“Check the overtime before payroll closes” is a payroll assistant job simulation on FinderK.
You work at Larkfield Care Homes, an original fictional company, and complete 3 assignments in about 55 minutes.
It is for anyone who wants to practice payroll assistant work. No previous work experience is required.
Role
Payroll assistant
Industry
Payroll
Level
Early career
Time
About 55 minutes, 3 assignments
Access
Included in Plus
Created by
FinderK
Payroll closes at noon tomorrow. Check a week of extra hours against timesheets, approvals and the policy, answer a worried colleague honestly, and give your manager the exceptions she must decide.
Read the full brief
You are the payroll assistant at a care home group, and the October payroll locks at 12:00 tomorrow. Seven people worked or were approved for extra hours in the last pay week. You work out what can be paid, at which rate, and what must wait. Then a senior care assistant writes in about hours he was told would be fine, a home manager makes a request outside the rules, and your manager needs a clear list of what only she can decide before she locks the payroll. Automated checks confirm your totals and saved work; your judgement is reviewed against the standard for the role.
What is Larkfield Care Homes?
Larkfield Care Homes is a fictional group of three residential care homes near Harrogate with about 210 staff, all paid monthly. Home managers approve extra hours; a two-person payroll team checks and pays them. This case runs on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 October 2026. Amounts are in pounds before tax.
Who do you play?
You are the payroll assistant in the Payroll team.
You check timesheets against the approval register and prepare extra hours for the monthly payroll. You may include approved hours from signed timesheets. You may not pay unapproved hours, change a rate, agree an off-cycle payment or approve an exception. Ruth approves exceptions and checks any extra hours payment over 200 pounds for one person in one week. Home managers approve extra hours.
Joseph Mwangi, senior care assistant, Willow House
Mei Lin Zhou, HR adviser
These coworkers are fictional. They may make mistakes, so compare their suggestions with the evidence.
Frequently asked questions
How long does “Check the overtime before payroll closes” take?
About 55 minutes, across 3 assignments. When the time is up, you get 10 minutes to round up and submit. Pausing stops the clock.
Is “Check the overtime before payroll closes” free?
No. It is included in FinderK Plus. With a free account you can also do it without grading.
Do I need payroll assistant experience?
No. No previous work experience is required. The listed level is early career.
What do I get when I finish?
You get feedback on each assignment you submit. Completing all required assignments earns a completion certificate. It records participation and is not professional accreditation.
Is Larkfield Care Homes a real company?
No. Larkfield Care Homes is an original fictional company made for practice. Its coworkers may make mistakes, so check their suggestions against the evidence.
A photographer has sent a year of spending with her own notes on what counts as business. Sort each item under the firm's expenses guide, ask her the right questions, and hold the rules kindly when she pushes for a holiday and cash wages to count.
Skills: Classify expenses as allowable, mixed use, capital or not allowable; Apply the mileage rule without double counting; Ask a client clear questions for missing evidence; Explain a rule to a client who disagrees
Commercial property underwriter at Harrowby Mutual Insurance
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
A loyal cold store client wants to renew at last year's price with its sprinkler discount, but the survey found burning foam panels in the roof and the backup sprinkler pump has failed. Rate it by the guide, refer it, and hold firm terms with a broker who says a rival is waiting.
Skills: Rate a property risk by the underwriting guide; Recognise when a risk must be referred and why; Set conditions that address the main hazards; Hold terms with a broker while keeping the relationship; Explain a price change by the features of the risk
Twelve expense claims sit in your sample. Test each against the client's policy, tell control deviations from misstatements, query the client without accusing anyone, and project what you found to the whole year.
Skills: Test transactions against a client policy, attribute by attribute; Tell a control deviation from a misstatement; Query a client for evidence without accusing anyone; Project sample errors and compare them with audit thresholds
A well run bakery wants a loan for a second oven and a bigger overdraft. The reported figures pass the bank's tests easily. Normalise them, test the request against the credit policy, find a structure that works and hold the line when a contract arrives that does not count.
Skills: Normalise a business's earnings for one-off items; Test a lending request against a credit policy; Recommend a structure that meets policy without losing the customer; Judge whether new evidence changes a credit decision