Payslip Summary — Complete User Guide — Two Accounts Web

Comprehensive guide for the Payslip Summary report — enabling it, creating a summary, reading every column, and validating each figure against the payslips, the General Ledger, and accounting regulations

Table of Contents

1. What Is the Payslip Summary Report?
2. Prerequisites — Enabling via the Customize Menu
3. Navigating to the Report
4. The Report List
5. Creating a Summary — Field-by-Field
6. Report Output Columns
   • 6.1 Grouping by Currency
   • 6.2 Group Total Rows
   • 6.3 Single-Currency vs Multi-Currency Layout
7. How the Summary Is Calculated
   • 7.1 Which Payslips Are Included
   • 7.2 Gross Pay
   • 7.3 Total Deductions
   • 7.4 Net Pay
   • 7.5 Total Contributions
   • 7.6 What Is Excluded From the Report
8. Related Settings and Configuration
9. Sample Data and Report Output
   • 9.1 Sample Setup
   • 9.2 Report Output — Multi-Currency
   • 9.3 Report Output — Single Currency
   • 9.4 Calculation Verification
10. General Ledger Verification
11. Reporting and Accounting Impact
12. Accounting Regulation Validation
13. Common Issues and Best Practices

1. What Is the Payslip Summary Report?

The Payslip Summary report presents a consolidated view of all payslips issued within a date range you choose. For every employee who received a payslip in that period it shows:

• Gross pay — the total earnings on all of the employee's payslips in the period,
• Total deductions — the total of all deduction lines (such as income tax, insurance, pension),
• Net pay — what the employee is actually owed (gross pay minus deductions), and
• Total contributions — the employer-side contributions recorded on the payslips (such as employer social security, provident fund matching).

Rows are grouped by currency, and every currency group shows a bold group total row. If your business uses only one currency, the report is shown as a flat list with a single grand-total row.

The Payslip Summary is a saved report. You create a summary once (with a From date, To date, and an optional description), and it is stored in the report list so you can reopen, revisit, or re-export it at any time.

2. Prerequisites — Enabling via the Customize Menu

The Payslip Summary report appears under Reports only when the payroll area is active for the business. The report is shown when either the Employees tab or the Payslips tab is enabled in the Customize Menu.

How to Ensure It Is Enabled

1. Open the Customize Menu from the navigation bar.
2. Find the Employees toggle. It is turned on by default for every new business. Ensure it is enabled.
3. The Payslips toggle appears when Employees is enabled. It is also on by default.
4. Click Update / Save to apply any changes.

Once enabled, the report is available under Reports → Payslips → Payslip Summary.

3. Navigating to the Report

From the main navigation bar:

1. Open Reports.
2. Go to the Payslips category.
3. Click Payslip Summary.

This opens the report list — every summary you have created (and saved) for the business appears here, sorted by its From Date.

4. The Report List

The list shows one row per saved summary, with three columns:

Each row is clickable:

• Click the row to open the summary output (the per-employee figures).
• Edit opens the summary form to change the dates or description.

A New Report button at the top creates a fresh summary.

5. Creating a Summary — Field-by-Field

Click New Report to open the summary form. It contains three fields:

1. Enter a From Date and a To Date.
2. Optionally enter a Description.
3. Click Save.
4. The report opens showing the summary output for that period.

6. Report Output Columns

The summary opens with a subtitle:

For the period from {From Date} to {To Date}

One row is shown per employee who has at least one payslip inside the period, followed by totals. Four amount columns are displayed:

6.1 Grouping by Currency

The report groups employees by their currency:

• Each employee's currency is taken from the Currency field on the Employee record.
• An employee with no currency set is treated as using the business's base currency.
• All employees of the same currency are listed together under a currency group header (e.g. "BDT - Bangladeshi Taka" or "USD - US Dollar").
• Within a currency group, employees are listed alphabetically by name.

6.2 Group Total Rows

Each currency group ends with a stand-out total row labelled "Total — {Currency}" (e.g. "Total — BDT - Bangladeshi Taka"). It sums the Gross pay, Total deductions, Net pay, and Total contributions of every employee in that currency group, and is visually emphasized.

6.3 Single-Currency vs Multi-Currency Layout

7. How the Summary Is Calculated

7.1 Which Payslips Are Included

A payslip is counted in the report only when all of the following are true:

• The payslip has an employee assigned.
• That employee still exists in the business's employee list.
• The payslip Date is on or after the report's From Date.
• The payslip Date is on or before the report's To Date.

One row is produced for every employee who has at least one qualifying payslip. Employees with no payslips in the period do not produce a row.

