Payroll

1. The month in five steps

1. Set up once: payroll settings, pay components, salary structures and each employee's pay. 2. Start the month's pay run - everyone working that month, with leave, joiners and leavers worked out. 3. Check and submit it for approval. 4. Approval locks it: payslips, the bank file and the remittance schedules are ready. 5. Finance: the run is posted to the books on the pay date, and Finance records the payments.

2. Who can do what

Payroll is sensitive, so no role gets it automatically: the Owner gives the payroll permissions (view pay, manage pay, manage payroll settings) to whoever runs payroll, in Organization → Roles. Whoever prepares a run never approves it.

Everyone with an employee record sees their own payslips in My workspace → My payslips and on the phone app - nothing else.

3. The rules it follows

PAYE uses the tax bands and reliefs in effect for the month (including rent relief), after pension and NHF. Pension is at least 8% from staff and 10% from the employer on basic, housing and transport; NHF 2.5% of basic; NSITF and ITF on the payroll. The rules are reviewed by a qualified accountant before they're used - a change in the law becomes a new set of rules from its date.

1. Payroll settings

Go to Payroll → Payroll settings. Set the Pay day (moved back to the last working day when it falls on a weekend or holiday), the pension rates if yours are above the minimum, and optionally a Cut-off for changes - for example the 24th, so a run paid on the 25th can be approved in time. Saving them confirms them.

2. Pay components

Under Pay components, the usual earnings and deductions are there already - basic, housing, transport, meal, utility, leave allowance, bonus, overtime, loan, cooperative. For each, say whether it's Taxed, Pensionable and part of Basic pay (NHF), and whether it's a fixed amount or Entered monthly. Add a component for your own.

3. Salary structures

Go to Payroll → Salary structures and Add a structure for each grade: its components and amounts. A structure is a starting point - each employee gets their own copy, so changing a structure later changes nobody's pay.

4. Each employee's pay

Go to Payroll → Employees' pay, open an employee and select Set pay: their grade's structure is filled in; adjust it, give the date it starts, their State for PAYE, any Yearly rent for rent relief, and whether they're excused from pension or NHF. A raise later is a new row from its date - the history stays.

In bulk: Import pay takes a spreadsheet - download the template, fill it in, and a preview shows every row before anything is saved. Or, on a salary structure, Set pay gives everyone on its grade with no pay yet their copy in one go.

Where their pay is charged: all to their department, or split by percentages across departments, cost centers, funds and grants - so staff costs land on the right budget and donor report.

Tip: Make sure HR has each employee's bank details, TIN, pension PIN and administrator, and date of birth - the bank file, remittances and protected payslips use them.

1. Start the run

Go to Payroll → Pay runs and select Start a pay run for the month. Everyone working that month is on it, with their pay pro-rated by calendar days if they joined or left, less any approved unpaid leave.

Add a one-off for a bonus, overtime, leave allowance or a one-time deduction. One-offs are taxed at the rates they actually reach - never as if paid every month. Recalculate after changes in HR.

2. Check it

Worth a look lists what to confirm before submitting: someone with no pay set, new or gone since last month, net pay up or down more than 10%. Open any line for the payslip as it will be, with how the PAYE was worked out. Register (CSV) downloads the whole run.

3. Approval

Submit for approval. It goes to your approvers (the Owner unless you set a workflow in Approval workflows) - never to whoever prepared it. Sent back, it opens again with the reason. Approved, it's locked: corrections go into next month's run.

4. Payslips, the bank file and remittances

From a locked run, download payslips or email them: each PDF is protected with the employee's date of birth, and the email itself shows no amounts.

Paying and remitting has the bank file of net pay for your bank's bulk upload, then each deduction with its due date: PAYE by state, pension by administrator, NHF, NSITF and ITF - each a CSV, and anyone missing a detail HR holds is listed.

5. In the books

With Finance, the run is posted on the pay date: salaries by component and department (or as charged), employer costs, and what's owed to staff, the tax authorities and pension administrators. Finance records the payments in Finance → Payroll as they're made.

If it can't post yet - for example the payroll accounts aren't in your chart - the run says why; Finance selects Add the payroll accounts in Finance → Settings, then Post now.