Make sure everyone gets paid the right amount on the right day, with the right taxes taken off.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $62,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $42,000 at the lower end to about $90,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 3 years after high school, on the usual route.
$1,500 to $12,800 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$62,000
Lower end
$42,000
Upper end
$90,000
Job Bank's national median is $30 an hour, about $62,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($20) and upper end ($43.27) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group.
$49.83 an hour
The Job Bank median in Nunavut, the highest in Canada
The Northwest Territories is next at $46.25. Ontario and Quebec sit at the national $30, and Prince Edward Island is lowest at $26.15. Supervising a payroll team is the usual way up.
Roughly, all in
$1,500 to $12,800
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is taking the payroll and accounting courses for the PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional) designation on their own, plus the National Payroll Institute membership you have to hold while you study. The high end is a two year college payroll and accounting diploma with the designation courses built into it. Many employers will pay for the designation once you are hired, so ask before you spend your own money on it. There is no licence and no exam fee beyond the courses themselves.
Many employers pay for the designation once you are hired. Ask before paying yourself.
Health, dental and pension
Payroll sits in finance or human resources, which usually means full benefits.
Very steady work
Every employer with staff runs payroll every two weeks, in good years and bad.
Remote and hybrid
Payroll is one of the most work-from-home friendly office jobs.
Employer-paid designation
Common in mid-size and large companies.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A short program, then the designation while you work.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Math and accounting courses. Job Bank says secondary school is usually required.
College certificate or diploma
1 to 2 years
A 1-year accounting or payroll certificate, or a 2-year Payroll and Bookkeeping or Business Accounting diploma. Many programs build the PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional) courses right in.
First job
Right after school
Payroll clerk or payroll assistant. Also common: bookkeeper or accounting clerk jobs that include payroll.
PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional)
1 to 2 years, alongside work
The National Payroll Institute requires 3 core payroll courses, 1 transfer credit (usually an introductory accounting course) and 1 year of related Canadian work experience.
Senior or manager (optional)
After several years
The PLP (Payroll Leadership Professional) designation is for experienced payroll people who already hold the PCP and want to manage.
Math
Percentages, rates and careful arithmetic every day.
Accounting
The closest thing to the real job you can take in high school.
Computer studies
Spreadsheets and payroll software.
English
You explain deductions to confused and sometimes angry coworkers.
Job Bank confirms payroll is not a regulated occupation in Canada. No licence is required. But the work is governed by the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency), which requires employers to deduct CPP (Canada Pension Plan) contributions, EI (Employment Insurance) premiums and income tax from every paycheque, remit them on time, and issue T4 slips each year. Get it wrong and the employer faces penalties. That is why so many job postings ask for the PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional) designation even though the law does not.
In Quebec payroll runs on Revenu Québec's rules as well as the federal ones, and the short training route is a vocational diploma you can start at 16.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Accounting takes a high school diploma, or, from age 16, the required Secondary IV credits.
DEP in Accounting
13 to 16 months
1,350 hours at a public vocational centre, program 5731 in English and 5231 in French, with a 30 hour payroll module. English centres in the English Montreal, Lester B. Pearson, Riverside and New Frontiers school boards.
Or a Business Administration DEC (Diploma of College Studies, 410.G0)
3 years
A 3 year CEGEP (public college) program. Vanier College teaches it in English with an accounting stream.
First job
Right after school
Payroll clerk, bookkeeper or accounting clerk.
PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional)
1 to 2 years, alongside work
The same national designation as in other provinces, from the National Payroll Institute.
Quebec income tax
Deducted for Revenu Québec, separate from federal tax.
QPP (Quebec Pension Plan) instead of CPP (Canada Pension Plan)
6.30% from employee and employer in 2026, on earnings up to $74,600.
QPIP (Quebec Parental Insurance Plan)
2026 premiums are 0.430% for the employee and 0.602% for the employer.
Employer-only contributions
The health services fund, the labour standards contribution and the workforce skills fund.
Relevé 1 (RL-1) slips
Quebec's version of the T4, filed with Revenu Québec each year.
Things you don't need, but that help.
PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional)
The standard credential. Many postings list it as required.
PLP (Payroll Leadership Professional)
The management-level designation, for people who already hold the PCP.
Bookkeeping or accounting diploma
Lets you take on the full books at a small company, not just payroll.
Payroll software expertise
Deep knowledge of one of the big payroll platforms makes you easy to hire and hard to replace.
Attention to detail
A misplaced decimal means someone's rent bounces.
Quebec payroll knowledge
Quebec runs its own pension plan and tax rules, so a payroll person who knows both systems can handle staff in every province.
Union contract experience
Unionized workplaces have complex overtime, shift premiums and retro pay. Hospitals and school boards value this.
Excel skills
Reconciliations and reports live in spreadsheets.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Most employers pay every two weeks, so the job runs in a loop. Days 1 to 3: collect timesheets, chase managers for approvals, enter new hires, terminations and raises. Days 4 to 5: run the payroll, check it line by line, fix errors, send the bank file. Then: answer questions from staff about their deductions, issue records of employment for people who left, remit deductions to the government, and file reports. Year-end in January and February is the busy season, with T4 slips for every employee.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Send payroll deductions to the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) one to three days late and it can charge a 3% penalty. After seven days it is 10%, the same as for not deducting at all.
You cannot earn the PCP (Payroll Compliance Professional) designation from school alone. The National Payroll Institute requires 1 year of related Canadian work experience on top of the courses.
Quebec collects its own income tax and runs the Quebec Pension Plan instead of CPP (Canada Pension Plan). A company with staff in Quebec and Ontario runs two sets of rules on the same payday.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
People and operations first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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