Table of Contents

Employee/Payee Reports

Nina Tchistiakova Updated by Nina Tchistiakova

The Payroll Summary Reports screen is accessed by clicking the Reports button on the 941/940 Payroll Module Library screen or selecting Payroll from the Reports menu. The Payroll Summary Reports screen contains a dropdown list of available Employer/Payee Information Reports. These reports display employer and payee (employee or vendor payee) information that is entered on the respective setup screens. Typical information would be name, addresses, telephone numbers, state ID, etc. The program provides several standard reports. Users can edit those reports and create additional reports of their own. Select a report from the list and click the Preview button to view the report on screen, or click the Print button to print it.

To edit an existing report or create a new report click the Customize button to access the Custom Report Setup screen. The setup screen will show all the settings for the currently selected existing report displayed in the Report List at the bottom of the screen. The user can select any of the reports to see the settings for that report.

To edit a report, change the desired setting and click the Save button. A dialog will display the current name of the report. Leave the name as is and click OK to Save the changes using the same name. This permanently changes the existing report. Alternatively, the user can change the name to create a new report with the changes. The original report will be left unchanged.

If a program provided report is inadvertently modified, the user can click the Delete button while the report setup is displayed to delete it. After exiting the report screen to return to the Module Library, the next time the user enters the report screen the program provided report will be restored.

Report Setup

The setup screen is divided into three sections. The Page Setup section at the top has general settings for formatting the page. The middle section lets users define sort and filter options. The bottom section defines the layout of the report.

Page Setup

The page setup consists of the margins, page orientation, row and column spacing, page break options, and the default font. A few items may require some explanation.

Row and Column spacing.

The layout of fields, text, and lines is defined by a vertical and horizontal grid similar to lined graph paper. The standard line spacing is 10 columns per inch and 6 rows per inch. Users can change the row spacing but not the column spacing. If an item in the layout definition was placed in column 5 and row 6, then the item would be 5/10 inch (5 x 1/10) from the left margin and 1 inch (6 x 1/6) from the top of the section in which it is defined.

Keep Employer/Employee Section on Same Page.

Check these options to generally prevent the report from having a page break in the middle of the specified data grouping. In some instances the report will be forced to page break.

Number of Employer/Employee Sections Across the Page.

If this is greater than one, the data will be displayed in the specified number of columns across the page.

Default Font.

This is the default font to use for any item that doesn't have a specific font set.

Report Payee Type.

The payee type can be either employees or vendor payment recipients. These are payees for which checks are entered.

Filter Options

Reports can be filtered based on a number of criteria pertaining to the employer or payee. Most reports displaying payee information would be printed for all payees of only one employer at a time. Dropdown lists allow the user to specify that the report should be run for only the Current Employer and All Payees. The user could also choose to run the same report for any of the employers in the list without having to change the current employer on the main screen's Client List. A report may be restricted to one payee by selecting that payee in the list. Some reports list information for all of the preparer's clients. Select All Employers for those reports.

Reports may be further filtered by entering up to three filter criteria. First the user must select the section (employer, payee, payroll state) and then the field within that section. Then select the comparison operator and the comparison value. The comparison operators are the standard mathematical symbols: = (equal to), < (less than), <= (less than or equal to), > (greater than), >= (greater than or equal to), <> (not equal to).

Example 1, to include only active employees, select Employee from the Section column, select Inactive from the Field column, <> (not equal to) from the Op column, and enter X in the Value column. This restricts the report to employees that do not have the Inactive box checked.

Example 2, to include only employees whose address is in California, select Employee from the Section column, State from the Field column, = from the Op column, and enter CA in the Value column.

Additional filter criteria can be entered in the 2nd and 3rd row. The user must specify in the first column whether both criteria are required (select AND) or just either criteria (select OR).

Sort Options

Reports displaying data for multiple employers can be sorted by various employer fields. If no field is specified the employers are sorted by name. Reports displaying payee data can be sorted by various payee fields. If no field is specified the payees are sorted by name.

Layout of Data, Text, and Lines

The grid in the lower section of the screen contains the layout of data fields, static text, and lines on the report. Each line in the grid describes one element in the report. The various parts of the layout are described below.

Section.

The section describes the placement of the information on the page. The sections of a report are the Report Header, Page Header, Detail, Page Footer, and Report Footer. The Detail section actually can contain up to two groups: Employer, and one of the Employer subgroups (Payroll State and Employee (or Vendor)). A report cannot contain fields from both Employee and Payroll State subgroups.

Note that each section has a variable size dependent on the data placed in it and each section will follow the previous section. If a section is not selected then it will not appear on the report and it will not take up any space. A description of each section in the order they would appear on the report is below.
Report Header.

This section is found only on the first page of a report at the top. It would typically contain the title of the report and the date.

Page Header.

This section is found at the top of each page in a multiple page report. It may typically include column headings and a page number.

Detail.

The detail section usually contains the main data that the report is meant to present. Detail is not a choice in the list. Instead, users must choose which type of detail to include. For example, the report may display a list of employee name and addresses. In this case the section chosen would be Employee because that will allow selection of the desired employee fields. If the report is to display a list of the preparer's clients, then the section would be Employer. Payroll State allows the report to display information contained on the employer's Payroll State tab. Employee and Payroll State are both subgroups of the Employer and cannot be displayed on the same report.

Page Footer.

This section is found at the bottom of each page in a multiple page report. It would typically contain a page number.

This section is found at the end of a report on the last page only.

Field.

This specifies the data to display. Fields represent data entered for the employer or employee, such as, name and address. The list of fields available depends on the section specified for that line. The detail sections (employer, employee, payroll state) fields are obvious. All other sections allow only employer fields in addition to page numbers and various date formatted fields. Each line in the grid can define either a Field, or a Label or Line, but not both.

Label or Line.

Static text, such as column headings or field labels, and lines can be specified here. To have static text print on the report, type it directly into the grid. To print a line, select <H-LINE> or <V-LINE> from the dropdown list to specify a horizontal or vertical line. Each line in the grid can define either a Field, or a Label or Line, but not both.

Row and Col.

The row and starting column for the report element are specified here. The column number entered represents 1/10 inches from the left margin as specified in the Page Setup. The row number entered represents that number of rows (see the row spacing in the Page Setup) down form the top of the Section. Each section starts by printing row one directly below the previous section. See the order of the sections above.

Length.

Optionally, a length (specified as the number of columns) can be specified for each element. If no length is entered then a field will extend to the right margin, or to the next field to the right in the same row. If the length of a horizontal line is not specified then the line will extend from the starting column to the right margin. The length of a vertical line will be one row if not entered.

Alignment.

This specified how the text is justified in a field.

Font.

A font other than the Default Font as defined at the top of the screen, may be entered for each field or label.

Example

Below is a sample report shown with part of the Custom Report Setup screen. Red highlighting shows the relationship between the screen entries and the report appearance. Notice that the top margin would be followed on the page by the Report Header (there is none on this report), the Page Header, the Employer section (there is none on this report; this could repeat if the report was for multiple employers), the Employee section (this will repeat for each employee), the page footer, and finally the report footer (there is none on this report). This is the order in which the section appear on the report. The items do not have to entered in this order on the screen, but it makes the report more organized. Entries may be inserted, deleted, or copied by right-clicking the grid on the desired row.

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Deduction Items

Entering vendor payments

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