Payroll Entry

Payroll Entry is the bulk payroll processing document in Smooth HR. It selects eligible employees for a pay period, generates draft Salary Slips in one action, and submits them together after review. For most organizations, Payroll Entry is the primary tool used every pay cycle.

Help URL: smoothhiring.com/help/hrms/payroll/payroll-entry

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Where to find it
3. Prerequisites
4. Creating a Payroll Entry
5. Key fields
6. Generating salary slips
7. Reviewing and submitting
8. Accounting integration
9. Partial and off-cycle payroll
10. Tips
11. Troubleshooting
12. Related guides

Overview

Payroll Entry does not define how much each employee earns — that comes from Salary Structure Assignment and Salary Structure. Payroll Entry orchestrates when slips are generated and ensures all eligible employees are processed consistently.

Where to find it

1. Log in to your Smooth HR site (e.g., https://yoursite.smoothhrms.com).
2. Open Payroll from the app switcher or sidebar.
3. Click Payroll Entry in the module sidebar, or search Payroll Entry in the desk search bar.

Prerequisites

Before creating Payroll Entry, confirm:

Missing structure assignments are the most common reason employees are excluded from the employee table.

Creating a Payroll Entry

Step 1: New document

1. Go to Payroll Entry → Add Payroll Entry.
2. Select Company — only employees in this company appear.
3. Set Posting Date — accounting date for journal entries.
4. Choose Currency (defaults from company).
5. Select Payroll Frequency — Monthly, Fortnightly, Weekly, etc.
6. Enter Start Date and End Date for the pay period (must fall within Payroll Period).

Step 2: Get employees

1. Click Get Employees — Smooth HR queries active employees with valid salary assignments overlapping the period.
2. Review the Employees child table:
   • Employee — ID and name
   • Employee Name — display name
   • Department — for filtering
   • Designation — optional review column
3. Remove rows for employees on unpaid leave entire period, already paid, or not yet joined.
4. Use filters if processing a subset (single department, location).

Step 3: Save draft

Save the Payroll Entry as Draft before generating slips — you can return to adjust the employee list.

Key fields

Employees table:

Generating salary slips

1. With employees loaded, click Create Salary Slips.
2. Smooth HR creates one Salary Slip per employee in Draft status.
3. Each slip calculates:
   • Payment Days from attendance/leave per Payroll Settings
   • Earnings and Deductions from Salary Structure
   • Income Tax from slabs and exemption declarations
   • Net Pay = total earnings − total deductions
4. Salary Slips Created is checked on Payroll Entry.
5. Click View Salary Slips (or open Salary Slip list filtered by this entry) to review.

Tip: For large payrolls (500+ employees), generation may take several minutes. Do not refresh the browser until complete.

If generation fails for specific employees, error messages indicate the cause (missing assignment, duplicate slip, invalid dates). Fix at source and click Create Salary Slips again for remaining employees.

Reviewing and submitting

Review individual slips

Open each Salary Slip and verify:

Submit payroll

1. Return to Payroll Entry.
2. Click Submit Salary Slips — all linked draft slips submit together.
3. Status changes to Submitted; slips cannot be edited without cancel.
4. Emails send if Email salary slip to employee is enabled in Payroll Settings.

Cancel and re-run

If a critical error is found after submit:

1. Cancel Payroll Entry (cancels linked salary slips if permitted).
2. Fix root cause (attendance, structure, tax).
3. Create new Payroll Entry for the same period.

Some organizations restrict cancel permissions to HR Manager only.

Accounting integration

When Create salary slip journal entry is enabled in Payroll Settings:

Verify accounts are mapped on each Salary Component. Run General Ledger report filtered by posting date to reconcile.

Payroll Payable Account on Payroll Entry overrides default payable account if needed.

Partial and off-cycle payroll

Tips

• Name your periods consistently — e.g., "January 2026" in naming convention aids audit.
• Run balance reports first — Leave Balance and Monthly Attendance Sheet before Get Employees.
• Lock data before submit — communicate cutoff to managers.
• Export Salary Register immediately after submit — snapshot for finance.
• Do not edit submitted slips — always cancel and regenerate for audit trail integrity.
• Test with one employee when onboarding new salary structures.

Troubleshooting

Related guides

• Payroll overview
• Salary Structure
• Salary Slip
• Attendance overview
• Tax Exemption Declaration

Last updated: May 2026