Daily Operations -- Pay Cycles for Printing Paychecks

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Setting up pay frequency

    Use Payroll/Calculate Payroll/Select

    You decided whether to "departmentalize" Payroll and/or manually distribute earnings. You have set up pay factors and employees. Now use the Payroll/Calculate Payroll or Payroll/After the Fact Payroll frequency selection window to select the pay frequency or frequencies you want to process in a Payroll run.

    For ATF Payroll, you select the bank account the paychecks were drawn on and the general ledger period to which the ATF pay should be posted.

    You can also enter optional pay period start and end dates. If you enter pay period start and end dates in the Calculate Payroll frequency selection window, the dates print on paychecks. If you enter pay period start and end dates in the ATF Payroll frequency selection window, the dates in the start and end date fields print on the Earnings Report.

Calculating Payroll

    Use Calculate or ATF Payroll

    Once the employees in a pay frequency are "ready" in the Payroll window (with a status of "Selected"), press the Calculate button. This method calculates pay using the information that you entered in the Payroll/Configure windows. It also queues up the "Incomplete" employees who need entry of hours worked and lets you go quickly from one "Incomplete" hourly employee to the next. You can also add or edit pay data — say vacation time taken or a one-time bonus — for any employee being paid.

    You have entered any data required to complete the Payroll run. Click the Done button to save your work so far. Next, you should verify the Payroll run.

Verifying payroll data

    Use Payroll/Print/Payroll Register
    Select Current Pay Period/Print only unposted activity

    Before you print paychecks or post ATF Payroll, print the Payroll Register to verify the data. Select "Current Pay Period" for the Pay period ID and click the checkbox at "Print only unposted activity."

    You can think of the unposted Payroll Register as a batch listing of the current Payroll run. If you find errors in your review of the unposted Payroll data, re-enter Payroll as needed, save, and then reprint the unposted Payroll Register until you are satisfied with the results. Then print and approve paychecks or post ATF to post the run.

    Do not check the box if you want to print all posted and unposted Payroll data processed during the current pay period.

Printing Paychecks and Closing Checklist

Use Payroll/Calculate Payroll or Payroll/After the Fact Payroll

Then print and approve paychecks or post ATF to post the run.

Don't forget the last step in the cycle, closing the pay period (see below).

Use Payroll/Close Pay Period Checklist

Finally, and very importantly, once everybody's been paid, close the pay period. Closing the pay period simply prepares the system for the next Payroll run. If you need to print another check for an employee after you closed the pay period (a bonus, for example), just make an additional Payroll run for that employee and then close that pay period.

Remember that the pay period is not associated in any way with the general ledger posting period. Closing the pay period allows you to edit pay factors and employee information that you can't edit while a Payroll run is in progress — from the time you start Payroll processing until the time you close the pay period.