Payroll Upload FAQ

Q: What are the benefits of using the payroll upload module?

• It is super easy to use!
• You get visibility of your payroll data in EP
• Allocating / splitting employee's salary between funds/categories is simple
• Payroll transactions are automatically accrued to the correct payroll period
• It's easy to spot if any payroll payments are incorrect when bank matching
• Payroll transactions are processed through the same payment process flow as other payments
• Your Independent Examiner can view your payroll data saving time at year end

Q: What is the best payroll package to use?

The way that the payroll upload feature is designed, it works with all payroll packages. If you are looking for an easy-to-use payroll package, then we'd recommend checking out BrightPay, which many churches and charities use to manage payroll.

Q: If I use a payroll provider, can I still use the payroll upload feature?

Yes, you just need to request that they provide you with a summary spreadsheet for each pay period (see below).

Q: We don't have a pension provider, why is this required as part of payroll settings?

It is a legal requirement for all employers to have a pension provider (even if no employees currently pay into a pension). If you currently don’t yet have a pension provider, you still need to add one e.g. Nest Pensions.

Nest is the workplace pension scheme set up by the government. It's free for employers and easy to set up, and is the quickest and easiest way to comply with the law (other providers are available, but many charge setup fees).

Q: In what format does my summary payroll spreadsheet need to be?

The payroll summary spreadsheet needs to look like the example spreadsheet below - providing a full salary breakdown for each employee.

Q: What if the summary spreadsheet for each pay period is .pdf rather than a spreadsheet?

It should be possible to obtain this data in spreadsheet format, so it's worth finding out how to download data in this format from your payroll software or request data in this format if using a payroll provider. See the next question.

Q: Can I manually upload my payroll data?

Yes, you can manually enter payroll data for your first month, then for all future pay periods you can copy data from the previous month and then make edits.

Q: Is the payroll upload feature compatible with any payroll package?

Yes, as long as your payroll software / payroll provider is able to generate a summary spreadsheet for each pay period (which it should do!).

Q: Can I allocate employee's salary costs to different funds/categories?

Yes, when creating payroll payments (the step after uploading payroll data), you can allocate employee salary costs between funds/categories, including splitting an employee's salary costs between funds.

Q: What if I pay salaries as a lump sum to my payroll provider?

When setting up the payroll upload module, you can update the default settings to account for this, so if you use Stewardship or another payroll provider that makes salary payments on your behalf then this isn't an issue.

Q: Why are my payroll payments not showing up in my income and expenditure report?

If you create accounts on a receipts and payments basis, most likely the issue is that you haven't bank reconciled your payroll payments yet.

If you create accounts on an accruals basis, the issue is likely to be that the view to date in your reports is set to before the end date of the pay period in question. Within ExpensePlus salary payments automatically get accrued to the last day of your payroll period (which is likely to be the last day of the month of the pay period e.g. 31st March for your March pay period....which means if today's date is prior to the 31st March, you will need to change the view to date in the report you are viewing to be on or after 31st March and then your payroll payments will show).

To help you better understand the Payroll module as a whole, please visit the module overview page.