Payroll Records
Ms. Alltucker
Accounting II
 What





The purpose of a payroll register.
How to prepare a payroll register.
How to prepare a payroll check.
The purpose of an employee’s earnings record.
How to prepare an employee’s earnings record.
 Why

you will learn:
it’s important:
To comply with federal and state laws, payroll
records must be kept accurately.
 Payroll
Register
 Form that summarizes information about
employees earnings for each pay period

1. Total hours column


2. Rate column


Regular and overtime hours from the employees time care are
added together and total is entered
Employee’s current rate of pay
3. Earnings Section


Regular, overtime, and total earnings sections
Multiply the hours worked by the correct pay rate
1.
2
3

4. Deductions section
All mandatory and voluntary deductions
 Total deduction column within


5. Net Pay Column


6. Check number column


Amount left after total deductions are subtracted
from gross earnings
Each individual check # written to the employees
7. Column Totals
Each amount column is totaled, and totals are
entered on the last line of the payroll register
 SUBTRACT TOTAL DEDUCTIONS FROM TOTAL EARNINGS
= TOTAL NET PAY

 Most
businesses pay employees with checks
as a method of cash control
 A company with very few employees, payroll
checks are written from the company’s
regular checking account
 Companies with many employees have a
separate checking account for payroll


Funds are transferred to this account each pay
period for the exact amount of total net pay for
all employees for that pay period
Then individual checks are issued to individual
employees
 Each
employee is given a written or printed
explanation showing how the employee’s net
pay is calculated (pay stub)
 Direct deposit


Money gets automatically deposited into each
employees bank account
Each employee still receives a pay stub
 Contains
all payroll information related to an
employee
 Same amount columns as the payroll register
with the addition of ACCUMULATED EARNINGS
column

Employee’s year-to-date gross earnings
This amount was carried forward from
the previous quarter’s record.
This amount will be carried forward
to the next quarter’s record.
 Gross
earnings for pay period
+
 Accumulated
period
Earnings from previous pay
=
 Accumulated
 Businesses
Earnings
keep employee’s earning records
on a quarterly basis
 End of the quarter, the amount columns on
each are totaled and carried forward to the
next quarter
 Time
consuming and detail oriented
 Mistake that is not promptly fixed requires
hours of rework

Many businesses go digital to reduce errors
 1.
 2.
Describe the direct deposit process.
What is the difference between a payroll
register and an employee’s earning record?