A payroll export checklist: 12 checks before you send hours
Twelve checks to run on hours, overtime and time off before they go to payroll, plus a quick way to spot a wrong total.
7 min readFor payroll, owners and managers
In short
- Most payroll mistakes start in the hours, not in the payroll system. Catch them before the export.
- Check in order: the period, the timesheets, the exceptions, the totals, then export and lock.
- Compare the total with last period and explain the whole difference before you send anything.
- Lock the period after exporting so the figures you sent cannot change underneath you.
On this page9 sections
A payroll system pays exactly what it is given. If the hours going in are wrong, the pay coming out is wrong, and you find out when someone knocks on your door holding a payslip. Fixing an error before the export takes a minute. Fixing it afterwards means a correction, an apology and sometimes an extra payment run.
This checklist is the routine to run each pay period before hours leave your timesheet system. It takes about twenty minutes for a small team once you know it. Adjust it to your own setup, and remember that what must be paid, and when, depends on the rules that apply to you.
Before you start
- Set a cut-off. Staff need to know when timesheets must be in, and managers when approvals are due.
- Leave a gap between the cut-off and the day payroll needs the file. Even half a day is enough to chase stragglers.
- Do the checks in the same order every time. Routine is what makes this fast.
The 12 checks
- Period dates. Confirm the start and end dates of the period you are exporting, and that it follows on from the last one with no gap or overlap.
- Everyone is there. Compare the list of people with who actually worked. Look for new starters with no hours and leavers who still appear.
- All timesheets submitted. Chase anyone who has not sent theirs; do not guess their hours.
- All timesheets approved. Hours that are still waiting for a manager should not go to payroll as if they were agreed.
- No open shifts. Look for clock-ins with no clock-out, which either drop out or turn into impossible totals.
- Unusual days. Scan for very long shifts, very short ones, missing breaks and work on days the person does not normally work.
- Overtime. Check that overtime hours look right for the people who have them, and that anyone who should not get overtime has none.
- Time off. Make sure approved leave in the period is included with the right type, and that nobody is recorded as both working and on leave for the same hours.
- Public holidays. If a holiday fell in the period, check who worked it, who had it off, and that each is treated the way your policy says.
- Changes during the period. Pay rises, changes of hours, starters and leavers part way through all need a second look.
- Totals against last period. Compare total hours and overtime with the previous period and explain the difference (see the example below).
- Export, lock and keep a copy. Export in your payroll system's layout, lock the period so nothing changes, and save the file you sent.
What each check catches
| Check | Typical mistake it catches | What it would cost |
|---|---|---|
| Open shifts | A forgotten clock-out left running overnight | Many hours of pay that were never worked |
| Approved only | Hours a manager would have queried | A correction next period |
| Time off | Leave missing from the file | Someone short-paid for a week away |
| Changes in period | Old pay rate used after a rise | Back pay and lost trust |
- Check
- Open shifts
- Typical mistake it catches
- A forgotten clock-out left running overnight
- What it would cost
- Many hours of pay that were never worked
- Check
- Approved only
- Typical mistake it catches
- Hours a manager would have queried
- What it would cost
- A correction next period
- Check
- Time off
- Typical mistake it catches
- Leave missing from the file
- What it would cost
- Someone short-paid for a week away
- Check
- Changes in period
- Typical mistake it catches
- Old pay rate used after a rise
- What it would cost
- Back pay and lost trust
The totals check, worked through
Check 11 is the one people skip, and it is the one that finds what the others miss. The idea is simple: the total should be different from last period only for reasons you can name. Keep going until the whole difference is explained.
- Last period: 1,840 hours. This period: 2,010 hours. Difference: 170 hours.
- A new starter, Ben Carter, worked the full period: 152 hours. That leaves 18 hours unexplained.
- Sorting shifts by length shows one of 26 hours for Emma Wilson. She forgot to clock out; the real shift was 8 hours.
- 26 − 8 = 18 hours. The difference is now fully explained.
- Correct the shift, have it approved again, and the total becomes 1,992 hours.
- At 15 an hour, those 18 hours would have been 270 of pay for time nobody worked.
Locking: why it matters
Once a file has gone to payroll, the hours behind it should stop moving. If a manager edits a shift from that period a week later, your timesheet system and your payroll system now disagree, and nobody will notice until the numbers are needed for something else.
Lock the period as soon as you export. If a real mistake turns up later, handle it as a clearly labelled correction in the next period, or unlock on purpose, fix it, export again and tell payroll which file replaces which.
When something is found after pay day
- Tell the person straight away, with the correct figure and the date it will be put right.
- Work out the difference in hours first, then in pay.
- Agree with payroll whether it is fixed in the next run or by a separate payment. Rules on correcting pay, and especially on recovering an overpayment, vary, so check what applies to you.
- Note what went wrong and which check should have caught it. Add a check if none would have.
Make it faster next time
- Send a reminder to staff the day before the cut-off, not the day after.
- Ask managers to approve weekly, even if you pay monthly. Four small reviews are easier than one large one.
- Keep a short note of each period's total hours, overtime hours and headcount. It makes the next totals check quick.
- Set the export up once to match your payroll system's import template, then stop retyping.
How ClockinBee handles the export
ClockinBee does not run payroll. It prepares what your payroll system needs. At the end of each pay period a pay run walks you through five steps: Period, Check, Preview and issue, Send to payroll and Lock. The check step shows what is still waiting, so time that has not been approved is not sent as though it had been; by default only approved time goes into the export.
Exports are files you download in the import layout of your payroll, accounting or HR system (the Integrations page lists the formats), with regular and overtime hours and leave days by type per person, so the file imports without retyping. If your system is not listed there is a generic CSV you can match to your template. Overtime is worked out on whole weeks and paid in the period where it falls, which removes one of the fiddlier manual checks when a week crosses a period end.
Payslips can be issued to staff from the same pay run. They are labelled as estimates before tax, because tax and social security are worked out by your payroll system, not by ClockinBee. Locking the period stops later edits from changing figures you have already sent.
Questions people ask
Should we export hours that are not approved yet?
No. Chase the approval instead. If payroll cannot wait, agree with the manager what to pay and record that it was agreed, so the next period does not start with an argument.
How long should this take?
For a small team with timesheets in on time, about twenty minutes. If it regularly takes much longer, the time is usually going on chasing late timesheets, so move the cut-off earlier or add a reminder.
Who should do the checks?
Ideally someone other than the people approving the hours. A second pair of eyes catches what the first has got used to seeing. In a very small business, do the checks on a different day from the approvals.
Do we need to keep the export file?
Keep a copy of exactly what you sent, with the date. It settles questions quickly. How long records must be kept depends on the rules that apply to you.
How to do this in ClockinBee
- Export hours and time off to payrollDownload approved hours, overtime and time off in the layout your payroll system imports.
- Approve timesheets and time offApprove everything that is ready in one go, and look closely at what needs review.
- Set your pay periodWeekly, every two weeks, every four weeks, twice a month or monthly.
- Which payroll systems are supported?Payroll, accounting and HR systems ClockinBee has export layouts for.
Try it with your own team
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This guide is general information, not legal, tax or payroll advice. Working time, pay and time off rules differ by country and contract, so check the rules that apply to you.