2025 State of payroll compliance report
Uncover perspectives from 533 compliance leaders on the Closing Loopholes Acts, current processes, and key payroll compliance challenges.
With the criminalisation of wage theft under the Closing Loopholes Act starting 1 January 2025, organisations face growing pressure to manage payroll compliance risks and keep pace with evolving legislation.
However, many businesses lack full visibility into their compliance processes, often relying on irregular reviews or outdated practices. This leaves both obvious and hidden risks undetected until underpayments or overpayments come to light.
Gaps stemming from operational, technological, and strategic weaknesses expose businesses to payroll inaccuracies that can result in reputational damage, financial instability, and compromised organisational integrity.
The good news is that by critically assessing their compliance strategies, operational processes, and resource allocation—and benchmarking against industry peers—businesses can uncover actionable insights. These insights can drive a stronger, more proactive framework to mitigate non-compliance risks effectively.
We surveyed compliance leaders from Australian businesses to understand:
- Key pain points and challenges related to compliance
- Attitudes toward recent regulatory reforms like the Closing Loopholes Acts
- Existing wage compliance practices
- Adoption and perception of compliance technologies
- How responsibility for compliance is distributed within their organisations
The 2025 State of Payroll Compliance report provides a comprehensive analysis of these findings, offering insights into how organisations are responding to these legislative changes and the challenges they are facing.
Discover how your organisation compares, uncover both expected and surprising insights, and find opportunities to improve your compliance framework and strengthen your approach to risk mitigation.
The 2025 State of payroll compliance report provides insights into:
- Ownership of compliance
- Concerns about payroll underpayments
- Frequency of payroll audits/reviews
- How payroll reviews are conducted
- The state of payroll compliance
- Adapting to the Closing Loopholes Act
- Key concerns with the new legislation
- Uptake of proactive compliance technology
- Use of technology for independent reviews
- Perception of Artificial Intelligence in payroll compliance
- Payroll compliance budget benchmarking
- Top compliance priorities for Australian businesses
Download the report now.
Methodology and sample profile
The research, commissioned by Yellow Canary and conducted by Lonergan Research in accordance with the ISO 20252 standard, surveyed 533 compliance leaders responsible for payroll compliance in Australian businesses ranging from 50 to 5,000+ employees. Conducted online between November 8 and November 16, 2024, the survey targeted participants through a permission-based panel and was distributed throughout Australia including both capital city and non-capital city areas.