Payroll cycle balancing

Balancing payroll is an on-going process from cycle to cycle within Payroll. When you balance on a cycle to cycle basis, balancing month-end, quarter-end, and year-end in preparation for regulatory reporting is cleaner and easier to perform.

Routine, cyclical payroll balancing involves maintaining a detailed record of all transactions processed through payroll. These transactions include normal cyclical payments and extra payments such as voids, manual adjustments, and manual payments. These extra payments can be closed either when normal cyclical payments are closed, or closed independent of normal cyclical payments.

Note: We recommend that you close voids, manual adjustments, and manual payments independently from the normal cyclical close. When you close these transactions independently, you will not overlook these extra payments, and will have greater ease in documenting these transactions.

When you prepare to balance a payroll cycle, you must remember two concepts. First, performing adjustments through Adjustment is the only cause of an out of balance transaction in Payroll. If you find out of balance transactions when balancing, you can research transactions made through Adjustment.

Note: Because the possibility of creating out of balance transactions exists with Adjustment, you must create an adjustment for an employee record with caution and a thorough understanding of the adjustment process.

See Manual processes: adjustments.

Note: The Payroll Register is a record of your transactions. Refer to this record when balancing a payroll cycle.

Second, the Payroll Register reflects voids, adjustments, and manual payments as well as normal application payments.

Note: We recommend running the Payroll Register after you perform all prerequisite procedures for payroll close, and prior to running Payroll Close. Save a copy of the Payroll Register either electronically, or as a permanent payroll record on paper.

See Creating the Payroll Register (U.S. and CA).