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HR + Payroll

7 Payroll Reports That Make Payruns Error-Free

No matter what product or service you sell, your company runs payroll. And that’s a good thing! Employers like earning revenue, employees like being paid and the payroll department or payroll administrator likes it when the process goes off without a hitch.

But when businesses choose to process payroll on their own, without the expertise of a provider, questions like the ones below start to create uncertainties and anxiety.

  • How do we make sure we’re deducting the right amount of federal income tax?
  • When do we have to file our state payroll reports?
  • Did we miss any of our filing deadlines?
  • How much will we have to pay the IRS for missing our federal reporting deadline?

In this article, we’ll highlight payroll reports your provider should offer to help ensure you’re in compliance with reporting requirements and your payroll remains error-free.

  1. Pre-post Payroll Journal

    This report provides you with all the data you’re about to submit for a particularly payrun. Review your pre-post payroll report carefully.

  2. Pre-post Employee Export

    Your employee export report gives you pay detail and totals for each employee by department. It also captures the proportion of time/earnings this payment represents from what is allocated to that department

  3. Pay Run Audit Export

    A payrun audit report helps identify inaccurate entries before submitting. This report alerts you to potential discrepancies around any fields including missing deductions, 401k changes, and time sheet mismatches

  4. Cash Requirements

    A single source report summarizing your total payrun cost. Your total payable figure includes checks and direct deposits made to employees and outside agencies—including tax withholdings and your tax liabilities

  5. Labor Distribution

    Like the Payroll Journal, the Labor Distribution report offers pay details including wages, deductions, and taxes for all departments. The report details amounts due to employees who work in multiple departments according to departmental time/earning allocations

  6. Deductions Not Taken

    This report lists all active employees who will not have deductions taken during this payrun because they are not earning a paycheck.

  7. Unpaid Employees

    Unpaid employees are those who are active but will not be receiving a paycheck. Comparing this report to approved time entries is a good way to double-check no one is missing an anticipated payment.

payroll audit

Answers Before There Are Questions

Running these seven payroll reports prior to each payrun allows you to identify discrepancies before any money is transferred. Instead of fixing problems later—which can be time-consuming and costly—staying on top of the data keeps your stress level down and your payroll error-free. And when payroll is accurate, required monthly and quarterly reports are a breeze.

The real key to successful payroll processing is having the right tool in place that can take care of the heavy lifting for you. Look for systems with features like:

  • Usability
  • Accessible from anywhere
  • Single-page dashboard
  • Self-service options available to employees through a mobile app
  • Alerts and comprehensive reporting to ensure error-free processing
  • Stress-free tax compliance
  • Automatic product updates throughout the year
  • Knowledgeable payroll and tax experts available when you need them

Perfected Payroll

If you’re in the market for a payroll solution that offers stress-free tax compliance, engaging employee self-service and detailed reporting capabilities, look no further than Paycor. Take a guided tour of our products to learn how the payroll software can help your team process payroll quickly and accurately.