About AWCC Ltd
Read about AWCCs story, Governance and how it works for its members
AWCC's Founding
AWCC Ltd was founded as a company with limited liability and is member owned, not proprietary (Pty) on the 27th October 2022. It commenced operation in August 2023 and will commence opperation of its two membership divisions (including onboarding members) in early 2024.
Our Purpose
1. Provide a voice for Payroll Practitioners and Employment Technology Providers who operationalise Australia’s Labour and related legislation.
2. Endeavour to increase the public standing, credibility and capability of its Payroll Practitioners and Employment Technology Providers.
3. Advocate on behalf of our members to all Governments on matters of national policy in relation to the operational application of labour and related legislation.
4. Conduct and publish research to support our industry.
2024 Four Pillar Strategy
1. Establish the countries first peak body for Payroll Practitioners and EmployTech.
2. Create and uplift the Payroll Profession.
3. Develop an EmployTech industry Code of Conduct.
4. Establish a Workforce Compliance Standards framework with all nine Australian Governments.
Board of Directors
AWCC’s board of Directors oversee the Associations governance and strategy, including that of its two membership divisions whose Presidents also sit on the board. More information on the Board can be found here.
Governance
See our Governance including our Constitution, Board Charter and Committees that manage AWCC Ltd on behalf of its members.
Lobbying
As the countries only member owned Peak body association for Payroll Practitioners and EmployTech, we are able to directly engage with Government and MPs with new policy proposals, and participate in closed door round table discussions directly influencing the first draft of new legislation.
Committees
AWCC Ltd advocates for its members via a number of committees with Members of Parliament, Federal and State Departments/Agencies. More information on our committees can be found here.
Membership Divisions
AWCC has two membership divisions and a number of membership categories in each division including full members and affiliates.
AWCC’s two membership divisions are:
- Payroll Professionals Australia. This division is for dedicated career payroll professionals and their affiliates. More information (including how to join) will be available in early 2024.
- Employment Technology Providers Australia. This division is for Employment Technology Software providers and their System integrators. More information (including how to join) will be available in early 2024.
Event Sponsorship
AWCC runs many events enabling sponsorship opportunities.
By sponsoring an event, you will:
- Demonstrate your support for AWCC and its membership divisions, including the attainment of their strategic goals and purposes.
- Provide your brand with opportunities to market their services to the payroll and employment technology provider industries.
- Enable AWCC to channel sponsorhip money toward current and proposed research projects and campaigns.
Click here or more information on sponsorship.
Research Partnership
AWCC conducts research for and with its industry membership divisions.
We invite all interested parties including members, affiliates and the wider public and government to partner with us for a research project.
By partnering with us, our association is able to leverage the exclusive knowledge only available to the payroll and employment technology provider industries.
For more information on how to collaborate, including current and proposed research projects, please contact us.
More about AWCC Ltd
AWCC Ltd was created following three years of research into wage-theft and other payroll related non-compliance.
The Australian Workforce Compliance Council Ltd (AWCC), Australia’s first and only membership based (not for profit) association for payroll and payroll related Employment Technology (EmployTech). AWCC Ltd was incorporated on 27 October 2022. Its website went live one year later on the 22nd of December 2023 and will launch both of its membership divisions in early 2024 for Payroll Practitioners and Employment Technology Providers.
The following drivers were identified as a result of research that originally began with an aim to develop a permanent wage-theft solution for Australia.
(i) Australia’s Workplace Relations[1] System had no regulated operational workforce unlike the Department of the Treasury’s Tax/BAS Agent[2] system.
(ii) Professions, universities and associations which claimed to know and represent the National Workplace Relations system have insufficient knowledge, skills, education, training or capability to operationalise Australia’s Workplace Relations System. University and VET sector qualifications reviewed as part of this assessment included: Human Resources, Industrial Relations, Accounting, Bookkeeping, Lawyers including Tax and Employment Law Specialisations. The conclusion was that no course was found with sufficient coverage of payroll.
(iii) A number of initiatives were needed to address those best positioned to mitigate Workplace Relations non-compliance including wage-theft[3]. These were to be centred around payroll and payroll related digital service providers (payroll Technology, which are part of the EmployTech software family).
(iv) Many current limitations exist that must be resolved to develop national capabilities able to mitigate and manage Workplace Relations and State/Territory related risk. This ranged from wage-theft to income tax (Pay As You Go / Withholding) and superannuation non-compliance.
(v) Limitations identified included no interest or limited understanding of the payroll function by universities (22 were interviewed), nor was any interest expressed to conduct research into payroll by the same universities. Thus, no appropriate AQF 7 or higher (bachelor’s or above) degree exists for payroll.
(vi) Current legislation misaligns the payroll profession to either Accounting or Bookkeeping via the Tax Agent Services Act 2009[4], placing Tax/BAS Agents with inappropriate skills, education and training at the centre of Workplace Relations activities, including award interpretation and operations due to a clause within the Tax Agent Services Act that, all who charge a fee for taxation and super services must be an accountant. Therefore, locking out the payroll profession from solely working on payroll related superannuation and taxation.
(vii) Payroll as a profession needs significant assistance to bring it up to speed with that of other regulated professions including Taxation and Business Activity Statement (BAS) Agents, and in addition to Professional Standards Scheme self-regulated professions such as Accountants and Lawyers.
(viii) Payroll lacks any dedicated degree from AQF 7 (Bachelor) or higher (Master) AQF 8-9. Such degrees exist in other OECD countries including the UK, whose Charted Payroll Practitioners have access to advanced[5], bachelor’s and master’s degrees[6] in payroll.
(ix) Australia had no member-based association or “voice” to represent those who operationalise Australia’s Workforce and related labour legislation. The total economic representation to the Federal, State and Territory Governments is in the order of roughly 1/3rd of the nation’s GDP. This was noted in the 2019 Independent Review of the Tax Practitioners Board dated 2019[7], by the peak bodies. Of particular interest in the report were the following statements in relation to payroll:
“payroll service providers and Digital service providers are what we (Peak Bodies) refer to as tax intermediaries…..and it is important any changes as part of this review are future proofed.”
“payroll service providers….may have qualifications that do not necessarily fit within the structure as contained in the TASR.”
“There were no submissions suggesting any changes to the current arrangements for payroll service providers.”
(x) As the above demonstrates, to date, payroll and payroll service providers including digital service providers have had no representation, and it has been left to intermediaries to fill this void for them for representational purposes. These intermediaries (known as the peak bodies) consist of associations for bookkeepers, accountants, superannuation funds and in some cases, lawyers.
(xi) The other main group which influences national policy in this space include politically affiliated groups such as unions and employer groups. Both of which utilise experts that mostly consist of economists and lawyers. Each of which AWCC views as not being operational labour and related legislation experts which is our new working definition for payroll professionals and payroll DSPs (payroll technology companies).
In response to the drivers listed above, the Australian Workforce Compliance Council (AWCC Ltd) was formed on 27 October 2022, and work began to create the first membership-based association for payroll practitioners and their digital service providers (Employment Technology industry) including payroll and related technology.
[1] https://www.dewr.gov.au/australias-national-workplace-relations-system
[2] https://www.tpb.gov.au/tax-agent-services
[3]https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ExploitationofCleaners/Report
[4] https://www.tpb.gov.au/legislation
[5] https://www.cipp.org.uk/training-and-education/study/fdpayroll.html
[6] https://www.cipp.org.uk/membership/chartered-membership/why-become-chartered-with-the-cipp.html
[7] https://treasury.gov.au/review/review-tax-practitioners-board-final-report