Seven frequent errors in payroll processing.
Findings that repeat across audits: surcharges, contribution bases, vacations and final settlements.
After dozens of audits, the findings tend to concentrate in a handful of causes. They are rarely fraud: they are wrong configurations replicated month after month.
The first is a badly constructed contribution base. When non-salary payments are agreed without proper support, or concepts that should be included are excluded, the error accumulates in every period and in every final settlement.
The second is surcharges and overtime. The combination of night, Sunday and overtime surcharges has specific rules; when the system is only half configured, the difference per employee is small, but multiplied by the headcount and by 24 months it stops being small.
The third is vacation control. Days taken that are not deducted from the balance, cash-outs without authorization and provisions that do not reflect the real liability.
The fourth is final contract settlements, where variable concepts from the last year or the correct average for benefit calculations are often forgotten.
The remaining three relate to changes reported through informal channels, manual adjustments without traceability and lack of reconciliation between payroll and the social-security filing. All are fixed with the same thing: a documented process, pre-close controls and double review.