In the Payroll Module the concept of a pay company is used to represent a legal entity that employs and pays payees.
At least one pay company must be configured before payees can be payrolled through the system. However, multiple pay companies can be created to reflect the exact structure of your business.
Each pay company must be linked to one or more agency offices. The link between an agency office and a pay company determines which pay company owns the agency office. The relationship between pay companies and agency offices is summarised in the diagram below.
Each payee record consists of a number of different sections. Each of these sections are described below.
Pay Company Header
The pay company header captures information that uniquely identifies the pay company, such as the following:
unique name by which the pay company is referenced within the system
the registered trade name of the pay company
🇦🇺 AU Payroll - the Australian Business Number (ABN) and ABN branch number of the pay company.
the header also features options for enabling Australian STP reporting. For more information, see Single Touch Payroll (STP) Maintenance.
🇬🇧 UK Payroll - the HMRC Tax Office Reference Number.
🇳🇿 NZ Payroll - the IRD Number and GST number.
Contact Details
The contact details define the following information:
name and contact details of the staff member who acts as the main contact person regarding matters pertaining to the pay company
mailing and registered addresses of the pay company.
Payslip Details
The payslip details define the following:
name and email address of the pay company staff member who acts as the main contact for any inquiries from payees regarding payslips
an optional company logo that can be printed on payslips issued by the pay company
an optional message that can be printed on payslips issued by the pay company.
Banking Details
🇦🇺 AU and 🇳🇿 NZ Payroll - The banking details define the bank account details of the pay company's bank account from which funds are transferred to pay payee's earnings and the electronic funds transfer (EFT) file format that is used to facilitate electronic transfer of the funds.
🇬🇧 UK Payroll - The banking details define the bank account details of the pay company's bank account from which payee's earnings are paid and the BACS user number (also known as the SUN number). It also defines the EFT file format type that will be used for generating the payee payment file.
All Countries - If multi currency has been enabled, the associated BIC and IBAN bank account details become mandatory. Please refer to section Pay Company Multi Currency Configuration for further information.
Office Links
The office links define the agency office or offices to which the pay company is linked and which are therefore owned by the pay company.
The relationship between the pay company and an office allows the relevant pay company to be populated in the general ledger (GL) account string when pay transactions are exported to a third-party finance system via the Finance Integration module. For example, if a pay transaction is linked to a job order, the system refers to the agency office to which the job order is linked to determine the pay company to which that office belongs on the transaction date. The relevant pay company is then populated in the relevant GL account string segment that maps the transaction to an account in the third-party finance system.
An agency office can only be linked to a single pay company at any given time. However, an agency office can be linked to a different pay company during different periods. Therefore, each link between a pay company and an agency office has a validity period that determines the period during which the agency office belongs to the pay company. The validity period is defined by a mandatory start date and an optional end date. Where the validity period end date is not defined, the agency office is deemed to belong to the pay company indefinitely or until an end date is specified.
🇦🇺 AU Payroll - Superannuation Funds
An employer number must be configured against each superannuation fund into which a pay company pays superannuation contributions. The employer number uniquely identifies the pay company to each respective superannuation fund.
Superannuation funds must be configured in Payroll > Maintenance > Superannuation before the employer number can be specified each fund on the pay company record. For more information, see Superannuation Maintenance.
The following conditions apply to any superannuation fund for which an employer number is defined on the pay company record:
it can be selected as the default superannuation fund for the pay company (for more information, see Default Settings below)
it can be selected as the superannuation fund of choice of any payee who is employed by the pay company.
Custom Fields
Custom fields can be used to capture additional information, which is specific to your business, against a pay company record if no other fields on the pay company record are available to capture the necessary information.
Custom fields are configured under Maintenance > Custom Fields. If any custom fields have been configured with a type of Pay Company, these fields are available on the pay company record and can be used to store additional information about the pay company. Custom fields can be configured to be mandatory, in which case you cannot save the pay company until the mandatory custom fields have been filled in.
Custom fields are used to store information only; they do not affect any functionality of the system.
Default Settings
The default settings define a range of optional defaults that can be applied to payees who are employed by the pay company. These defaults include:
the format used to generate payslips
the document format group that defines the document formats that are used to generate payslips and other supplementary documents that are issued along with a payslip
delivery methods used to deliver payslips to payees
🇦🇺 AU Payroll
delivery method used to deliver payment summaries to payees
default superannuation fund and superannuation accrual rate rule for payees.
🇬🇧 UK Payroll
the pension scheme for automatic enrolment
exemption flag and exemption reason for automatic enrolment
These defaults can be applied at the pay company level (i.e. the same set of defaults can be applied to all payees who are employed by the pay company), at the employment type level (i.e. a different set of defaults can be applied to payees employed by the pay company depending on their employment type) or at both levels.
Where no default payslip format is defined for a payee's pay company/employment type combination, the payslip format defined at the pay company level is used instead. For 🇬🇧 UK Payroll If a payee is an umbrella worker, the default payslip format will be defined at the Umbrella level and overrides these defaults.
Employment types must be configured in Payroll > Maintenance > Employment Type before default settings can be defined at the employment type level. For more information, see Employment Type Maintenance.
The default settings configured against a pay company record can be overridden on individual payee records. For example, the pay company may distribute payslips to its payees via email unless individual payees specifically request to have their payslips delivered via an alternative method. In such cases, the default payslip delivery method can be set to email but can be set to an alternative method on the individual payee record of those payees who choose to receive their payslips by another method. For more information about payslip delivery methods, see below.
Payslip Format and Delivery Method
The pay company default settings can define a default payslip format and payslip delivery method that is to apply to payees employed by the pay company.
The payslip format defines the layout of payslips and the exact information that is printed on the payslips. The available payslip formats must be configured in Portal > Portal Maintenance > Document Formats before a default payslip format can be selected.
