Pay Run Adjustments

Sometimes you may have approved a pay run and then realise you made a mistake and need to make some adjustments. Saasu doesn’t allow you to edit a payroll entry directly that was created via a pay run. However, there are two ways to deal with this situation.

Change in hours worked or leave taken

For example, you may have entered 40 hours in the Base Pay Hourly field and then realised it should have been 32 hours because the 8 hours were taken as annual leave:

Method 1 – Delete and redo the pay run

NOTE: If you do this, you may need to re-enter any adjustments to the next pays.

1. Select Payroll > Pay Run > View Pay Runs (in orange).
2. Locate the pay period you are wishing to delete and write down or print the payslips for each employee
3. Delete the pay run.
4. If you just want to recreate the transactions but don’t want the emails to go out again to all employees, disable auto-email first by going into the pay group and unticking Email Payslips.
5. Save your changes.
6. Open your Pay Run again and select the orange dates under “Period”
7. Alter the pay period and pay date to match the deleted pay run
8. Make adjustments for this pay run in the next pay section by selecting Payroll > Employees and clicking the next pay icon beside the edit/pencil icon. Using example 1 above:
   • Change the hours in Base Pay Hourly field to 32.
   • Add a new line item in the wages and salary section using the plus icon.
   • Select Annual Leave Pay.
   • Enter 8 in the hours field.
   • Save the next pay.
9. Once you’ve made the required changes, start the pay run again, check the drafts, and approve these once you have made sure everything is correct.
10. You might want to re-enable the Email Payslips option if you disabled this before.

Method 2 – Create an adjustment payroll entry

1. Add a new payroll entry by selecting Add > Payroll and ensure the entry has the same date as the pay run date.
2. Use the dropdown field to select the employee.
3. Remove all lines except Base Pay Hourly.
4. Enter -8 hours in the Base Pay Hourly field.
5. Add a new line in the Wages and Salary section using the plus icon and select Annual Leave Pay.
6. Enter 8 in the hours field.
7. Save the transaction.
8. To email this adjustment to the employee, click the Email link after saving the transaction.

Change Pay Run Date

In Saasu we restrict changing the transaction date if the payroll entries are part of a pay run. Here are three possible ways to handle this situation:

Method 1 – Reconcile anyway

If you’re just trying to get the bank rec done and the dates don’t line up (eg out by 1 or 2 days) you could probably just tick the entries and move on.

Method 2 – Rerun the pay run for that period

1. Delete the old pay run.
2. Edit the pay group – Change the next pay run date and pay period, untick auto email payslip to employee, and save. (You probably don’t want to re-email the payslips).
3. Start the pay run, check, and approve it.
4. Once you’ve finished, go back to editing the pay group and check that the next pay run date and period are correct.
5. Re-enable auto email payslip (if applicable).

Method 3 – Use a Journal to move the pay run date

This method has you move the money back into the bank account for the incorrect date and then move the money out again on the correct pay date. NOTE: You’ll need to set up a clearing account to do this. In the following example, the incorrect pay date is 14 May, and the correct one is 15 May.

Why can’t I change the date?

If we allow this, we lose the integrity and rigor of Group Payroll, which, in theory, should be final when it’s run. Companies with hundreds of staff use Saasu. Consequently, if we allow this change, it reduces the accounting compliance and integrity of Saasu payroll to below their standards. Several areas are impacted by a pay run, including the generation of bulk EFT files and leave/year end employee payment summaries. Additionally, if the emails have been sent to employees, it is good accounting practice to adjust entries rather than change and resend payslips. There are several other reasons for having this business rule in place in Saasu. These are just a few examples.

Pay Run adjustments and submitting an adjustment via Single Touch Payroll reporting

If the Pay Run that you have adjusted as already been submitted via the STP report and accepted by the ATO, then you will need to advise them of this adjustment. There are two ways to do this:

Method 1 – Replace ATO Pay Event via STP

You are able to use the option Replace ATO Pay Event if:

• If the previous Regular Pay Event you submitted was for a Pay Run
• The Pay Event you need to replace is the most recent Pay Event and has previously been fully or partially accepted by the ATO.

To replace a previous pay event you will need to:

1. delete the recent Pay Run that has the error (the whole pay run needs deleting as you’re unable to delete just the pay in error
2. re-run the Pay Run for the correct date and date range
3. run the STP report and choose the Replace ATO Pay Event
4. check that the information about to be submitted is correct
5. click Submit

Method 2 – Create an adjusting entry on the next pay

If you identify an error for a historical Pay Run, then you can add a correcting line item on the next pay for the employee concerned. This will then be picked up when you submit this entry in your next Regular Pay Event.