Accounting Background, Interview Example

For this assignment, I interviewed Marvin Schneider, a manager from payroll department at Homeward Rehab. She holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio and an M.B.A. from CUNY Baruch College in New York City. In this interview, Mr. Schneider was asked about his involvement at the rehabilitation center, the relationship between the Affordable Care Act and finance, and what payroll to adhere to. He provides useful insight to individuals that are new to the field and provides a realistic understanding of daily practices in health care administration.

Interviewer: How large is Homeward Rehab and what health needs to its staff members fulfill?

Mr. Schneider: Homeward Rehab employs 350 therapists in 6 different states. The therapists perform occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. As manager of the payroll department, my duties are to make sure that the correct data is entered for all 350 therapists, which includes vacation, sick time, overtime, bonuses, and raises.  Our department also does the payroll for the CEO, the personnel employees, the IT employees, the clinical director, the CFO, and other accounting clerical employees.

Interviewer: How do you think the company has grown over time? Based on what you observed when you started here, how is it the same? How is it different? Did this have any impact on payroll?

Mr. Schneider: When the company began, we only had a few employees, so we did all of the payroll internally.  But as the company grew to nearly 400 employees we began to outsource part of our payroll process to ADP.

Interviewer: Can you elaborate on what ADP is?

Mr. Schneider: The outsource payroll company, ADP, is the largest payroll company in the US, and provides many types of payroll services.  For our needs, we determined that our payroll department would be responsible for the up-front gathering and inputting of data, and we would send the data for processing, producing reports, and paying the employees; either by sending out payroll checks or ACH transactions.

Interviewer: Do you think that anything could go wrong with this process? What do you think a new employee in this field would need to know about this particular type of transaction?

Mr. Schneider: One example of a problem that could happen, which is not a strategic problem, is handling a clerical error. This is problematic because employees are sensitive about their paychecks being correct.

Interviewer: How would such an error occur?

Mr. Schneider: Typically, these incidents are avoided. However, it is possible for clerks to occasionally enter the wrong data, thus shortchanging the employee.

Interviewer: How does this problem come to the attention of the organization? Does the employee need to report the error or is it the responsibility of the financial team to both detect and rectify the problem prior to its notice?

Mr. Schneider: In this case, the payroll manager, which is my responsibility, would need to call the employee and try to rectify the situation. There are certainly cases in which we are able to detect the problem before it becomes an issue, but it is important to consider that we have a large payroll to manage. Therefore, mistakes are occasionally made, but it is our responsibility to fix them as quickly as possible. Employee satisfaction is an important component of our daily job functions, and it is helpful for all members of the administration to take strides to ensure that employees feel supported in the workplace.

Interviewer: Are there any other problems that frequently occur with payroll or other aspects of the institution’s finances?

Mr. Schneider: Another problem that occurs every year is related to W-2 forms.  These forms need to be sent out to all of our employees during the month of January. Our department tries to mail these forms out to employees by the third week in January. For the employees in the home office, we could simply hand deliver the W-2 forms by week 2 in January.  But some of our therapists wish to have their forms as soon as possible to claim their tax refunds. Our solution that we devised is to set up the W-2 forms online, so that the out-of-state therapists could easily and more readily access their wage information.

Interviewer: Is it challenging to keep track of all of these different needs?

Mr. Schneider: Not really. It is important to keep all of this information organized and to ensure that employees confirm their receipt of the W2 by providing a written statement. This helps us determine who has received and viewed the forms in addition to who we should call or provide the information to directly.

Interviewer: How has HIPAA and the Affordable Care Act impacted your finance practices?

Mr. Schneider: Although, the entire company needed to comply with HIPAA regulations, patient privacy laws, and patient data security and protection, this responsibility was primarily relegated to the IT department.  In addition, the CFO was responsible for adherence to GAAP and to comply with Affordable Care Act. While we do not control these aspects of finance, the budget impacts our ability to operate effectively.

In summary, it is apparent that the health care administration team is responsible for many jobs related to both employee finance. On the other hand, they are not significantly involved with changing regulations as a consequence of the Affordable Care Act. Overall, it is important for the administration of Homeward Rehab to provide employee support services to ensure that payroll is correct and that they are able to pay their taxes at the end of each year. While this does not appear to be a daunting task at first, it is important to recognize that Mr. Schneider’s team manages the payroll of more than 350 employees across six states. Therefore, his team must be aware of health care regulations and procedures across these participating states. Since different localities have different tax requirements and require payments into different programs, it is essential for Mr. Schneider’s team to keep track of these different requirements for each employee, on top of their individual needs with regards to the timing of W2 receipt.

This interview demonstrated that health care administrators must balance diverse support functions. Furthermore, since many of them manage large teams, there is a need for them to remain organized. While Mr. Schneider is responsible for payroll at his health care institution, he needs to collaborate with other administrators to ensure that the support functions of the organization will be maintained. He recommended that new health care administrators work closely with experienced members of the team during their first years so that new members can quickly adapt to the rigor of the workplace.