Department of Labor change the requirements affecting payroll processing change every year. Are you in compliance?
- Take charge of your payroll career.
- Improve your payroll knowledge and prepare for FPC/CPP certifications.
- Earn the APA PayTrain Certificate with the completion of both the Fundamentals and Mastery courses.
PayTrain College/University Fundamentals
Instructor: B. Curtis, CPP, PHR
Learn the fundamental payroll calculations and applications that provide you with the basic knowledge and skills required to maintain payroll compliance and prevent costly penalties. This course is ideal for new payroll professionals as well as those who support the payroll industry, those who are preparing for FPC certification, and those who wish to take the Mastery course. You receive classroom instruction and access to interactive online quizzes, games, and application exercises that reinforce the topics of:
- Payroll concepts
- Calculations
- Fringe benefits
- Payroll reporting and employment taxes
- Recordkeeping and Payroll practices
- Payroll accounting
- Professional Administration
Participants who successfully complete the course can expect to function as entry level payroll administrators. You can see expected outcomes of this program below.
Learning materials are included in the cost of the class. 3.0 CEU’s
Offered Fall 2012. Registration begins July 2, 2012.
This class is a prerequisite to the PayTrain Mastery course below.
PayTrain C/U Mastery
Instructor: B. Curtis, CPP, PHR
This is a comprehensive course providing students with a solid understanding of advanced payroll topics necessary for payroll managers and supervisors. This course is ideal for experienced payroll professionals seeking compliance training, professional development, or CPP certification preparation. Participants will receive classroom instruction and access to interactive online quizzes, games, and application exercises to reinforce topics learned.
Topics include:
• Employee vs. Contractor issues
• Payroll tax reporting
• Fair Labor Standards
• Federal taxation and other legislation
• Payroll accounting
• Recordkeeping
• Payroll management.
Participants should have completed the PayTrain Fundamentals course or demonstrate some prior payroll experience/knowledge. Course fee includes all materials.
Offered Spring 2013.
Note: PayTrain Fundamentals is a pre-requisite for this course unless a potential student scores 80% or better on the APA’s Knowledge Assessment “Preparing for the FPC Exam”. You can see expected outcomes of this program below.
As a payroll professional, you know how important it is to maintain compliance by keeping up with changing payroll legislation and procedures. For most of the world, payroll is like electricity – it doesn’t get noticed until it’s not there and much like electricity, payroll is a vital part of day-to-day business.
The payroll industry is dynamic and ever changing. Every year federal and state legislative changes force payroll professionals to continuously seek out payroll training opportunities in order to remain compliant. The PayTrain C/U program, formerly PPLS, is a training tool that will keep payroll professionals up to date and compliant, further their general professional development initiatives, and help them prepare for the FPC or CPP certification exams.
Created by the American Payroll Association (APA), the PayTrain C/U program is the premiere payroll training program in the college setting and comprises two distinct courses – PayTrain Fundamentals and PayTrain Mastery – which covers the skills and body of knowledge deemed critical by the APA for payroll professionals. This body of knowledge is the basis for the Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) and Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) examinations and covers the following topics:
- Core payroll concepts
- Compliance
- Principles of paycheck calculations
- Payroll reporting and employment taxes
- Payroll process and systems
- Accounting
- Management and administration
Who Should Take PayTrain C/U courses?
PayTrain C/U was created to meet the needs of payroll professionals and serves a wide variety of participant types. Anyone who works with some facet of payroll on a regular basis will benefit from PayTrain C/U and includes the following:
- New hires in large payroll departments and payroll service providers
- Employees who are assuming greater responsibilities
- Payroll software developers and technical support representatives
- Recently promoted payroll supervisors or managers
- Post-secondary students interested in moving into the payroll profession
- Personnel in payroll service providers who need a basic understanding of payroll
- Payroll professionals who are preparing for the FPC or CPP examinations
- CPA firms providing payroll services to their clients
Outcomes:
- A foundation of knowledge for entering or continuing their career in the payroll field
- Formal training in payroll administration
- Access to a network of peers to learn about payroll practices at other organizations
- Continued professional development
- Solid grounding in compliance issues related to tax and regulatory information
- Preparation for the Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) and Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) certification examinations
- Recertification credit hours to maintain their FPC or CPP credentials
- An understanding of payroll essentials through hands-on exercises
- New perspectives on complex payroll topics
- Exposure to noncompliance issues and minimizing costly penalties
- Improved job performance by increasing accuracy and compliance
- The ability to create a vision for their payroll department.
- Access to online learning that includes:
- Pre-test and final test that measures an existing level of knowledge and a final level of knowledge
- Lesson quizzes to test comprehension and retention of topics in each lesson
- Application exercises and games to provide an interactive way of reinforcing learned materials as well the opportunity to apply learned concepts
Meet your instructor:
Beverly Curtis, CPP, PHR Beverly has worked at Alter Trading Corp for 27 years as an HR/Payroll Manager with over 850 employees in 34 locations. She has served as President of the local APA chapter which she helped create and has taught the APA payroll courses at Black Hawk College for ten years.
