Nothing arouses greater passion than a person’s pay. For thousands of Essex salaried employees, the buck stops with Anthony Tapsell.

Anthony is payroll manager at RDP Newmans, the Southend accountancy and business advisory firm. Almost 150 businesses, in south Essex outsource everything to do with their pay packets to the firm.

“Weekly, monthly, six-monthly, yearly, small companies, big companies – we handle it all,” said Anthony.

Anthony, 41, has been dealing with payrolls for 20 years and says it takes a lot to surprise him. “But I still find it hard to believe when people change their bank accounts, and don’t think to let us know, and then blame me for what follows. You’d think their payroll would be the first consideration.”

Obviously payroll clerks need a head for figures and the ability to concentrate, but Anthony says there is another, perhaps even more vital, quality.

“You need to be a very patient person,” he said.

If a pay packet fails to match an employee’s expectations, the first person in line for a ring and a rant is the payroll manager.

“Some people take an instant dislike to you just because of what you do,” he said. “You have to patiently get across to them that we’re here to help. We’re working for them, not against them.”

However, Anthony does not get many complaints these days. After two decades, he knows most of the potential pitfalls, and he also takes his responsibilities very seriously.

“At the end of the day, you are dealing with questions like whether a person can or can’t pay their mortgage at the end of the month,” he said.

Many companies regard the outsourcing of payroll as a luxury they can do without, and retain the process in house. What are the advantages of delegating the process to a specialist company?

Anthony ticks off the list of gains. “We have the expertise and the experience. If there are any issues, we can normally sort them out quickly, and being a firm that deals with a wide variety of accountancy and financial specialities, we always have expert knowledge on hand.”

Anthony says companies which do their own payroll often stumble over quite simple matters. “Holidays, for instance,” he said. “It’s not something you might think of as a payroll matter, but it’s an issue we get a lot of calls about.”

There is a steady flow of changes in the law which have an impact on payrolls, notably the introduction of real time information, which requires companies to submit instant data on pay to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Anthony keeps abreast of these changes and regularly attends courses.

For many clients, however, the biggest advantage of all is that Anthony takes the responsibility. “An error in the payroll can damage relations between a boss and their employee quite badly,” he said. “We remove that concern, and allow businesspeople more time to concentrate on their core business.”

RDP Newmans is a training company, and Anthony regularly shows the ropes to student accountants.

He does not have any accountancy qualifications himself, but sees no need for any letters after his name.

He says: “I have thought about sitting exams, but I think that experience, and doing regular update courses counts for more than formal qualifications,” he said.

Anthony started his career as a book-keeper, but gradually found himself doing more and more payroll work. “It just sort of came naturally, and I’d discovered what I really liked doing,” he said.

RDP Newmans is interested in applications from accountancy and bookkeeping trainees. The firm can be contacted via recruitment@ rdpnewmans.com