A journal entry lists the different accounts you use to run payroll. Each time you pay your staff, multiple accounts can contribute to the payrun, such as:

When reporting on payroll, separating wages into the relevant accounts simplifies each payrun and helps you keep track of expenses.

View and set up journals and accounts through Payroll > Payroll Settings > Journal Setup.

Several accounts have been pre-built into the journal setup based on common bookkeeping scenarios, including:

Debits:

- Wages Expense (earnings by rate)

- Employer NIC Expense

- Employer Pension Expense

- Reimbursements

Credits:

- Wages Payable (net pay)

- PAYE Payable

- Employee NIC Payable

- Employer NIC Payable

- Student Loan Payable

- Employee Pension Payable

- Employer Pension Payable

- Benefit Payable

- Deductions
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To edit these existing accounts, click on the account Name.

Adjust the name or code to your preference, and click the Update button to save the changes.

When more accounts are needed for specified reporting or for additional accounts, create a new one through the + New button on the Journal Setup page.

Add the relevant Name and Code, then finish by clicking the Create button.

New accounts will appear in your journal once created, and can be linked to earnings rates.

Once a new account is created, start linking them to the appropriate earning rates.

After earning rates have been populated or imported from Workforce, they can be adjusted to the appropriate accounts with the following steps:

If you use Xero tracking categories (or similar in MYOB), your earnings/wage

expense lines can be split by department or cost centre. Set up tracking

categories in your payroll integration settings. Note: Only wage expense lines

support tracking category splits - liability lines (PAYE, NIC payable, etc.)

appear as totals.
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To download journal entries for a pay run: