Jo Fredriksen — ICB Payroll Tutor
Jo Fredriksen
“If you don’t understand how the figures are calculated, you’re not doing payroll — you’re doing data entry. Those figures are someone’s wages. Put yourself in their position. That’s why we teach you the manual foundations first, so you always know what the software is doing and why.”
Jo Fredriksen has been working in payroll since around 2000, when she got her first taste of it in an accounts office managing the wages for over 500 employees. It was complex, varied work — and she was hooked.
She took her first ICB payroll course in 2007 and, on completing it, was encouraged by her own tutor to apply for a tutoring role. That instinct has defined her career ever since. Jo has spent over 25 years working in payroll — interspersed with real-world practice in accountancy firms, payroll bureaus, and as a finance manager handling both payroll and accounts. She joined Training Link in 2020 and has been the driving force behind the ICB Payroll course ever since: writing it, updating it every tax year, and teaching it. Alongside payroll, she also tutors Training Link’s suite of ICB Level 4 units, including Self-Assessment Tax, Corporation Tax, Financial Statements, and Business Insight.
In 2009, Jo won the inaugural ICB Tutor of the Year award — the first time the category had ever been given. She has been shortlisted in 2023, 2024 and 2025 — three consecutive years — since joining Training Link. In 2023 she was also awarded the ICB Companionship — the institute’s highest individual honour.
“It’s only money when it goes missing. Before that it’s just numbers and paper.”
Jo’s philosophy about payroll education is clear and uncompromising. She believes that teaching software without first teaching the manual foundations produces data entry clerks, not payroll professionals.
“If the computer breaks, or a figure looks wrong, and you don’t understand how the software got to that number — you can’t fix it. You can’t even spot it.”
That conviction shapes every part of the Training Link ICB Payroll course. Students work through nineteen manual assessments before they touch any software — building a genuine understanding of PAYE, National Insurance, statutory payments, RTI, and CIS. Only then do they move to BrightPay, for the computerised section. Jo is an enthusiastic advocate for the software
“Once you’ve learned the principles, the software almost doesn’t matter. They’re all doing the same job.”
Updating the course is a significant undertaking in its own right. Jo begins in April, once the Budget has confirmed the coming year’s figures, and works through every page — updating legislation, recalculating examples, revising assessments, and refilming video tutorials where needed. The videos alone take around two months. In years where the government has made mid-year changes — as happened with National Insurance — the process starts again.
“If they change it, we change it. That’s the job.”
Jo writes everything with the student on day one in mind. No jargon, no assumed knowledge, no shortcuts.
“We were all students once. We know what it’s like to open a book on something you’ve never done before, working on your own, fitting study around a full-time job and a family. Everything we write is built around that person.”
She has been working in payroll for over 25 years. It is still her passion.
“If I had to go back out tomorrow and find a job, I’d be looking for a payroll role. It’s what I do.”
Credentials
- ICB Companionship 2023
- ICB Tutor of the Year — Winner 2009 (inaugural award)
- ICB Tutor of the Year — Shortlisted 2023, 2024 and 2025 (three consecutive years)
- Speaker, FAB Conference 2025
- Featured speaker, ICB Bookkeeping Discovery Day, January 2026
- Presenter, ICB Business Insight Live Sessions (x2)
- Over 25 years of payroll experience
- Real-world experience in practice, bureau, and in-house payroll
- Author and updater of the Training Link ICB Payroll course since 2020