7.2 Gross Pay

For a single employee, Gross pay is the total of every Earnings line amount on every qualifying payslip:

Gross Pay = Σ ( over payslips )  Σ ( over earnings lines )  Earnings line amount

Earnings line amount = Units × Unit Price   (a line with no Units counts as 1 unit)

• Each earnings line amount is first rounded to the currency's decimal places using standard half-away-from-zero rounding.
• The rounded line amounts are then summed for the employee across all qualifying payslips.

7.3 Total Deductions

Total Deductions = Σ ( over payslips )  Σ ( over deduction lines )  Deduction amount

This is the total of every Deduction line on every qualifying payslip for the employee.

7.4 Net Pay

Net Pay = Gross Pay − Total Deductions

This is the employee's take-home amount for the period. Net pay is shown in bold.

7.5 Total Contributions

Total Contributions = Σ ( over payslips )  Σ ( over contribution lines )  Contribution amount

This column reflects only the contribution lines (the employer's own cost). Each such line creates a Profit & Loss expense and a Balance Sheet liability, but it is not subtracted from the employee's pay.

7.6 What Is Excluded From the Report

• Employees with no payslip in the period — they never appear as rows.
• Payslips outside the date range — even one day outside is excluded.
• Payslips with no employee — these are not attributable and are ignored.
• Zero rows — an employee row in which Gross pay, Total deductions, Net pay and Total contributions are all zero is removed automatically (a payslip with no earnings, deductions, or contributions would produce such a row).
• Payments and opening balances — the report contains only payslip data. Payments made to employees, opening balances, and journal adjustments are tracked on the employee's clearing account but are not part of this report.

8. Related Settings and Configuration

While the Payslip Summary has no settings of its own, several other settings affect what it shows:

9. Sample Data and Report Output

9.1 Sample Setup

Employees

Jane Doe is assigned the custom control account "International Payroll". This determines where Jane's clearing-account balance rolls up on the Balance Sheet. It has no effect on the Payslip Summary — the summary works from each employee's payslip lines, not from their clearing-account balance — so Jane's figures appear in the USD currency group exactly as John's appear in the BDT group.

Payslip Items

Opening Balances (tracked on the clearing account — not in this report)

Payslips for January 2026 (the only payslips in Q1 2026)

Other records present in the system but outside this report

• Payment to John Smith (28,500 BDT, 5-Feb-2026) — a payment, not a payslip: excluded.
• Jane Doe's "International Payroll" control account — an account-assignment detail, not a payslip: excluded.
• Both opening balances (50,000 BDT / 1,000 USD) — opening entries, not payslips: excluded.
• No payslips exist in February or March 2026, so the whole Q1 2026 range yields only the two January payslips.

9.2 Report Output — Multi-Currency (Q1 2026)

For the period from 1-Jan-2026 to 31-Mar-2026

9.3 Report Output — Single Currency

If the business had only BDT employees (for example, if Jane Doe was not present or not paid in USD), the report would contain a single currency and would be shown as a flat list with one grand-total row:

For the period from 1-Jan-2026 to 31-Mar-2026

9.4 Calculation Verification

EMP-001 John Smith (BDT):

Gross pay     = 30,000 (Basic) + 5,000 (Overtime)     = 35,000.00
Total deductions = 5,000 (Tax) + 1,500 (Insurance)    =  6,500.00
Net pay       = 35,000 − 6,500                       = 28,500.00  ✓
Total contributions = 6,000 (Employer Social Security) =  6,000.00

EMP-002 Jane Doe (USD):

Gross pay     = 2,000 (Basic) + 500 (Overtime)       =  2,500.00
Total deductions = 300 (Tax) + 100 (Insurance)       =    400.00
Net pay       = 2,500 − 400                          =  2,100.00  ✓
Total contributions = 400 (Employer Social Security) =    400.00

Currency group totals (Q1 2026):

BDT group:
  Gross pay     = 35,000                        = 35,000.00   ✓
  Deductions    = 6,500                        =  6,500.00   ✓
  Net pay       = 28,500                       = 28,500.00   ✓
  Contributions = 6,000                        =  6,000.00   ✓
USD group:
  Gross pay     = 2,500                        =  2,500.00   ✓
  Deductions    = 400                          =    400.00   ✓
  Net pay       = 2,100                        =  2,100.00   ✓
  Contributions = 400                          =    400.00   ✓

10. General Ledger Verification

Every figure in the summary ties back to the payslips' General Ledger postings. For EMP-001 John Smith's January 2026 payslip, the system posts:

  Dr Salary Expense                      30,000.00
  Dr Overtime Expense                     5,000.00
    Cr Income Tax Payable                            5,000.00
    Cr Health Insurance Payable                      1,500.00
    Cr Employee Clearing Account — John Smith       28,500.00   ← Net Pay
  Dr Social Security Expense               6,000.00
    Cr Social Security Payable                       6,000.00
                                      ──────────   ──────────
  Total Debits: 41,000.00   Total Credits: 41,000.00   ✓ Balanced

