Table of Contents

Prepare and check a payroll run

Before you process payroll, check master data, the journal, tests, and discrepancies, and then define the allocation group, period, settlement date, and payment date. Payroll professionals complete this preparation after the monthly variable data is in the journal and before they process payroll, release it, pay it, and post it.

Prerequisites

Check master data and the journal

  1. Open Management Rapport Journal.
  2. Filter by period and allocation group.
  3. Reconcile the number of lines, quantity, and amount by using Sum.
  4. Check retroactive document dates, duplicates, and missing assignments.
  5. Check newly hired, departing, and withholding-tax-liable employees.
  6. Check changed bank and insurance data.
  7. Run the Plausibility Check for the required employee population.

The Consistency Checks report can be filtered by employee number, department, and allocation group and shows discrepancies for each employee.

Run test payrolls

  1. In the journal or on the employee card, choose a representative employee or one with unusual data.
  2. To check individual paychecks, choose Test Process Payroll in the Management Rapport Journal, in the allocated salaries on the employee card, or directly on the employee card.
  3. Enter the intended period and payment dates.
  4. Check the displayed paycheck.
  5. Repeat the test payroll run after making corrections.

SwissSalary creates a new unposted payroll run for the test, displays the paycheck, and then cancels the run automatically. This lets you check the calculation without continuing to process the test run as an open payroll run.

Tipp

At a minimum, test entries, departures, hourly pay, family allowances, withholding tax, extraordinary payments, and retroactive changes when these cases occur in the current month.

Assess the plausibility of the result

Before the definitive run, check:

  • gross and net salary compared with the previous month,
  • OASI, UI, occupational pension, insurance, and withholding tax deductions,
  • family allowances and their canton,
  • one-time payments and aperiodic withholding tax components,
  • working time, absences, and vacation pay,
  • bank details and payment amount,
  • cost centers and other dimensions,
  • expected pro rata temporis calculations.

After the definitive run, Payrolls provides, among other things, Paycheck, Difference List, Salary Entries, General Ledger Log, Cost Accounting Log, and payment reports. Use these reports for release checks before you choose Post Payroll.

Stop criteria

Don't start or approve the definitive payroll run when:

  • employees are unexpectedly missing or included,
  • period or payment dates are incorrect,
  • a journal import isn't reconciled,
  • insurance or withholding tax assignments are missing,
  • discrepancies can't be explained,
  • bank details are incomplete,
  • the previous payroll run has an unexplained status.

Correct the cause in the employee master data, Allocated Salary, journal, or setup, and then run the test again.

Define the payroll scope

The Process Payroll report requires an Allocation Group. You can also filter employees by Employee No. and Salary Code, and allocated salaries by Salary Type No..

  1. Choose the allocation group to process.
  2. Check which employees are assigned to this group.
  3. Use additional filters only for an intentionally restricted run.
Warnung

A filter can exclude employees or salary types from the run. Check the filters before every definitive payroll run, especially when saved report values are used.

Define the period and dates

  1. Enter Statement from.
  2. Check the to field. SwissSalary sets the end of the month by default.
  3. Check the Settlement Date.
  4. Check the Payment Date.
  5. If needed, add meaningful Payroll Log Text.

SwissSalary warns you when the period doesn't start on the first day or end on the last day of the month. Confirm a different period only when it is professionally intended.

The dates serve different purposes:

  • Statement from and to define the payroll period.
  • Settlement Date identifies the payroll run's settlement date.
  • Payment Date is used for payment and other time-dependent processing.

Check child allowances and provisional payments

The Calculation of Child Allowances option controls more than family allowances. According to the tooltip, when you turn it off, the run also doesn't process working calendar and fictitious occupational pension calculations. Therefore, turn off the option only for a run that is specifically intended for this purpose.

For provisional payments, Provisional Payment, Provisional Payment %, and rounding are available. SwissSalary requires the configured provisional payment salary type. Don't use the provisional payment process as a replacement for a regular payroll run.

Good to know

  • You leave saved report filters in place—employees or salary types are omitted without notice and receive no salary or the wrong salary.
  • You confirm a different period without a professional reason—the run processes the wrong month.
  • You turn off Calculation of Child Allowances—calendar and fictitious occupational pension calculations are also omitted, and allowances are missing.
  • You start the definitive run while journal, insurance, withholding tax, or bank data is unresolved—the run can stop or result in incorrect amounts or payment errors.
  • You test only standard cases and omit entries, departures, hourly pay, or retroactive changes—special cases fail only during the definitive run.

See also