ASIC's payroll revamp helps it repatriate staff from ATO

The Australian Securities Investments Commission (ASIC) is on track to complete a payroll transition from PeopleSoft to Aurion by the end of this year.

The first phase of the transition, completed in April, facilitated the return of 200 staff from the tax office to ASIC after the Modernising Business Registers program was scrapped by the government.

Registry services staff were originally moved from ASIC to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the project, only to be moved back when business registers and related services returned to ASIC’s scope as part of a machinery of government change in May 2024.

ASIC revealed in its annual report [pdf]  that the implementation of a new payroll system "enabled us to smoothly transfer the registry operations team from the ATO [back] to ASIC."

iTnews understands that this is due to enterprise agreements between the departments and their employees.

Employees transitioning from the ATO to ASIC are covered by the ATO’s agreement, but Aurion can be configured for two separate agreements and allowed for an easy transition. 

ASIC awarded Aurion $1.1 million for the implementation of payroll software-as-a-service and ongoing license fees. The agreement will run until June 2027.  

The second phase of the project, bringing existing ASIC staff onto the new payroll system, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. 

The change of payroll from PeopleSoft to Aurion is consistent with a broader ASIC-wide  management systems upgrade following the adoption of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

ASIC is deploying a Technology One ERP, transitioning off PeopleSoft Financial. 

It is also working to implement a new capital management system.