Processing a Pay Batch (Payroll NZ)

Processing a pay batch is a multi-stage process that involves the following:

Adding the new pay batch.
Applying each stage of the pay batch process.
Reviewing and closing the pay batch.

The procedures for completing each of these stages are described below.

How to Add a New Pay Batch

The procedure for adding a new pay batch differs depending whether you want to process a normal or adjustment pay batch.

To add a new normal pay batch, follow the procedure below.

How to Add a New Normal Pay Batch
	Navigate to Payroll > Pay Process > Pay Run. The Pay Batch List screen opens.
2.	Click Add. The Pay Wizard – Create Batch screen opens.
3.	In the Pay Group field, key in the name of the pay group you will be paying in this pay batch. You can use leading and trailing wildcards (%) to partially match the pay group name. For example, % Blue Collar will match all pay group names such as Full-time Blue Collar or Part-time Blue Collar while Full-time % will match pay group names such as Full-time Blue Collar or Full-time White Collar. If you do not know the name of the relevant pay group, leave this field blank.
4.	Click Search. The pay groups matching the name you specified are listed in the Results section of the screen or, if you left the Pay Group* field blank, all available pay groups are listed.*
5.	In the Results section of the screen, click the radio button next to the relevant pay group. The pay group is selected and the Payment Date field at the top of the Results section of the screen is enabled.
6.	In the Payment Date field, select the date on which earnings processed in this pay batch will be paid to payees.
7.	Click on Only Include Payees With Timesheets if the pay batch is to only include payees who belong to the pay group you selected and have at least one timesheet for the period of this pay batch. If you select this option you will be unable to manually add pay items, adjust accruals or terminate the employment of any payees who belong to the pay group you have selected but that do not have any timesheets for the period of the pay batch. Skip this step if you want to include all payees who belong to the selected pay group in the pay batch regardless of whether they have any timesheets for the period of the pay batch.
8.	Click Create Pay Batch. The pay batch is created, its status is set to Open* and the Pay Wizard – Manual Items screen opens to allow you to begin processing the pay batch.*

To add a new adjustment pay batch, follow the procedure below.

How to Add a New Adjustment Pay Batch
	Navigate to Payroll > Pay Process > Pay Run. The Pay Batch List screen opens.
2.	Click Add. The Pay Wizard – Create Batch screen opens.
3.	In the Type field, select Adjustment Batch. An Adjustment Pay Period* section appears at the bottom of the screen.*
4.	In the Pay Group field, key in the name of the pay group you will be paying in this pay batch. You can use leading and trailing wildcards (%) to partially match the pay group name. For example, % Blue Collar will match all pay group names such as Full-time Blue Collar or Part-time Blue Collar while Full-time % will match pay group names such as Full-time Blue Collar or Full-time White Collar. If you do not know the name of the relevant pay group, leave this field blank.
5.	Click Search. The pay groups matching the name you specified are listed in the Results section of the screen or, if you left the Pay Group field blank, all available pay groups are listed.
6.	In the Results section of the screen, click the radio button next to the relevant pay group. The pay group is selected and a list of closed pay periods for the selected pay group is displayed in the Adjustment Pay Period* section at the bottom of the screen.*
7.	In the Adjustment Pay Period section, click the radio button next to the pay period for which the adjustment batch is to be created. The pay period is selected the Payment Date field at the top of the Adjustment Pay Period section of the screen is enabled.
8.	In the Payment Date field, select the the date on which earnings processed in this pay batch will be paid to payees.
9.	If you want to process the adjustment pay batch to balance pay and accrual data in the system without actually effecting payment of payees, click Balancing Payment.
10.	Click on Only Include Payees With Timesheets if the pay batch is to only include payees who belong to the pay group you selected and have at least one timesheet for the period of this pay batch. If you select this option you will be unable to manually add pay items, adjust accruals or terminate the employment of any payees who belong to the pay group you have selected but that do not have any timesheets for the period of the pay batch. Skip this step if you want to include all payees who belong to the selected pay group in the pay batch regardless of whether they have any timesheets for the period of the pay batch.
11.	Click Create Pay Batch. The adjustment pay batch is created, its status is set to Open* and the Pay Wizard – Manual Items screen opens to allow you to begin processing the pay batch.*

At this point you are ready to apply each stage of the pay batch process.

How to Apply Each Stage of the Pay Batch Process

Once the pay batch is created you can step through and apply each stage of the process by clicking the right arrow button in the top right-hand corner of the Pay Wizard screen (for more information, see Moving Between Pay Batch Stages).

Before you apply a stage you can click the View button next any payee that is listed in the payee list on the Pay Wizard screen in order to view the details of what will be applied for that given payee when the current stage is applied. An example of this is shown below.

