Payroll
Payroll journals and reconciliations
Finbryn records the payroll journal entry for every UK pay run and reconciles it against the payroll software's own report, so gross pay, PAYE and National Insurance, and pension deductions all agree with your general ledger. This runs alongside your regular month-end close.
Payroll reconciliation
Illustrative client · August 2026
GBP
- 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.
Why a bank feed alone does not explain payroll
One payment leaves the bank account on payday, but it covers gross pay, PAYE income tax, employee and employer National Insurance, pension contributions and any statutory deductions all at once. Recording it correctly means splitting that single line into every account it actually touches, then checking the result against the payroll software's own summary.
What the entry includes
Each pay period we record gross pay, PAYE and National Insurance withheld from employees, employer's National Insurance and Apprenticeship Levy where it applies, pension contributions on both sides, and the net pay clearing entry that ties back to what left the bank account.
Reconciling PAYE and pension liabilities
The PAYE liability account is reconciled monthly against what HMRC actually expects, using the payroll software's P32 equivalent, so the balance sheet matches the amount due rather than an estimate carried forward from the previous month. Pension liability accounts are cleared once the provider confirms contributions received, and any payroll clearing account is checked back to zero once a run has fully cleared the bank.
Where the checks come from
A mismatch usually points to something upstream: a rate change entered in the payroll software but not reflected in a prior journal, a leaver whose final pay was not fully processed, or a pension contribution rate that changed without the accounting catching up. We trace the variance back to its source rather than forcing the entry to balance. See UK payroll coordination 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 our PAYE liability account?
Monthly, alongside your regular close, checked against the payroll software's own summary so the amount owed to HMRC matches your books.
Do you need administrator access to our payroll software?
Read-only reporting access is usually enough to pull the reports we reconcile against. We do not need the access level required to confirm a pay run.
What happens if a pension contribution does not match the deduction?
We flag it against the payroll software's report and trace it back to whichever pay run introduced the mismatch, rather than letting it carry forward unreconciled.
What happens if a payroll journal does not balance to the payslip totals?
The mismatch is flagged and traced line by line, gross pay, deductions, employer contributions, before anything is posted, since an unbalanced journal usually means a manual entry error or a payroll software update that changed a calculation without anyone noticing.
What happens if a payroll correction is needed after the journal has already posted to the ledger?
A correcting entry is posted in the current period with a clear note explaining what changed and why, rather than silently editing a closed month's figures. If the correction is material, we flag it to you directly so it does not appear as an unexplained movement in your reports.
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 principal 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.