Payroll journals configuration in Payroll Cloud

This guide explains how to set up and manage payroll journal configurations in Payroll Cloud, so you can export payroll data ready for your accounting system. It is intended for payroll administrators and finance teams.

Payroll journals let you export your payroll data in a format ready for your accounting system(s). You can create and manage multiple journal configurations, each tailored for different accounting systems (like Xero or Sage) or reporting needs. Journal reports are integrated into your standard Reports section, making it easy to access, customise, and export your payroll data.
 

Contents

• Managing journal configurations
• Adding a rule
• Checking your configuration
• Editing, previewing, or deleting a configuration
• Related guides

Managing journal configurations

Journal configurations define how your payroll data maps to general ledger nominal codes. You must create a journal configuration before exporting a journal, if you don't have one. If you don't have one, the system will prompt you to create it when you first access a journal report.

The rules are divided into sections for each data type on each side of the journal:

• Debits
  • Gross wages
  • Employer NI
  • Employer Pension
• Credits
  • PAYE
  • NI
  • Student and postgraduate loans
  • Pensions
  • Deductions
  • Deduction orders
  • Deduction order costs
  • Net wages

You can access journal configuration in two ways:

• Go to Company Setup > Journal Config, then click +Add configuration
• Or, from within a pay run's Reports tab, use the Journal Export > Configure Journal shortcut. Both take you to the same configuration screen

To create a new journal configuration:

• Choose a template:
  • Xero (pre-filled with Xero nominal codes)
  • Sage (pre-filled with Sage nominal codes)
  • Generic (customisable for other systems)
  • Advanced (for more control over how your journal maps to your chart of accounts)

• Enter a name and (optionally) a description
• On the initial configuration screen, you'll see a basic Debit/Credit split, enter your nominal code (or "main" code, if you don't have just one) for each category
• Add additional rules as required by the general ledger you're targeting (see below)

• Click Save

Adding a rule

If you have rules or splits within your nominal codes, select Add rule. Department code and payment/cost code are set as defaults, as these are the most commonly used splits. If your system has custom/analysis fields configured, these will also appear as options here.

• Assign different nominal codes based on department, director status, cost code, or custom/analysis fields
• You can add multiple elements to a single rule, for example, allocating both Department 1 and Bonus to the same specific code
• Order rules to control which takes priority when multiple rules apply. Use the small arrow at the bottom right of each rule to change its position, with your highest-priority splits at the top of the list

Department cost codes

If your journal has department splits, this is determined by the department code allocated to each employee, found under Employees > Click into employee details > Employment. 

You'll need to add a rule for each department you want split out on the journal file.

Payment/deduction cost codes

If your journal is split by pay element, allocate a cost code to the individual payments or deductions you want split. This is done within Company Setup > Pay Elements screen when creating or editing a pay element. The process is the same for both payments and deductions, just make sure you're using the correct credit/debit section on the Journal Config screen. 

Once cost codes are added to the relevant pay elements, add a rule for each cost code used in the Journal Config screen.


 

Checking your configuration

If you're using a lot of rules, or just want to make sure all payments are allocated correctly, use a SPLIT-ALL code to highlight any gaps in the configuration. It can help to allocate an intentionally distinct nominal code (such as 0000) so missing allocations, like an unassigned department, are easy to spot.

Click Next, confirm the correct export format, then click Next again to produce an in-browser preview of the journal, where you can identify any gaps.

In the example below, there are employees with no department (the blank Description box) and there is no allocation for Dept4. This is fine if you want those employees to fall back to the main/default nominal code, but you'll need to add a rule if you want them allocated to a specific code instead. 

Editing, previewing, or deleting a configuration

Use the Edit, eye icon (preview), or Delete (bin) buttons in the Journal Config list. You can also download and duplicate from this menu

Related guides

• Payroll Cloud Advanced Journal Configuration
• Payroll Cloud journal reports