Run the monthly payroll

Each month, a pay run works out everyone's pay, tax and deductions. Someone approves it, it is posted to the accounts, and you record the payment once the salaries leave the bank.

Before you start

• Payroll is part of the top edition of each product: Gold for hotels, Professional for DMS, Manufacturing and POS (and the Pharmacy edition), and Enterprise where there is one. If Payroll isn't in your menu, your edition doesn't include it; an Administrator sees an upgrade option.
• Company Settings lets you prepare a run.
• Approving, posting and recording the payment need Journal Entries.
• Employees, their pay, and the payroll accounts must be set up (Payroll → Settings and Pay components).
• Unless your settings allow it, the person who approves must be someone other than the person who calculated.

Steps

1. Go to Payroll, choose the Month and click New pay run. Everyone due to be paid is calculated straight away.
2. Check the Employees list:
   • Days: change it for unpaid leave or absence. The run recalculates, and reset puts it back.
   • Leave out: excludes someone from this month only.
   • Payslip: shows exactly how their pay was worked out.
3. For overtime, a bonus or a one-time deduction, click Add overtime, bonus or deduction under One-off amounts this month.
4. Look at the Accounting tab to see what will be posted.
5. Someone else clicks Approve.
6. Click Post to accounts. Each employee's payslip becomes available to them under My payslips.
7. Click Bank file and upload it to your internet banking to pay everyone.
8. When the money has left the bank, click Record payment, and choose the bank account and date.
9. Use the Statutory schedules tab to remit deductions. There is one schedule for each tax and contribution on the run: PAYE, Pension and NHF in Nigeria, or for example Federal income tax and Pension plan elsewhere. You can download each as CSV. Pay them to the tax authority or scheme with an ordinary bill payment or expense against the liability accounts.

Tips

• Tax rules: PAYE uses the rules in force on the last day of the month. From January 2026 that is the Nigeria Tax Act; the run shows which rules it used.
• Payslip details: each payslip shows year-to-date totals, and lets you print or save it as PDF.
• Cost to company: the total includes the employer's pension and NHIS contributions.
• Loans: staff loans and salary advances are deducted automatically (see Staff loans and salary advances).

Common problems

• Payroll is missing from the menu, or a page says it isn't part of your plan. Your edition doesn't include Payroll. Ask your Administrator about upgrading.
• "There is already a pay run for …". There is one run per month. Open it, or cancel it to start again.
• Approve isn't there. You calculated the run, so someone else must approve it.
• "Some components have no account set". Set the accounts under Pay components, then Recalculate.
• An amount is wrong after approval. Click Send back, fix it, recalculate, and approve again.
• A posted run is wrong. Click Cancel run and give a reason. Its postings are removed and loan repayments restored, then start the month again. A paid run must have its payment undone first (Undo payment).
• Someone's net pay is negative. Their deductions are more than their pay. Fix their pay structure, or leave them out, before posting.