Is wage theft a crime in Australia?

State specific wage theft laws in Queensland and Victoria mean that employers in those states can face criminal charges and convictions as a result of wage theft. Intentional wage theft can carry severe penalties under recent legislation.

Why should my business prioritise compliance?

Regular compliance reviews prevent underpayments, protect employee morale, and ensure legal and ethical obligations are met.

Why regular, ongoing pay reviews rather than remediation alone?

Remediation only fixes past errors. Ongoing reviews detect and resolve payment variances proactively, ensuring current and future compliance.

Does Yellow Canary cater to any EA or modern award?

Yes. The platform configures to any modern award, enterprise agreement, or industrial instrument agreed with your legal counsel.

What does the onboarding process involve?

During onboarding, we brief you on required data, transfer it, configure rules, and set up your platform with minimal impact on business operations.

What insights will I obtain from the Always On Compliance dashboard?

The dashboard shows potential underpayments or overpayments per employee, identifies key drivers, and helps automate pay query responses.

How do you handle modern award and EA interpretation within your system?

The system requires configuration based on assumptions, rules, and interpretation principles. It does not need to be built from scratch or rely on many people.

How do I know that monthly reviews will be accurate and compliant?

We validate all pay rules with your legal counsel and use automation to remove human error in monthly compliance reviews.

Who from my team needs to be involved in onboarding?

A project manager/sponsor, a single contact authorised to provide instructions, and a Pay Rules/Data contact are recommended. Ongoing maintenance is minimal.

We have gaps in our data. Will you still be able to work with us?

Yes. We work with employers and legal counsel to include assumptions or transform data into the correct format if needed.

Can Always On Compliance work for any payroll system?

Yes. The platform is technology agnostic and compatible with any payroll, timesheet, or employee management system.

What if someone leaves or is hired during my subscription?

We have processes in place to handle employee changes during your subscription without disruption.

What makes Yellow Canary's Always On Compliance solution different from other service or solution providers?

Our solution uses a purpose-built calculator and advanced automation to simplify payroll verification, making it fast, scalable, and tailored to your business.

Payroll Risk Assessment for Transactions

Unknown payroll risk creates transaction uncertainty

Payroll and workforce risks can affect valuation, negotiations and insurance outcomes. The challenge is determining, at speed, what is material, how far it extends and what it could mean for the deal.

Yellow Canary delivers a quantified view of potential exposure within transaction timeframes, giving buyers, vendors and advisers clearer evidence for transaction decisions.

Why transaction teams work with
Yellow Canary

Deal aligned

Built to support transaction pace, not lengthy remediation projects.

Quantitative

Move beyond sampling to evidence-based risk analysis at scale.

Fixed-fee

Predictable pricing without scope creep during critical deal stages.

Practical, deal-aligned process

A practical process for identifying, quantifying and reporting workforce risk across the transaction lifecycle.

1. Scope

Define workforce populations, review parameters and required outputs. Align the review approach to transaction objectives, timelines and areas of potential exposure.

2. Rules and data

Payroll data gathered and configured for the review methodology. Map relevant obligations and review criteria across the in-scope workforce population.

3. Analysis

Apply rules across workforce data to identify and quantify exposure. Assess the scale, prevalence and potential commercial significance of identified issues.

4. Reporting

Deliver transaction-ready outputs for diligence, negotiation and underwriting discussions. Present findings, assumptions and exposures in a clear, decision-ready format.

Value across the transaction lifecycle

Pre-transaction

Identify payroll risk early, strengthen asset positioning and reduce diligence friction. Gain visibility over potential liabilities before market engagement.

Diligence

Support pricing, negotiations and insurance discussions with quantified analysis. Help inform commercial and risk allocation discussions.

Post-transaction

Transition identified issues into remediation, governance and ongoing compliance. Establish a pathway for ongoing oversight and risk management.

Rapports et tableaux de bord puissants

Après chaque période de paie, notre plateforme Always On Compliance fournit des informations avancées pour optimiser les processus métier.

Automatisez les évaluations modernes des récompenses et de la conformité EA.

Commencez dès maintenant

Questions fréquemment posées

Voir toutes les FAQs

Does this replace legal, payroll or transaction advisers?

No. Yellow Canary complements existing advisers by providing quantitative payroll risk analysis that can support legal, commercial and insurance discussions.

What happens after the transaction completes?

Yellow Canary can support the transition into remediation where required, or into ongoing payroll oversight to help manage inherited risk and support exit readiness.

Latest Resources

Payday Super

Payroll due diligence for M&A transactions