The payee’s pay details are displayed in the Payee Pay Details screen and, depending on the current stage of the pay batch, this screen also allows you to perform various actions that can affect the payee’s pay in the pay batch.

The table below lists and describes the actions that can be performed via the Payee Pay Details screen for payees in a pay batch depending at each stage of the pay batch process.

Batch Stage	Actions

Batch Stage	Actions
Pay Batch Item (Manual Items)	Add manual pay items to adjust a payee’s gross pay.
Leave Payments	Manually adjust the quantity or rate of a payee's leave payout of leave that has not been taken. Manually adjust the payment quantity and payment rate of automatic payment of leave that has been taken. View the pay code, pay rate and job order number from which the payment rate was derived for the payment of leave where the Leave Rate Type is Greatest Rate. This is done by clicking on the rate field. Cancel a leave payment that has been paid automatically in the pay batch.
Public Holiday Payments	Manually adjust the quantity and/or rate of a payee's public holiday payment.
Leave Accrual	Manually adjust leave accrual and entitlement balances for each leave type applicable to a payee.
Termination	Trigger the termination of a payee’s employment and specify the types of lump sum payments the payee is eligible to receive.
Gross Deductions	Manually adjust the deduction amount of a payee’s gross deduction. Add ad-hoc deductions to deduct amounts from the payee's gross earnings on a one-off basis.
PAYG Leave	Manually adjust the rate of a payee's PAYG leave payment.
Tax Stage	Manually adjust the amount of tax to be withheld from a payee’s pay.
Net Deductions	Manually adjust the deduction amount of a payee’s net deduction. Add ad-hoc deductions to deduct amounts from the payee's net earnings on a one-off basis.
Wage Costs	Manually adjust a payee's employer KiwiSaver accrual and/or the employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT) that is payable on the accrual. View the ACC employer levy amount that is payable on the payee's earnings in the pay batch.
Employee Benefits	Manually adjust a payee's employee benefit contribution accrual. Manually add an employee benefit type that a payee did not accrue automatically in the pay batch and set an accrual balance for that benefit type.

Any stages of the pay batch process that you apply can be reversed while the batch is still open. This can be done by clicking the left arrow button in the top right-hand corner of the Pay Wizard screen (for more information, see Moving Between Pay Batch Stages).

You can also cancel a pay batch at any point while the batch is still open, thereby reversing all stages of the pay batch that have been applied and preventing the batch from being processed. To do this, click the Cancel Batch button at the top of the Pay Wizard screen.

If you reverse the current stage of a pay batch you will undo any manual adjustments, terminations or transfers that have already been made at the current stage of the process.

Once you reach the Review stage of the pay batch process you are ready to review and close the batch.

How to Review and Close the Pay Batch

Once you have applied each stage of the pay batch process up to the Review stage you can check the pay details for the pay batch by doing the following:

checking the columns in the payee list on the Pay Wizard screen to view the pay result for payees in the batch at each stage of the process
checking the pay batch totals at the bottom of the Pay Wizard screen
display the Payee Pay Details screen for an individual payee and stepping through each stage on the screen to view detailed information about the payee’s pay elements at each stage of the process
clicking in the top left-hand corner of the Pay Wizard screen and running reports on the pay data in the pay batch.

Once you have reviewed the batch and found no issues you can close the batch. Closing a batch has the following effects:

the status of the batch changes from Open to Closed to indicate no more changes can be made to the batch
payslips are generated for all payees in the pay batch and are available immediately in the Candidate Portal for each payee and for manual delivery Payslip Delivery screen
unless the pay batch was an adjustment balancing payments batch, pay and deduction EFT files can be generated to facilitate payment of earnings and deduction via electronic funds transfer directly into bank accounts.

To close a normal pay batch, follow the procedure below.

How to Close a Normal Pay Batch
	At the top of the Pay Wizard screen, click Close Batch. A confirmation message opens prompting you to confirm closing of the batch.
2.	If you want to close the batch and close the current pay period for the pay group, click Close current pay period. If you select this option it will not be possible to process any more pay batches for the pay group to which the pay batch corresponds, for the current period.
3.	Click Yes. The status of the pay batch changes from Open* to Closed, the Pay Wizard screen closes and a confirmation message opens to indicate that the pay batch has been closed.* If you chose to close the pay period as well, the status of the current pay period for the pay group changes from Open to Closed and the status of the next pay period for the pay group changes from Inactive to Open.

To close an adjustment pay batch, follow the procedure below.

How to Close an Adjustment Pay Batch

At the top of the Pay Wizard screen, click Close Batch.

A confirmation message opens prompting you to confirm closing of the batch.

2.

Click Yes.

The status of the pay batch changes from Open to Closed, the Pay Wizard screen closes and a confirmation message opens to indicate that the pay batch has been closed.

See also: