This article explains how to manage, review, and approve all relevant data for the preliminary payroll and create an export file in Excel format. If you want to learn more about configuring the preliminary payroll, visit our article Step 4: Configuring the Preliminary Payroll.

How does monthly payroll with preliminary payroll work?

The monthly payroll process with Personio's preliminary payroll enables you to consolidate, review, approve and export relevant payroll data. You can then send the export of the preliminary payroll data in Excel format to your payroll accountant, who completes the monthly payroll cycle.

These are the possible steps for the monthly payroll cycle:

1. Review of payroll-relevant data in the Payroll table and correction of data errors.
2. Approval of the preliminary payroll in the Payroll table. Once approved the payroll table is fixed and no data changes are highlighted. 
3. Creation and export of the payroll in the form of an Excel file for further steps. 
4. Import of payslips into employee documents (optional).

The monthly payroll process with preliminary payroll

1. Review the data
   Go to Payroll and select a subcompany and payroll group (if available). The payroll table is in status Review and you can check highlighted data changes for each employee in the Personal data, Salary, and Absences tabs. Click on the relevant employee for more details on data changes.
   
   

   

   Read our article on payroll attributes and flags in the preliminary payroll for further details.
2. Approve the preliminary payroll
   Click on Approve payroll and confirm the approval in the pop-up window. The payroll table will be fixed and its status will change to Approved. The exported Excel file in the format Payroll_MM_YYYY_number.xlsx containing all the currently available data will be created.
3. Download the Excel file and send it to your accountant
   Click on Documents and download the created Excel file Payroll_MM_YYYY_number.xlsx.
   Send this file to your payroll accountant to finalize the payroll cycle. 
   
   

   Tip
   If your accountant has access to Personio, they can pull this data themselves.

4. Create additional export files (optional)
   In case there is more data to be collected, for example, attendance for hourly wages or absences that were approved after you approved the payroll, you can create additional exports by clicking on Generate export. Read how to do this under Handle Data Changes After Preliminary Payroll is Approved.
5. Finalize the payroll and import payslips
   Your payroll accountant finalizes the payroll and generates the payslips for the respective month. You can import the payslips in the Documents tab of your employees' personal profiles. Learn how to do this via multi-upload.