Set up automated pay schedules in QuickBooks Advanced Payroll

1. Select Add.
2. Enter the pay schedule Name.
3. Choose the Frequency to be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, four weekly, quarterly or annually.
   If you choose Monthly payment mode, this is where an employee has advanced standard work hours, the hours calculated in their pay may differ from month to month due to the number of days in the month the employee has worked. Use this if you want employee hours to be averaged over each month’s pay regardless of actual hours worked. Note that advanced standard work hours will still be applied for leave requests.
4. Under Included employees, choose which employees to include. If you select ‘Employees with timesheets in the following locations’, make sure to enter a location.
5. Add a Payslip message. This will appear on all payslips and pay runs associated with the schedule.

Choose which warnings will stop the automated pay run if triggered. These help you catch issues before payroll is finalised.

• Click the pencil icon to view and select warnings.
• You’ll need to manually finalise any pay run that triggers a selected warning.

You’ll need to manually finalise the pay run should a warning appear. Only the following warnings will cause an automated pay run to stop: 

• Employee taking more leave than accrued
• Employee with unpaid earnings 
• Employee with negative earnings amount
• Pending leave requests
• Leave request extends past pay run dates 
• Leave request ends before pay run dates 

Be careful when choosing warnings, especially for leave and expenses, as they can affect the pay run.

You can set up the following preferences and apply it to all pay runs in a specific pay schedule:

• Journals: This option will only appear if the business is connected to an online journal service and is set up in the Chart of Accounts.
  • Select Export immediately to automatically post the payroll journal once the pay run is automatically finalised. Selected users will get an email notification if there are any issues. You can also 
  • Select Export journals manually to require the full access user to post the journal from within the pay run once the pay run is finalised.
  • You can also Export on a specific time and pay date. 
• Submit to HMRC: Immediately, manually, or on a scheduled date.
• Publish payslips:  Immediately, manually, or on a scheduled date.
• Employee notifications: Choose whether to send them.
• PensionSync: Immediately, manually, or on a scheduled date.

When you're happy with the summary, select Complete.

Choose how much of the pay run process you want to automate.

1. Schedule first pay run creation on: Defaults to the current date and upcoming hour. You can update this using the calendar icon. Note: There may be a delay based on the size of the pay run.
2. Schedule last pay run creation: Defaults to Never. Set an end date if needed.
3. Initial pay period ending: Pre-fills based on your most recent pay run or today's date.
4. Timesheet import:
   • Import current pay period only
   • Import all unpaid timesheets up to the current pay period
   • Don’t import timesheets
5. Select Next to continue.
6. Then, select which warnings should stop automation
7. Choose who should receive email notifications about automated events
8. Only users with full access can open affected pay runs. You can't add users here.
9. If you chose Finalise pay run immediately, you’ll see the same options as in Step 3 for journals, HMRC, payslips, notifications, and PensionSync.
10. Select Complete when done.

If your pay runs need approval:

1. Choose Yes for ‘Do pay runs for this pay schedule require approval?’
2. Select the users who will approve pay runs. You can manage user permissions under Manage Users if needed.
3. Select Next.
4. Edit the email message if you want.
5. Enter the number of days before a reminder email is sent if approval hasn’t been given.
6. Select Complete.