For EMP-002 Jane Doe (USD), the same structure applies but in USD and crediting her custom control account ("International Payroll") as the clearing account:

  Dr Salary Expense                       2,000.00
  Dr Overtime Expense                       500.00
    Cr Income Tax Payable                              300.00
    Cr Health Insurance Payable                        100.00
    Cr "International Payroll" — Jane Doe            2,100.00   ← Net Pay
  Dr Social Security Expense                400.00
    Cr Social Security Payable                         400.00
                                      ──────────   ──────────
  Total Debits: 2,900.00   Total Credits: 2,900.00   ✓ Balanced

• Gross pay in the summary = 35,000 (John) and 2,500 (Jane) = the earnings debits. ✓
• Total deductions in the summary = 6,500 (John) and 400 (Jane) = the deduction credits. ✓
• Net pay in the summary = 28,500 (John) and 2,100 (Jane) = the balancing credits to each employee's clearing account. ✓
• Total contributions in the summary = 6,000 (John) and 400 (Jane) = the Social Security expense debits (the liability credits are the payable side). ✓
• Jane's control account: her net pay credits "International Payroll" instead of the default clearing account — but the amount (2,100 USD) is what enters the summary. The account name has no influence on the Payslip Summary columns. ✓

Validation of clearing-account movement for Q1 2026:

Net pay credited during Q1 (from the two payslips):
  John Smith (Employee Clearing) 28,500 BDT
  Jane Doe ("International Payroll") 2,100 USD
  = equals the Net pay totals in the Payslip Summary ✓

(For reference, the Employees listing balances in the source guide are higher because they
 include the opening balances and subtract the payment — those are Balance Sheet figures,
 not payslip figures, and therefore do not appear in this report.)

11. Reporting and Accounting Impact

• Profit & Loss: The Gross pay and Total contributions columns correspond to payroll expenses on the P&L (via the expense accounts set on the Pay slip Earnings and Contribution Items). The summary therefore largely reconciles to payroll line items on the Income Statement.
• Balance Sheet: The Net pay totals (per currency) represent the newly created "payroll payable" liability credited to each employee's clearing account. Once employees are paid, payments debit those clearing accounts, so the same period viewed after payment would show the liability settled on the Balance Sheet while the Payslip Summary (payslip-driven) stays unchanged.
• Cash Flow: Payslips themselves create no cash movement; cash flows when employees are paid (operating outflow). The summary does not include payments.
• Trial Balance / GL: The earnings, deduction, and contribution postings of the period's payslips reconcile with the figures in this report by construction (see section 10).

12. Accounting Regulation Validation

13. Common Issues and Best Practices

13.1 The Report Does Not Appear

Cause: Neither Employees nor Payslips is enabled in the Customize Menu, or the user lacks report permission.

Solution: Enable Employees (and, if desired, Payslips) in Customize Menu, or ask the administrator to grant report access.

13.2 An Employee's Row Is Missing

Cause: The employee has no payslip inside the selected date range, or the employee was selected on a payslip whose date is outside the range.

Solution: Verify the employee actually received a payslip dated between the From and To dates. Remember the range is inclusive but still a single continuous window.

13.3 Net Pay Appears Negative

Cause: Deductions exceeded gross pay on the employee's payslips (e.g. a one-off large deduction netted with a partial period's pay).

Solution: Review the underlying payslip(s). This is legitimate if handled consciously; otherwise correct the payslip data / issue an adjustment.

13.4 Amounts Look Different From the Payslips

Cause: Rounding of earnings line amounts to the currency's decimal places before summing (half-away-from-zero rounding), or the employee's currency grouping.

Solution: Confirm the employee's Currency field and check the individual line amounts on the payslip (Units × Unit Price).

13.5 No Grand Total Is Shown

Cause: More than one currency is present in the period's payslips, so only per-currency totals are displayed.

Solution: This is by design — a combined total across currencies would be meaningless. Read the per-currency totals.

13.6 The Report Shows No Rows at All

Cause: No payslips exist in the selected period, or all rows were zero and were removed automatically.

Solution: Extend the date range or confirm payslips were saved. Random zero rows are intentionally hidden to keep the report clean.

Best Practices

• Run one summary per payroll period (e.g. each month) and give it a description like "Jan 2026 Payroll". The saved list makes month-on-month payroll analysis easy.
• Reconcile Net pay per currency to the employee clearing accounts after all payslips are saved and before payment, using the Employee listing or General Ledger.
• Reconcile Gross pay and Total contributions to the P&L payroll expense accounts for the same period.
• Ensure each employee's currency is set consistently so payroll figures are not scattered across currency groups.
• Post all payslips before printing the summary so the figures are complete.

End of Payslip Summary Guide