Payroll
Payroll journals and reconciliations
Finbryn records the payroll journal entry for every WPS pay run and reconciles it against the Salary Information File your bank submitted, so basic salary, allowances, GPSSA contributions and end of service gratuity accruals all agree with your general ledger. This runs alongside your regular month-end close.
Payroll reconciliation
Illustrative client · August 2026
AED
- Payroll register agreed to the provider reportDone
- Net pay agreed to the bank debitDone
- Withholdings and employer costs postedDone
- Payroll liability accounts cleared to zeroIn progress
- Filing dates checked against the calendarNext
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
What one WPS payment actually covers
A single WPS transfer leaves your bank account covering basic salary, housing and other allowances, overtime and any GPSSA contribution due that period, all at once. Recording it correctly means splitting that one payment into every account it actually touches, then checking the split against the Salary Information File your bank or exchange house submitted to MOHRE.
Gratuity and leave accruals, not just the payment
Because end of service gratuity for expatriate staff builds up under the Labour Law's formula rather than being paid out monthly, it needs its own accrual entry each period, separate from the cash that actually left the bank. The same applies to accrued annual leave salary. We record both so the balance sheet reflects what is actually owed on exit, not just what was paid that month.
GPSSA reconciliation for national staff
Where GPSSA contributions apply, we reconcile the amount deducted from a national employee's pay against what GPSSA's own records show as received, and post the employer and employee portions to the right accounts rather than netting them into one payroll expense line.
Free zone payroll, kept separate and reconciled
DMCC, JAFZA, RAKEZ, IFZA, DIFC and ADGM entities each generate their own payroll run and Salary Information File. Where a group runs payroll in more than one free zone, or across a free zone and the mainland, we keep each entity's journal distinct while reconciling the group total, so a variance in one entity does not get lost inside the combined number.
Where a mismatch usually comes from
A payroll journal that does not balance to the Salary Information File usually traces back to a rate change made in the payroll platform but not yet reflected in a prior entry, a leaver whose final gratuity was not fully calculated, or an allowance added mid-cycle without a corresponding adjustment. We trace it back to the source rather than force the entry to balance. See UAE payroll support for the pay-run review that happens before these entries are posted.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Payroll journals and reconciliations
How often do you reconcile GPSSA contributions?
Each pay period, alongside the journal entry, checked against GPSSA's own record of what was received rather than left until year end.
Do you need administrator access to our WPS payroll platform?
Read-only reporting access is usually enough to pull the Salary Information File and payroll summary we reconcile against.
How do you record end of service gratuity if it is not paid monthly?
As an accrual, calculated under the Labour Law's formula and posted each period, so the liability builds up on your books at the same pace it builds up in reality.
Can you reconcile payroll across a mainland entity and a free zone entity together?
Yes, each entity's journal stays distinct so a free zone or mainland variance is visible on its own, while the reconciled group total rolls up for management reporting.
Why does payroll need its own reconciliation separate from bookkeeping?
Payroll moves money and creates liabilities in ways a bank feed alone does not explain. A dedicated reconciliation catches mismatches between what was paid, what was withheld and what the ledger shows.
Do you need access to our payroll platform?
Read-only reporting access is usually enough. We do not need the access level required to run pay runs ourselves.
Who reviews the work before it reaches us?
Every deliverable under payroll journals and reconciliations is reviewed by a senior reviewer before it reaches you. You keep access to the underlying file at every stage, so nothing about the work happens somewhere you cannot see it.
What is included in payroll journals and reconciliations?
Payroll journals and reconciliations covers payroll journal entries recorded in your accounting software for every pay run and gross wages, withholdings and net pay reconciled against the payroll platform's summary report. The exact scope is agreed and set out in writing before work starts, so you know precisely what is and is not covered before the first deliverable arrives.
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Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.