Process payroll runs
This guide walks you through the payroll processing workflow: creating a payroll run, reviewing results, and posting to the general ledger.
Payroll processing workflow overview
1. Create Payroll Run (calculation happens automatically)
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2. Review Payroll Entries
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3. (Optional) Approve (if approvals are required)
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4. Post to General Ledger
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5. Pay Employees (from Payroll Payments page)
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6. Verify GL Postings
Note
OnePayroll automatically calculates payroll during creation. There is no separate Calculate step. When you create a new payroll run, wages, deductions, taxes, and net pay are all computed immediately.
Step 1: Create a payroll run
Creating a payroll run also calculates all pay for the selected employees.
To create a new payroll run:
- Choose the
icon, enter Payroll Runs, and then choose the related link. - Choose the New action to open the New Payroll request page
- Set the required parameters:
- Pay Group - Select the pay group to process (for example, "Biweekly Employees")
- Start Date - The start date of the pay period. Choose OK to create and calculate.
What happens automatically:
- Period start and end dates are calculated from the pay cycle schedule
- Payment date is set based on your pay cycle configuration
- All active employees in the pay group are included
- Gross pay is calculated for each employee (salary, hourly, etc.)
- All earnings pay types are applied
- All deductions are applied (taxes, garnishments)
- Net pay is calculated (Gross - Deductions)
- GL accounts are assigned based on pay type configuration
- Status is set to Open
Important
The payroll run is fully calculated when creation completes. Review the results before proceeding.
Step 2: Review payroll entries
Before posting, review calculated entries to ensure accuracy.
View payroll entries
To review entries:
- In the Payroll Runs list, select the payroll run
- Choose the Payroll Entries action
- Review entries:
- Pay Type - All expected pay types present?
- Amount - Calculations look reasonable?
- GL Account - Posting to correct account?
Preview paychecks
To preview individual paychecks:
- In the Payroll Runs list, select the payroll run
- Choose the Paycheck action
- Review paycheck details for each employee:
- Employee name and information
- Gross pay amount
- All deductions (taxes, benefits, etc.)
- Net pay amount
- Print or save as PDF
View payroll register
To view the overall payroll register:
- In the Payroll Runs list, select the payroll run
- Choose the Payroll Register action
- Review the summary report
Step 3: Approve (if required)
If Require Approvals is enabled in Payroll Setup, an authorized user must approve the payroll before it can be posted or paid.
To approve a payroll run:
- Open the payroll run (Status = Open)
- Choose the Approve action
- Confirm the approval
- Status changes to Approved
Note
The Approve action is only visible when approvals are required in Payroll Setup. If approvals aren't required, you can post and pay directly from the Open status. Approval checks the user's payroll approval limit in User Setup—if the payroll total exceeds the user's limit, approval is denied.
Step 4: Post to general ledger
Posting transfers payroll entries to the general journal and optionally posts them to the general ledger automatically.
To post a payroll run:
- Open the payroll run
- Choose the Post action
- Confirm the posting action
- Wait for posting to complete
- Status changes to Posted
What happens during posting:
The posting behavior depends on the General Ledger Posting setting in Payroll Setup:
- No Transfer: Payroll is marked as Posted in the payroll system, but no General Journal Lines are created. No GL posting occurs.
- Manual Posting: Payroll entries are transferred to General Journal Lines in the journal template and batch configured on the pay group. You must manually post these journal lines in the General Journal.
- Automatic Posting: Payroll entries are transferred to General Journal Lines and immediately posted to the General Ledger.
- Always Ask: You are prompted each time whether to post the journal automatically or leave it for manual posting.
Payment batches for payroll obligations such as taxes, benefits, and garnishments are created or updated earlier, when the payroll run is created and calculated. For sources with a remittance group, amounts are consolidated into batches by payment period. For sources without a remittance group, a separate batch is created per payroll run. See Work with payroll payments.
How GL entries are created:
- Payroll entries are collected and buffered with their GL accounts and dimensions
- For each entry, two General Journal Lines are created—one for the Account No. (debit) and one for the Balance Account No. (credit)
- Journal lines are then consolidated: entries with the same GL account and dimension set are combined into a single line
- Zero-amount lines are removed
- The journal template and batch are taken from the pay group configuration
Important
The pay group must have Gen. Journal Template and Gen. Journal Batch configured for GL posting to work. If existing unposted journal lines are found in the batch, an error is raised with an option to view the journal.
