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

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

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

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

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. You can also Delete accounts you don't need.

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.

Once you have created your accounts, you can configure defaults for your liability and expense accounts for wages, contributions, employer taxes, cash advances, and employee withholding.

Simply go to Payroll > Payroll Settings > Company Setup and select the Default Accounts tab.

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

You can also link specific tax types to different journal accounts.

In addition to linking accounts to earnings rates, you can override journal account assignments at the team level. This allows you to allocate payroll costs to different accounts depending on which team an employee belongs to.

Navigate to Workforce > Teams, open a team, and scroll to the Workforce Payroll Journal Accounts section.

Earnings expense account

Use the Earnings expense account dropdown to select the account that wage expenses for this team should be allocated to. If left blank, the company default wages account will be used.

Tax expense account

Use the Tax expense account dropdown to assign a specific account for tax expenses associated with this team. If left blank, the company default tax expense account will be used.

Leave expense account

To assign a journal account to a specific time off type for this team:

1. Click + Add under Leave expense accounts

2. Select the time off type from the first dropdown

3. Select the account it should be allocated to

4. Repeat for each time off type that requires its own account

To remove an assignment, click the × icon next to the relevant row.

To download journal entries for a pay run:

If you would like more reporting on journal entries, the Journal Report shows journal entries over a specified timeframe.

The Employee Journal Detail Report breaks out journal details by employee, including information like default team and worked team.

If you would like to tag payroll expenses with additional dimensions — such as department, location, or project, see the help guide for journal tracking categories.