Period End Process

You must make a backup of your data before you run the period end routine.

The period end is normally the last function you perform, after you produce all the necessary payroll reports and process all analysis routines for the current period. The period end routine transfers all current transactions into the history file and updates the cumulative balances for each employee.

When you select this function, the following checks are performed:

  1. Has a valid payroll template been selected? If not, you are prompted to select one.
  2. Has a period end process just been performed for the selected template? If so, you are prevented from performing a second process immediately following the first. You can exit the program and re-select the template and perform a subsequent period end process. This action confirms that secondary period ends are required and that an operational error has not been made.
  3. Is the current period number for the selected payroll template greater than or equal to the total number of payroll periods for the template? If so, a warning is given that the year end process will also be performed.
  4. Has a calculation process been performed for the selected payroll template — that is, are there any adjustments to be performed? If not, you are denied access to the period end process.
  5. Has a calculation process been performed for the selected payroll template since the last time adjustments were made for any employee contained within the template? If not, you are denied access to the period end process.

You are also prompted for confirmation to continue if any of the following circumstances arise:

  • The payslips have not been produced since the last calculation process.
  • A BACS export has not been performed since the last calculation process.
  • The current date is not the period end date for the current payroll period as recorded against the payroll template parameters.

If all of the above criteria have been satisfied, the processing of the data commences and one or more of the following sub-processes are performed:

  1. The payroll template is locked to prevent any other users from editing any permanent or temporary amendments while the process is active. This lock is released at the very end of the process, so that users can only continue with processing in the new period.
  2. The accumulative payroll balances, required for future period calculations and end-of-year statutory documentation, are updated with the appropriate values from the calculations in the current period. This includes tax paid in the current payroll year and accumulators of national insurance contributions for each NI category encountered in the current period and year.
  3. The temporary and permanent adjustments that constitute this periods build up to gross, as well as the summary of the calculation, are transferred to the Auditing file systems so that they can be used for future reporting and enquiry exercises. This can also include the update of optional summarized balances of payroll code activity for elements such as employees, categories, templates, and so on. The Payroll module parameters will define which balances, if any, are maintained by the system.
  4. If a general ledger interface is attached to the payroll template, through an associated export template, a general ledger interface is performed as per the control definitions. This normally involves the creation of interim ASCII transfer files in a predefined format that may be used as the foundation of journals in a recipient general ledger. Alternatively, a direct update of the general ledger can be performed if applications such as Dynamics GP are integrated with the payroll.
  5. The temporary adjustments for the current period are cleared and a revised period starting position is created for each employee associated with the template.
  6. The period number is incremented by one to create the new period identifier. If this is greater than the total number of periods defined for the template, the end-of-year update is also performed. This will subsequently transfer the payroll template into period one of the new payroll year.
  7. The new payroll period is displayed in the window.
  8. The current payroll template lock is released so that normal payroll procedures can commence for the new period.