Hi, I use ADP as the payroll provider for a client of mine and this is an example of how I record payroll for them in quickbooks. I use expense accounts because technically ADP holds all the liabilities. We are simply just trying to record proof of the money being paid in ADP. I detailed each line so it hopefully makes sense as to where everything goes. I grouped all the taxes together because I didnt find it necessary to separate them however you can if you want more details. For example the account that says payroll taxes for employee would be broken out into fed tax, social security, medicare, etc to show better detail.

I hope this helps someone! 

P.S You cannot run reports by name when using journal entries (it sucks I know). Simply go back to your payroll provider for any detailed reporting that you need!

Hi, I think I found your solution the best out of everything being said here. 

However, I tried something similar to this and it wasn't matching what was showing in our bank account when doing a reconciliation. We have benefits that shows as deductions but we pay for them ourselves, and vacation accrual which ADP keeps track of, but isn't deducted from our account until someone accesses their vacation pay. I think both of those items are throwing everything off, because what shows as the total balance is not what is being deducted from our account. I also work for a non-profit, so all of our deductions have to be detailed. For example, we have to show how much vacation we have accrued in our books as well as how much was paid out on each quarterly report.

Would you happen to know how to record all of this so that it matches what is being taken out of our accounts?

Hi sharieb,

I can see that you're dealing with some complex accounting challenges related to benefits, vacation accrual, and deductions in your non-profit organization.

To ensure that your records match what is being deducted from your accounts, you may need to create detailed accounting entries for each type of deduction, including benefits and vacation accrual. This could involve tracking accrued vacation in your books and recording when it's paid out on quarterly reports. It would be helpful to work closely with your accounting team or a professional accountant to ensure that your records accurately reflect the deductions from your accounts.

I'm sharing this article for your additional reference: Set up manual payroll without a subscription in QuickBooks Desktop.

If you have other questions in mind, feel free to go back to this thread. Take care and have a good one!

Thank you for the reply to my very specific question, but it is extremely generic and not at all helpful. I have already set up detailed liability and expense accounts and was simply asking someone in this thread if they knew how to record something within these accounts so that our records DO match.

@sharieb 

Make sure you have separate liability accounts for each payment that will come out of your bank account - FUTA, SUI, Fed Withholding, 401(k), health ins., etc.  Then, make sure to assign the proper liability account to the payments made: health ins. liability to your health ins. provider payment, SUI to your state unemployment agency payment, etc.

As far as accruing vacation compensation, that is an in-depth discussion and is probably best handled by the NFP's CPA.  IMO, if your NFP needs to accrue vacation expenses, then you need a good accountant.  Accruing vacation is a GAAP requirement but the tax treatment is different.