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Custom Payroll Journal

Nina Tchistiakova Updated by Nina Tchistiakova

The Custom Payroll Journal setup screen is accessed by clicking the Setup button next to the Payroll Journal (Custom) option on the Payroll Reports screen. This Payroll Journal can be customized by the user to display only the desired data fields in any specified order. The report can be printed for any date range and several options are available for printing subtotals and YTD totals. Users can save and name as many reports as they want. Each saved report consists of the options selected and a field layout. A saved report can be recalled by selecting it from the dropdown list.

Options Tab

The various options shown on the Options tab are described below.

Report Format

Two formats are currently available. Payroll Journal format lists the employee name on one line followed by each check for the period on successive lines. Check Register format lists the employee name on the same line as the check information and prints checks in check number order with no employee subtotals.

Note: Employer taxes/subject wages (FUTA, SUI, etc.) do not calculate employee limits properly when a report is sorted by Check Number. To properly display employer tax/subject wage fields you must choose a Payroll Journal format that is not sorted by Check Number.

Reporting Period

This is the period covered by the report. All paychecks in the specified date range will be listed on the report. The user may select from any of the 4 quarters 12 months, calendar year, or weekly reporting periods. In addition, the user may select “Enter Date Range” to enter any dates into the start and end date boxes. No paychecks with dates AFTER the reporting period are included in the report in any way (subtotals or YTD totals), however, paychecks with dates BEFORE the reporting period will be included in any applicable subtotal or YTD total. When selecting Weekly as the reporting period, the last Saturday to Sunday date range will be entered automatically. An Up/Down button next to the date fields allows the user to cycle forward or backward through other weekly periods.

Subtotals

Period. The first list allows the user to specify how often the subtotals will be printed on the report, or to have none at all. For instance, the reporting period may be the first quarter and subtotals may be shown monthly. Weekly subtotals always cover the period Sunday through Saturday. If a subtotal period extends past the reporting period (end date) it will not include any paychecks with dates AFTER the end date. However, if a subtotal period extends BEFORE the start date it will include any paychecks with dates BEFORE the start date. Be careful when using subtotal periods which overlap the beginning or end of the reporting period.

Range. The second list allows the user to specify whether subtotals should be shown from the beginning of the year to the end of the reporting period, just during the reporting period, or to display only employee subtotals (no individual paychecks). For instance, the reporting period may be the 3rd quarter and subtotals may be set to display monthly from the beginning of the year.

For. The third list allows the user to specify whether subtotals should be shown for Employees and Employer, or for the Employer only,

Year to Date Totals

Year to date totals may be displayed at the end of the reporting period, for the Employer only, or not at all.

Sorting Employees and Grouping

Employees may be printed together with no grouping or they may be grouped by Department or by the taxing State (W/H or UI). Within each group the employees may be sorted by last name, first name, SSN, or control number

The payroll journal may also be printed with checks sorted by check number. When using this setting the program will automatically set subtotals to Start Date to Ending Date for the Employer Only and Year-to-Date total to None. We recommend these settings when sorting by check number since other subtotal or YTD settings may produce unexpected results.

Note: Employer taxes/subject wages (FUTA, SUI, etc.) do not calculate employee limits properly when a report is sorted by check number. To properly display employer tax/subject wage fields you must choose a Payroll Journal format that is not sorted by check number.

The report may show all employees for the employer (similar to the Condensed and Expanded Journal), active employees only, inactive employees only, one selected employee (similar to the Employee History report), or employer subtotals only (no employees or paychecks). When reporting for only one employee, the user must choose from a list of employees for this employer.

Field Layout Tab

The user may choose from among several data field layouts presented in a list. The layouts correspond to the Expanded and Condensed Payroll Journals, and the Standard, Basic, and any custom saved Payroll Grid layouts. The Payroll Grid layouts use the same order as the fields in the data entry grid. If the user optionally displays the wage columns in the Payroll Grid, then the wage columns will be included in the Payroll Journal.

Note: The program provided Condensed and Expanded Layouts are automatically optimized to display in a portrait or landscape orientation depending on the number of fields being displayed. If the user wants to control the orientation using the Condensed or Expanded Layout then first choose the desired layout and then select Custom Layout from the list.

The user may also create a custom layout. If the user alters one of the program provided layouts then the selection is the list automatically changes to Custom. A custom layout may be saved as part of a saved report, however, see the note under Add/Save below.

Field Order Boxes

Possible data fields for the report are grouped in lists of income items (Net Income appears in this list), tax items, and deduction items. Next to each item in the list are two columns. Income items have an Hours column, if applicable, and an Amount column. Tax and deduction items have a Subject Wages column and an Amount column. Employer paid taxes and subject wages, such as FUTA and State UI, are displayed in blue in the list and can also be selected even though they are not deducted from the employee's paycheck. Many employers prefer to see the State UI subject wages on the journal and this item is included by default on the Expanded Layout.

Fields contain a number representing the order that the item will appear in the report, from left to right. If the field is blank then the item will not be printed on the report. To customize an existing report, the user may change the numbers in the fields or add and delete fields in the report by entering numbers or deleting number as desired. Click the CLEAR ALL button to remove the numbers from all fields.

Note that if the user wants to change a field to be the second field from the left, enter “2” in the box next to that field. When the cursor leaves that field all the numbers will reorder so that the previous number “2” will now be number “3”. If a number is deleted all the numbers will reorder so that there is no gap in the numbering. Note that the paycheck date and check number always appear first and cannot be removed. They do not appear in the list of fields.

Add/Save

After clicking this button the user can specify a name for the report. The default report name is the same as the currently selected report in the list. If the name is not changed, then the previously saved report will be overwritten. To save a new report the user should enter a new name. All options and the field layout are saved for each report. Each saved report can be recalled and used for every employer.

Note on employer payroll item (field) differences: Some employers may have different payroll items than others. For example, New York and New Jersey employers have different tax items. Certain field layouts automatically change to accommodate the payroll items for each employer. If a saved report uses one of those layouts then the report will automatically adjust to different employers. Layouts that automatically adjust are Condensed, Expanded, and Standard Grid. If a report uses a custom layout then it may only be appropriate for the employer in use when it was created. In that case the name should include the name of the employer as a reminder. Be sure to use care when using a saved report.

Delete

To delete a saved report, select it from the list. Click the delete button next to the list. If one of the program provided reports is inadvertently overwritten, it can be deleted. Close the report screen completely and reenter it to restore the original reports.

Orientation Options

Payroll Journal formatted reports may be printed in portrait or landscape orientation by selecting the desired option button. The orientation for Check Register formatted reports cannot be set by the user because they are automatically optimized by the program for the proper orientation depending on the number of fields. Portrait journals have up to 10 fields across a page. Landscape journals have up to 14 fields across a page. If more fields are being printed, the journal will split across the necessary number of pages.

Note: Payroll Journals using the program provided Condensed and Expanded Layouts are automatically optimized to display in a portrait or landscape orientation depending on the number of fields being displayed. If the user wants to control the orientation using the Condensed or Expanded Layout then first choose the desired layout and then select Custom Layout from the list.

Font Size for Report Numbers

The font size may be specified between 6 and 8 points.

Preview

Use this button to preview the report on the screen. Selected pages in the report may be printed from the preview screen. The normal print button will only print all pages of the report. The preview screen allows various save options from the File menu including Export to PDF and Excel.

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