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Payroll process

Every payroll cycle requires some data entry and verification. After completion, you can print checks and generate ACH files.

There are four stages:

Setup changes
Attendance and substitutes
Payroll register
Run Reports
Finalize payroll

Setup changes

Before creating the payroll run, you should make any necessary updates:

Attendance and substitutes

Before initiating the payroll register, make sure attendance and substitute records for the pay period are completely up to date.

Payroll register 

The payroll register contains all the data related to the payroll run.

First, create the payroll run, where you will select the pay period groups that are being paid and the pay periods (date range) for which the employees are being paid.

To begin reviewing payroll data, click Register next to the payroll run you created.

Information is organized into tabs based mostly on payroll calculation steps. The following sections discuss how to use each tab. As you go through these steps, be aware that most data is saved immediately after you click out of a text box. Additionally, changes made inside the payroll register are unique to a single payroll run and have no effect on future payrolls; any changes that should be effective in future payrolls will require edits on the employee setup (see editing payroll items).

Employees

To begin, use the Employees tab to verify which employees and positions should be paid. Employees with regular pay during this pay period should be automatically checked, but you may need to check additional positions receiving irregular pay.

After selecting the correct positions, click Save Changes.

If the employee or position is missing some important data, you may see an error with instructions for how to complete the employee/position setup. For example, if the employee has a salary item without any amount, you will see the error “Salary doesn’t have value.”

Time Off

The Time Off tab displays all absences and uses of paid time off during the pay period. Click Import Time Off to bring in data from the Employee Attendance/Time Off/Substitutes page.

Substitutes

The Substitutes tab displays all instances of substitute employees who worked during the pay period. Click Import Substitutes to bring in data from the Employee Attendance/Time Off/Substitutes page.

Salary Wages

The Salary tab contains all wage payroll items except hourly and substitute wages. Each wage item is calculated automatically based on employee position settings, but the amounts can be edited if necessary. Any changes made are temporary, applying only to this payroll run.

By default, only wage items marked as regular pay appear on the tab. To add an irregular payroll item, use the down arrow next to the employee/position and click Add Payroll Item. The payroll item must be added on the Employees - Single Single view page before it can be selected here.

Hourly Wages

Hourly employees must have their hours entered each payroll. You may enter hours actually worked, hours that employees received as paid time off, and (depending on your district’s settings) overtime hours worked.

If you need to add any irregular hourly payroll items, click Add Hourly Payroll Item. The payroll item must be added on the Employees - Single Single view page before it can be found here.

Benefits, Deductions, Withholding, Employer Taxes

All benefits, deducations, withholding, and employer taxes will be contained in their respective tabs of the payroll register. Like other tabs, each employee/position has a row, and amounts are automatically filled in with defaults from the employee payroll items, but the amounts can be changed.

Retiree Health Insurance

This tab displays retired employees who are still on the district’s health care plan. The employees' payments must be entered at Financials Main > Payroll > Retiree Health Insurance before it appears in the register.

Negative Net Pay

This tab allows you to process payroll for employees whose deductions exceed wages. For more details, see Negative Net Pay.

Summary

As a final verification, check the Summary tab to see Net Pay and other subtotals for each employee. Selecting Enter on this tab will reveal a detailed breakdown of that employee’s pay. Clicking the question marks on this breakdown will show a “calculation details” window that shows the calculations made to arrive at the specified value. You may also manually override values and enter override comments in the Enter Employee Payroll window; however, these changes will only impact this payroll.

Reports

In addition to checking individual pieces of data on the payroll register, run reports to compare totals or organize information in a useful manner. Each district will have their own preferences for which reports to run as there are many reports to choose from, a few of which are described below:

Payroll Details Report

Found by clicking the down arrow found next to a payroll run on the Payroll Runs page, this report organizes the transactions by expense/liability account, breaking down which employees/payroll items contributed to each account.

Payroll Summary Report

Found by clicking the down arrow on the Payroll Runs page, this report displays the dollar amount associated with each payroll item and employee. Payroll items are ordered by calculation step to provide subtotals for Gross Pay, Taxable Pay, and Net Pay. The last page displays totals for each payroll item across all employees.

Saved Reports

The reports found at Financials Main > General Ledger > Saved Reports are customizable, so you can view a wide variety of data, organized however suits you. The two types of reports most likely to help are Payroll Items and Payroll Item Subtotals. There are also several reports already configured for you. For example:

  • Liabilities by Vendor shows how much you will owe to each vendor
  • Payroll Items by Employee breaks down every employee’s individual payroll items

Finalize payroll

 

After verifying that the data in the payroll register is correct, you can begin the process of posting this data to the general journal, issuing paychecks and ACH files for direct deposit, paying vendors, and sending out pay stubs to your employees.