Even the big players get it wrong
Even organisations with substantial finance teams and sophisticated systems get payroll wrong. In 2024, Commonwealth Bank and CommSec received $10.34 million in penalties after underpaying employees more than $16 million.
For smaller businesses, the amounts may be different, but the underlying risks are familiar: an incorrect classification, an overlooked allowance, or a payroll setting that has gone unchecked for years. The Fair Work Ombudsman recovered $358 million for more than 249,000 underpaid workers in 2024-25.
Payroll compliance remains firmly in the regulatory spotlight, and small businesses are accountable for meeting their obligations. Since 1 January 2025, intentional underpayment of wages or entitlements can be a criminal offence, while honest mistakes can still result in back-pay obligations and civil penalties. Payday Super has added further pressure: since 1 July 2026, super contributions generally need to reach employees' funds within seven business days of payday, subject to exceptions.
What a payroll health check looks for
A VeiraMal payroll health check gives you a clearer view of your obligations, your current practices and any gaps between them, such as:
- Incorrect award coverage or classification levels that no longer reflect an employee's duties.
- Missed overtime, penalty rates, allowances and leave loadings.
- Contractor arrangements that may actually be employment relationships, creating misclassification and potential sham contracting risks.
- Super calculated on the wrong earnings base, or reaching funds late.
- System settings established at implementation and never reviewed as the business, workforce or rules changed.
Support for your team, not a replacement
This work complements your existing payroll provider or internal team, adding specialist compliance oversight and supporting the people already managing your payroll.
VeiraMal has helped hundreds of Australian businesses strengthen their HR and payroll practices, giving leaders greater confidence in their compliance. We understand where errors occur, how quickly they accumulate and what it takes to put them right.
With potential exposure to back-pay, penalties and costly remediation, a payroll health check is a practical investment in your business and the people who keep it running.
Book a payroll health check at info@veiramal.com, or learn more about VeiraMal today.
The True Tally takeaway
VeiraMal is describing the exact risk we help clients stay ahead of. Payroll can run on time, every time, and still be wrong, because the error is usually in a setting made once and never reviewed. The size of the business is not the protection people assume it is, as the numbers above show. What protects you is a process that checks the work, not just runs it.
Our job is to keep your payroll reconciled as you go, re-check classifications, allowances and pay points whenever a role or award changes, and keep the evidence trail so a clean process can be proven if the Fair Work Ombudsman ever asks. If you want your payroll set up correctly and run without late super or missed entitlements, that is our payroll service and bookkeeping compliance. To see what an employee truly costs once super, leave and on-costs are included, try our employee cost calculator. Book a free call and we will pressure-test your payroll setup with you.
Know a small business worth featuring in the Small Business Spotlight? Email info@truetally.com.au.