Step 5: Pay employees (from Payroll Payments)
When a payroll run is created, OnePayroll also creates payment batches for employee payments, grouped by payment method. For example, if some employees use electronic payment and others use check, two separate batches are created, each with the corresponding payment method already assigned.
Employee payments are processed from the Payroll Payments page, not from the Payroll Runs page.
To pay employees:
- Open the Payroll Payments page (from the role center cues or by searching for Payroll Payments).
- Locate the employee payment batch for the payroll run you want to pay.
- Choose the Pay action.
- OnePayroll uses the payment method on the batch to determine the payment type (electronic payment or computer check) and processes the payment accordingly.
- Repeat for each employee payment batch if there are multiple batches (for example, one for direct deposit and one for checks).
Generated payment files are displayed on the Payroll Payments page and are also visible in the Attachments FactBox on the Payroll Runs page.
See Work with payroll payments, Direct deposit setup, and Check printing for detailed payment workflows.
Note
The Pay action on the Payroll Payments page is available for batches with Open status. You can process payments before or after posting the payroll run to the GL.
Step 6: Verify GL postings
After posting, verify the general ledger was updated correctly.
To review GL postings for a payroll run:
- In the Payroll Runs list, select the posted payroll run
- Choose the General Ledger Log action
- Review entries by GL account
To verify GL accounts directly:
- Choose the icon, enter Chart of Accounts or General Ledger Entries, and then choose the related link.
- Filter by the payroll posting date and document number
- Verify:
- Correct amounts posted
- Posted to correct period
- Debits = Credits (balance)
Reconciliation check
Ensure payroll GL postings reconcile:
Gross Payroll Expense Accounts (Debits)
+ Employer Taxes & Benefits (Debits)
=
Employee & Employer Payables (Credits)
+ Net Employee Pay Due (Credit)
Additional actions
Save paychecks to employee dossiers
To create PDF copies of paychecks for employee records:
- In the Payroll Runs list, select the payroll run
- Choose the Save in Dossier action
- Paychecks are saved as PDFs to each employee's dossier
Cancel a payroll run
If a payroll run has errors and needs to be redone:
- Select the payroll run (must not be Posted)
- Choose the Cancel action
- Confirm the cancellation
Warning
Canceling permanently deletes the payroll run and all its entries, including payroll headers, benefit assignment entries, and document attachments. This action cannot be undone. To correct a payroll, cancel it and create a new one with the correct parameters.
Reverse a posted paycheck
If an error is discovered after posting:
- In Payroll Runs, select the posted payroll run
- Choose the Reverse Paycheck action
- Follow the reversal report to create offsetting entries
- If needed, create a new corrected payroll run
To cancel a pending reversal, use the Cancel Reversal action.
Payroll run statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Open | Payroll has been created and calculated. Can be posted (if no approvals required), paid, or canceled. |
| Approved | Payroll has been approved. Can be posted, paid, or canceled. |
| Posted | Payroll has been posted to the GL. Can still generate payments. Cannot be canceled—use Reverse Paycheck instead. |
Troubleshooting
Employee missing from payroll
- Verify employee is assigned to the correct pay group
- Check employee status (active vs. inactive)
- Confirm employee record has required data
"GL Account not found" error
- Verify all pay types have GL accounts assigned
- Confirm GL accounts exist and are active in Chart of Accounts
- Check that GL accounts haven't been closed
Unposted journal lines error
- The General Journal batch already has unposted lines from a previous payroll
- Open the General Journal (use the action link in the error message)
- Post or delete the existing lines before posting the new payroll
"No payment entries to export" error
- Verify payment entries exist for the payroll run (check Payment Entries in Navigation on the Payroll Runs page)
- Check that payment methods are correctly assigned to employees (Employee Card > Payment Methods)
- Ensure employees have valid bank accounts for direct deposit
- Confirm the employee payment batch exists on the Payroll Payments page
Best practices
- Always review before posting - Check paycheck details using the Paycheck action
- Document corrections - Note why payroll runs were canceled and recreated
- Process on schedule - Consistent timing prevents missed employees
- Archive paychecks - Use Save in Dossier to keep PDF records
- Reconcile GL - Use the General Ledger Log to verify posting accuracy after each payroll