Batching - group employee payments, ETPs, and invoices for financial reporting.
If you're looking for a way to organise your financial data in a different and more effective way, you may want to consider using the batching feature.
This feature allows you to group your payslips, invoices, and ETPs and apply a customised name to the ABA generated. The main advantage of batching is that it enables you to create a custom grouping to obtain a specified breakdown of your data when generating financial reports.
There are several common use cases for batching these include:
- Group payslips by State or Region for a high-level overview
- Apply a custom name to pay adjustments and edits so they can be easily identified
- Group payslips by pay period
Hot tip: This is particularly handy when using Operations with offset fortnights.
In this article, we will cover:
- How to turn on batching for your platform
- Appling batching when processing payroll
- Using batches when processing ETPs
- Adding custom batch labels when issuing invoices
- Utilising batching as a filter for financial reports
If you'd like to know more about how superannuation batches work, check out our helpful Pay Superannuation article.
One of the features of our system is the ability to create and apply batches for payroll processing and invoicing.
The setting to enable this feature is applied on the platform level, as such it is highly recommended that you check whether this setting is enabled before starting to process payroll, as batches are applied when generating pay.
To enable Batching in your Platform:
- Select the main menu icon to open the full menu and navigate to Platform Settings > System Settings.
- Locate Enable batching and switch the toggle to Yes.
- Then select Save, this button is located at the very bottom of the screen.
Now you can create and assign batches when you pay your employees and issue invoices to your clients.
Batching in payroll applies a custom name to your ABA files. When using the batching feature, it is recommended to include it in your regular payroll process.
The benefits include having the ability to filter for employees, generate separate ABAs for each batch, and update batches for any pay edits or adjustments.
How to apply batches when processing pay:
- Before processing employee pay, complete all pre-payroll checks as batches are added at the final stage.
- When you are ready to generate pay, select all relevant employees by ticking the box next to their names.
Hot tip: Filters can be applied to payslips for specific Office Codes, Operations, and Employment Types. - From the floating menu, select Generate to open the batching modal.
- Select the relevant batching option:
- To create a new batch select New batch and add your custom title.
- To add to a previous batch select Existing batch and search the batch from the dropdown list.
- Generate Payslips to process your pay.
Batching is a useful tool that can be employed with ETPs to make financial reporting more efficient. By creating a custom label for an ETP, it becomes easier to distinguish it from other line items, allowing you to highlight it in financial reports.
This can be especially helpful when dealing with large volumes of payments and trying to keep track of them all.
How to apply a batch to an ETP:
- Navigate to Payroll > Pay.
- From the Add payslip dropdown select +ETP.
- Complete the ETP workflow, on the final step select Finalise Payment to open the batching modal.
- Select the relevant batching option:
- To create a new batch select New batch and add your custom title.
- To add to a previous batch select Existing batch and search the batch from the dropdown list.
- Confirm and Save.
When you issue invoices, it's essential to keep track of them for financial reporting purposes. To make your record-keeping more efficient, you can use a custom batch title to link your invoices, payslips, and ABA files so you easily access and identify any associated files when you need them later.
By doing this, you'll save time and ensure that your financial reporting.
How to apply batches to invoices:
- Navigate to Invoicing > Invoices and Generate your required pending invoices.
- Once generated, select your required invoices and issue, to open the batching modal.
- Select the relevant batching option:
- To create a new batch tick New batch and add your custom title.
- To add to a previous batch select Existing batch and search the batch from the dropdown list.
- Issue Selected Invoices.
When you use batching, the ultimate objective is financial reporting as it establishes a connection between your payroll data, ABA files, and invoices based on the report.
Below are some key reports to use with batching, as well as examples of how to use them:
- Batching Reporting
- Advanced Payroll Activity Report (APAR)
- Payroll Billing (Invoice Test)
Batch Reporting
The Batch Reporting Report is a specialised report that is accessible only when the Enable Batching setting has been turned on. Please refer to the instructions above to enable the feature.
This report serves as a quick reference, generating a comprehensive list of all batch numbers along with links to all the associated payslips and invoices once it is generated.
To use the Batch Reporting Report:
- Navigate to Reports > Financial > Batch Reporting.
- Select your Duration from the dropdown menu.
- Select Submit.
- Once generated select the View Attached Data link to navigate to the linked payslip and invoices.
Advanced Payroll Activity Report (APAR)
To ensure the accuracy of your payroll processing, it is a good practice to run your Advanced Payroll Activity report by batch once the payroll has been generated.
This report will help you review the costs associated with each batch and catch any potential errors or discrepancies. Additionally, you can filter for a specific payslip if needed.
Example: How can I view the breakdown of line items for a specific payslip and locate its ABA?
- Navigate to Reports > Financial > Advanced.
- Apply your duration.
-
Group by the following Options:
- Payslip
- Line Item
- Batch Label
- Period End, or any other groupings relevant to your business needs
- Select Submit.
These groupings will separate the APAR by Payslip ID, Pay Item and specify the ABA Batch applied to.
For further reading on the Advanced Payroll Acitivty Report please refer to this article.
Payroll Billing (Invoice Test)
After issuing invoices, it's a good practice to filter the Payroll Billing (Invoice Test) report by batch. This way, you can easily review the invoices and charge rates associated with your batch.
By doing so, you can ensure accuracy and catch any potential discrepancies that may have occurred during the payroll processing.
For further reading on the Payroll Billing (Invoice Test) Report please refer to this article.