Adjusting leave entitlements

If the employee hasn't actually been paid yet (you've recorded the pay but gone no further), you can reverse the pay then record it again (correctly, this time). Reversing the pay provides a record and audit trail of what happened and how you fixed it.

If the reverse/redo solution doesn't suit your needs, you can fix it by recording a zero dollar (void) pay to adjust the employee's leave balance. The employee won't be paid anything, but their leave balances will be corrected and the resulting pay slip will clearly show the adjustment you've made. It also provides a record and audit trail of what happened and how you fixed it.

Take a look:

1. Start the pay run like any other. Need a refresher?

2. Select the option Process all employees paid and choose Bonus/Commission from the drop down.

   

3. In the Payment Date field, enter the date you want to record the adjustment.

4. Enter a pay date range in the Pay period start and Pay period end fields. This should be for the pay period you're adjusting.

5. Click Next. The Select and Edit Employees Pay window appears.

6. Select the employee that the adjustment is for.

7. Click the arrow in the Edit column next to the employee's name. The Pay Employee window appears.

8. Type a reference in the Cheque number field to show it is an adjustment, for example ADJ.

9. Enter a description of the adjustment in the Memo field, for example 'Fixing 5 hrs overpaid leave'.

10. Delete all hours and amounts shown in the window. You need to do this so you don't re-record any pay amounts for the period, other than the leave adjustment.

11. In the relevant leave accrual field, enter the adjustment leave hours in the Hours column. For example, if you need to subtract 5 hours from the employee's holiday accrual, type -5 next to Holiday Leave Accrual as shown in our example below.

    

12. Click OK then click OK again to the message about voiding the paycheque.

13. Finish the pay run as normal, including submitting to the ATO for Single Touch Payroll reporting.

If you start using payroll in AccountRight part way through the payroll year, your employees might have leave they've already accrued. You can enter these opening leave balances in their employee cards.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Card File command centre and click Cards List. The Cards List window appears.

2. Click the Employee tab and select the employee whose opening leave balance you want to enter.

3. Click Edit. The Card Information window appears.

4. Click the Payroll Details tab.

5. Click Entitlements.

6. Enter the employee's opening balance against each applicable leave type in the Balance Adjustment column. For example, here we're entering 10.4 hours of accrued annual leave.

   
   Can't see the Balance Adjustment column?

   Make sure you're using the latest AccountRight version. This will also ensure you're staying compliant with the latest ATO changes.

7. When you've entered all opening leave balances for the employee, click OK.

8. Repeat from step 2 for additional employees.

1. Link the new entitlement category to the employee.

   1. Go to the Card File command centre and click Cards List. The Cards List window appears.

   2. Open the employee's card and click the Payroll Details tab.

   3. Click Entitlements and select the entitlement categories you want to link the employee to.

   4. Click OK.

2. Record a leave adjustment paycheque (see To fix an incorrect leave payment or balance above). Note that you need to enter a negative number in the Hours column for the old entitlement and a positive number in the Hours column of the new entitlement.

3. Unlink the employee from the old entitlement.

   1. Go to the Card File command centre and click Cards List. The Cards List window appears.

   2. Open the employee's card and click the Payroll Details tab.

   3. Click the Entitlements option and deselect the entitlement categories you want to unlink from the employee.

   4. Click OK.