The payslip delivery method defines the default method by which payslips will be delivered to payees who are employed by the pay company. The available delivery methods are:
email – payslips are emailed to payees' email addresses
portal only – payslips are available for downloading online via Portal > Candidate Portal and will not be printed or emailed to payees
print – payslips are printed in hardcopy and physically delivered to payees.
Payslips are automatically available for downloading by payees via the Candidate Portal as soon as they are generated on closing of a pay batch - however the availability of payslips in the portal can be delayed until pay day or by a manually setting a date in payslip delivery. This option is configurable in Maintenance > Pay Group. This allows payees to access their payslips online at their convenience. Where payees do not have access to the Candidate Portal, the email or print delivery method should be used instead.
Where payees do have access to the Candidate Portal, the email or print method can still be used even though payees' payslips will be automatically available for downloading online. In such cases, payslips will be emailed or printed as well as being available for downloading by payees at their convenience.
AU Payroll Payment Summary Delivery Method
The pay company default settings can define a default delivery method by which the pay company delivers payment summaries to its payees.
The payment summary delivery methods that are available are the same as those available for payslips (for more information, see Payslip Format and Delivery Method above).
As with payslips, payment summaries are automatically available for downloading via the Candidate Portal as soon as they are generated regardless of the delivery method that is selected so that payees with access to the Candidate Portal can download their payment summaries at their convenience.
AU Payroll Superannuation
The superannuation default settings define the default superannuation fund and superannuation accrual rate rule that applies to payees employed by the pay company unless they choose to have their superannuation contributions paid into another fund of their choosing.
As part of configuring a pay company record, the unique employer number by which the pay company is identified by a superannuation fund must be specified for each superannuation fund to which the pay company pays superannuation contributions. The list of superannuation funds from which the default fund can be selected is limited to those superannuation funds for which an employer number has been defined. Therefore, the list of valid superannuation funds and the corresponding employer number for each of those funds must be configured against the pay company before you can select a default fund. For more information, see Superannuation Funds above.
Alternatively, an exemption flag can be set on the default superannuation details if payees employed by the pay company are exempt from superannuation contributions by default.
Financials
The financials configuration allows financial data pertaining to the pay company to be mapped to the appropriate balance sheet and profit/loss accounts in the third-party finance system used by your business. When an export of pay transactions that are linked to the pay company is generated via the Finance Integration module, the account numbers that are specified against the pay company will be populated in the account number/code segment of the general ledger account string that maps the transactions to an account in the finance system. This allows the transactions in FastTrack360 to be posted to the correct account in the finance system.
The table below lists and describes the types of financial accounts that can be mapped:
Account | Description |
|---|---|
Net Account | Defines the balance sheet account number in the financial system to which net pay amounts are mapped. |
Tax Account | Defines the balance sheet account number in the financial system to which tax withholding amounts are mapped. |
🇦🇺 AU /🇳🇿 NZ Payroll - GST (on Contractor Wages) Account | Defines the account number in the financial system to which GST amounts, which are payable on independent contractors' earnings, are mapped. |
🇬🇧 UK Payroll - VAT (on Contractor Wages) Account | Defines the account number in the financial system to which VAT amounts, which are payable on independent contractors' earnings, are mapped. |
Unpaid Wages Account | Defines the account number in the financial system to which wage amounts, which are yet to be paid but have been invoiced, are mapped. Unpaid wages are wages resulting from interpretation of timesheets that are yet to be paid in a pay batch. Where the pay and bill cycle do not align, the unpaid wages account can be used to track wage liabilities for those wages that are yet to be paid but have been invoiced. Once paid and billed, the corresponding unpaid wage amount is automatically reversed within the financial integration. A separate unpaid wages account can be mapped for balance sheet and profit/loss accounts. |
🇦🇺 AU Payroll - Employee Benefit Scheme Administrators
Payees employed in certain industries are entitled to additional employee benefits that are paid by the pay company on top of payees' earnings. This may include benefits such as redundancy fund contributions and portable long service leave.
Where a pay company employees payees who work in such industries, the name of each scheme administrator and the pay company's corresponding employer number, which uniquely identifies the pay company to the scheme administrator, must be defined for each benefit scheme that applies to payees working for the pay company.
The scheme administrator and corresponding policy numbers are used for grouping of accrued benefits contributions on the Employee Benefits report. For more information about this report, see Payroll Reports - Overview.
The list of valid scheme administrators must be configured in Payroll > Maintenance > Employee Benefits before the applicable scheme administrators can be selected. For more information, see Employee Benefits Maintenance.
🇦🇺 AU Payroll - Registered Agent Details
Registered agent details are available for capturing information about your business if your business provides outsourced payroll services to other businesses and therefore the pay company record represents your client's business entity and not your own business entity. Alternatively, if your organisation uses an on-premise instance of FastTrack360, the registered agent details allow a pay company, which is a child entity within your organisation's business structure, to be linked to the parent pay company that owns the AUSKey that is used to facilitate STP reporting.
The registered agent information is used for Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting purposes only and is only available if STP reporting is enabled for the pay company and depending on the STP declaration type that is selected. For more information, see Single Touch Payroll (STP) Maintenance.
🇦🇺 AU Payroll - STP Notifications
Notifications can be enabled to notify payees when the pay company has finalised their earnings via Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting. STP notification options on a pay company record are only available if STP reporting is enabled for the pay company. For more information, see Single Touch Payroll (STP) Maintenance.
🇬🇧 UK Payroll - Pension Automatic Enrolment
The Pension Automatic Enrolment settings defines how the employer wishes for it to function. If the employer does not need to operate automatic enrolment as they have no eligible payees (contractor only payroll), this tab does not need to be completed.