Reconcile Payroll

Reconcile Payroll

Reconcile Payroll : Multi-thousand tips to make your life easier.

Reconciling payroll is a task that requires a keen eye for detail and is a full-time job. For most people, going to work and waiting for their salary every other week is the full extent of their acquaintance with payroll. For those who are tasked with reconciling payroll, they must ensure that everyone gets paid the right amount, on time, and that the books are balanced.
To reconcile payroll, you need to know how many employees are on the payroll, expecting payment, and in what amounts. This means you must watch for newly hired staff, terminated employees, staff due for salary adjustments and increases, those on vacation or sick leave and whether those leaves are paid or unpaid, those who will be reimbursed for overtime, and those from whom late fees will be deducted. All these details must be known to ensure that the payroll is balanced and that people receive what they are due.
The thing about payroll is that you are dealing with people’s lifeline. Imagine if there was a mistake with your payroll account—if you were given more or less than what you should have received. It would create problems and inconvenience for you. If you are the one handling payroll and a mishap occurs, you would be dealing with employees and banks, making affidavits, and updating the ledger to smooth things over while the next payroll is already waiting for you. So it is better to get it done right, even if it takes a little more time, if it means avoiding all the hassle and confusion.

• The process flow for processing payments and payroll is:
  • Employees complete their timesheets and monthly absence summaries.
  • Supervisors approve timesheets and monthly absence summaries.
  • Data is entered into software.
  • Another person reviews the data.
  • Expense Distribution Reports are made available for managerial review.
  • Pay day.
• In light of this, to reconcile payroll, one should first collect the time. This means ensuring that all hours worked and absences are reported. The salary to be processed will be based on the hours worked.
• Gather the timesheets or log records and enter them into the payroll software. Make sure that the timesheets and absence leaves are all approved by the concerned manager. Ensure that everything is accurate to detect time clock fraud.
• Get the final manager’s approval before releasing checks and submitting electronic funds transfers (EFT).
• Authorize EFT and release checks.
• Make sure that the checks are deposited into employees’ accounts. You can also track the checks to see that they all clear on time.

Lastly, make sure you maintain payroll records on file in case a dispute arises. Have everything on file so that when an employee inquires about salaries and deductions, you have documents to show him.