Case study

The SCHADS increase used to take a full day. Now it is one pass down a list

Every year the pay guide lands, the rates move, and somebody sits down with Fair Work open on one screen and Xero on the other. Employee by employee. That was this provider's July, and it was also how every new starter was set up all year round.

ClientAn NDIS disability support provider running a workforce of forty

SizeForty support workers across days, nights, weekends and sleepovers

EngagementA Xero payroll restructure against the SCHADS award, leave accrual corrected and back-calculated, then ongoing bookkeeping

The practice describes this client by its work and never names it. No region, no employee and no pay figure from the engagement appears here.

The situation

Where they started

Every hourly rate had been typed into an individual employee record. That meant the only way to check whether two support workers on the same classification were paid the same was to open both records and compare them by eye.

Nobody had been careless. This is the setup the software suggests first: create the employee, enter their rate, run the pay. It works, and nobody has a reason to revisit it until the rates move and the whole file has to be edited by hand.

That was the smaller of the two problems. The provider had come across from another accounting system and had carried its habits with them. In that system overtime had been handled as a leave item, and the same approach was used when the file was rebuilt. Overtime needs to sit on a proper overtime pay item, and because it did not, leave stopped behaving.

Staff had already raised it. The business could not explain the numbers, because from the front end everything looked ordinary.

The challenges

What we found when we opened the file

01 Rates living on employee records No single place to check a classification, and no way to see at a glance whether two workers on the same level matched.

02 A full day, every July Finding every employee, looking their level up against the new pay guide and editing the record by hand. Every edit a chance to key the wrong number.

03 Accrual that missed most of the roster Disability support runs on days, nights, weekends and sleepovers. Accrual was not configured across the full spread of pay items, so workers rostered outside standard days accrued on a fraction of what they worked.

04 Payouts made on the wrong numbers Several staff had left and been paid out on balances that were never right. The business absorbed it rather than chase former employees, and it repeated with every departure.

What we did

Started from the principle the award is built on: the rate belongs to the classification, not to the person. Two support workers on the same classification are on the same rate, so the rate should live in one place per classification and every employee on it should inherit it.

Mapped every classification and pay point the provider actually employs, and confirmed the interpretation against the current Fair Work pay guide before touching the file.

Rebuilt each classification as its own pay item, and built the shift and penalty types the provider genuinely rosters: day, afternoon, night, weekend, public holiday, sleepover and broken shift.

Moved overtime off the leave item and onto a proper overtime pay item, so leave items do only what leave items are meant to do.

Configured leave accrual deliberately across the full set of pay items, so a worker rostered mostly across nights and weekends accrues on the hours they actually work. This is the part most setups get wrong. It is not a tick box.

Back-calculated the affected balances and corrected them, then set the annual process: update the pay items once, and every employee on that classification moves with them.

Corrected the timing as well. Fair Work's guidance is that most award increases begin from the first full pay period on or after 1 July rather than on 1 July itself, so a pay period starting on 29 June runs to its end on the old rates. Which period that is depends on your cycle, and it is worth checking against Fair Work rather than assuming the date.

The outcome

What changed

Where a figure is not on record, the change is described in words. No percentage is estimated and no metric is invented.

One place, not forty Award rates live on the pay items. The July increase is a single pass down a list of classifications rather than a pass through every employee in the business.

The job stopped scaling Because the work is per classification rather than per person, growing the team no longer grows the July workload.

Balances that reconcile Accrual is configured across every shift type the provider rosters, so balances reflect hours genuinely worked. The questions staff had been raising now have answers.

New starters in minutes Onboarding means selecting a classification. The rate fills itself in, from the same place every other worker on that level draws from.

The longer they leave it, the longer the annual leave or sick leave are not correct. Therefore you have to back-calculate it for everyone. It is a very big job. And any time someone got terminated, they would have paid an incorrect annual leave amount.
Nikoletta, Director, NN Accountability

Is this you

When this is worth a look

Two checks you can run this afternoon. Take three staff on the same classification and compare their hourly rates: if they do not match exactly, your rates are living on employee records. Then take one worker who does a genuine mix of nights and weekends and compare their accrual against the hours they actually worked. If it looks light, your accrual is not picking up all their pay items.

Does the July increase take you a full day, or are you still finding errors in September?
Are rates typed into individual employee records rather than held against a classification?
Has anyone checked whether leave accrues across nights, weekends and sleepovers as well as standard days?
Have staff queried their balances and nobody in the business could explain the numbers?
Were overtime, allowances or penalties set up by copying how they worked in a previous system?

In their words

What clients say about working with us

NN Accountability has been our trusted partner for over a decade… Their in-depth knowledge of Xero and commitment to automation has saved us time and reduced manual errors. The team at NN Accountability is reliable, professional, and genuinely committed to our success.
ANCOLD

NN Accountability has been more than just a bookkeeping service. The real value they bring? Peace of mind. We know our books are accurate, our systems are compliant, and we have a responsive, knowledgeable team in our corner.
Puremedic Health

They've been an essential part of getting my business up and running. It genuinely feels like they're part of my team rather than just an external service, and that level of support makes a big difference.
Airnergy

NN Accountability guided Cheltenham Golf Club through a migration from MYOB to Xero, tailoring processes to suit the complex needs of a non-profit. Financial systems are now more efficient, compliant and audit-ready.
Cheltenham Golf Club

She came HIGHLY recommended to me by a friend I really trust, and I'm so glad I switched over to her for my business and personal tax needs. What's more, she's a really lovely human being, very easy to talk to, very friendly, and you can tell she really cares about you.
Andy

Nikoletta was so patient and kind with me and helped me fix up a REAL big mess I had made in my Xero account. I feel a massive weight has been lifted as the numbers finally make sense, and I finally understand what I need to do to reconcile my accounts moving forward. Highly recommend NN Accountability team for Xero Training and Support! Thank you, Nikoletta!!
Nikita Pere

I have been dealing with Nikoletta since 2021. She has a thorough knowledge of company and trust structures and taxation, as well as exceptional knowledge of Xero. Her expertise has been invaluable to my business. I have found NN Accountability excellent to deal with. Before appointing them, I researched other firms extensively, and their services are well above the standard I found elsewhere. If you are looking for a professional, knowledgeable, and reliable firm, I highly recommend them.
John Archer

Nicky and her team are so efficient and knowledgeable, I'm so grateful that I found them. Their communication is also very clear and they always make themselves available to answer my questions, which provides me with a lot of confidence in every step of building my business. Would highly recommend their services to anyone.
Michelle R

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