If you are entering Payroll information into GP without using an integration, it doesn’t need to take a lot of time or effort to enter it. What you need to do is make sure all the correct distributions are entered for your salaries expenses, and to make sure your transactions appear in your checkbook correctly.

Rather than entering a bank transaction with the corresponding expenses for each transaction that comes through your bank account related to payroll, I’ve found that it is simpler to separate the distribution entry from the bank transaction entry. This means you would enter one GL Entry related to all the payroll distributions, and then enter the corresponding bank transactions as they would appear coming out of your bank account.

In order to do this you would first need to create a Quick Journal. The Quick Journal allows you to save the accounts that you would use for the payroll transaction, without any amount tied to them. You can also use it as many times as you like.

Another benefit is that when you go to the entry, you don’t need to use all the accounts, and you can add additional ones at the time of entry as needed.

Setup a Quick Journal

To setup a Quick Journal go to Financial > Setup > Quick Journal. Enter an ID for the Journal, such as PAYROLL. Enter a description for the transaction. The Source Document you would leave as GJ, and the Reference would be what you want to show as the transaction reference in the GL.

Next, enter the Offset Account. For payroll entries I recommend the Cash Account, because it would be an account that every payroll entry would use, and you know the amount that would go against it.

Now enter any accounts that you would typically use during for payroll distributions. If you need to use some accounts twice, you can enter the account twice in the Quick Journal.

This Quick Journal is what you will use each time you want to enter payroll. To enter an actual payroll entry, you would go to Financial > Transactions > Quick Journal. Select the Journal ID. Enter the Transaction Date, and edit the Reference if needed.

Next you will enter the Control Balance. This is an amount that will hit the checkbook.

Now you can enter the amounts for each of the distributions. You may not need to use some accounts. You may need to use the cash account more than once if you have multiple transactions that come out of your account as part of your payroll. This would include Direct Deposit, Payroll Taxes, Garnishment, etc. It would need to have a line that corresponds to each of the time the cash account is hit.

Your goal is to have the balance at the bottom of the entry match the Control Balance.

After you have posted your Quick Journal Entry, you can enter the bank transactions that correspond. At this point the payroll has only affected the General Ledger, now you need to make the entries that will affect the Checkbook so that the Cash Account and Checkbook stay in balance. You also need this so the transactions are properly listed in your Checkbook in GP.

To make these entries you will make a Bank Transaction Entry for each transaction that will come out of your bank account. For example you may have one for Direct Deposit, one for Payroll Taxes, one for Garnishment payment, and several for printed checks. Each of these must be a separate Bank Transaction entry so that you can mark it off as it clears the bank in Bank Reconcile.

To make these entries, go to: Financial > Transactions > Bank Transactions. For transactions such as Direct Deposit and Payroll Taxes, use the Type Withdrawal. For printed checks, you will want to use the Type check, so that you can enter the check number. You can enter a single transaction for direct deposit amounts, but you should enter a separate transaction for each check to make your bank rec easier.

Enter the Transaction Date, select the Checkbook ID, and enter the Check Number if it applies. Next enter the Paid To and Description. Enter the amount of the transaction and tab. Below in the distribution the credit to Cash will be entered automatically. On the Debit side of the transaction enter the same Cash account.

Repeat this process for each separate transaction that will come through your bank account related to the payroll.  The total amount of these transactions should correspond to the amount that was distributed to the Cash account in the Quick Journal Entry.

Of course, you can always integrate the transactions into GP with Integration Manager. This is beneficial when you have a large number of accounts and/or transactions. Each payroll, the transactions can be automatically integrated into GP with only a couple of clicks.