Payroll Overview

Prior to setting up Payroll in Merchant Ag FIN, verify that you have all the necessary IDs and paperwork.

  • EIN
  • Any State required ID for State taxes
  • W4s from Employees

Payroll Prerequisites

In Merchant Ag FIN, utilize Payroll by creating any applicable Prerequisites and Employee accounts. All functions for Payroll are found on the Payroll menu.

  • Set up Companies- Create companies for the locations that you will be processing payroll. See Access Companies for more detail.
  • Deduction Codes- Create Deductions Codes to identify any deduction that will need to come out of employee’s payroll such as child support, 401k, health and life insurance, or garnishments. See Access Deduction Codes for details.
  • Tax Tables- All applicable taxes to be deducted from employees pay. View existing tax tables and learn to create new ones at Access Tax Tables.
  • Management Groups- Active if using Chronologer as the Time keeping system, identifies which manager or supervisor will approve time cards for a selected group of employees. Access Management Groups has additional information.
  • Departments- Group employees together based on their department. Learn how at Access Departments.
  • Earning Codes- Earning Code will be added to all Employee accounts to reflect how their time is charged. Earning codes will be created for regular hourly pay, sick pay, vacation, commission, bonus as needed. See Access Earning Codes for more information.
  • Event Codes- Track payroll for non-regular pay by using an Event Code. View existing Event Codes and learn how to create new ones at Access Event Codes.

 

Create Employee Accounts

Once all prerequisites have been created, begin adding Employees. See Access Employees Explained for an overview on how to create an Employee account and links to instructions.

Processing Payroll

Payroll can be generated once all applicable prerequisites and Employees are created.

  1. Enter Hourly Earnings can be used to record hours for hourly employees.
  2. Add any payroll exceptions for salaried employees using an Event Code with Enter Salary Transactions.
  3. See Payroll Checks for instructions on creating payroll Checks.
  4. For employees utilizing Direct Deposit, see Payroll Direct Deposit for information.

Import or Create Time Transactions

Time records can be Imported using

If using Chronologer as the time keeping system, follow the steps below to generate payroll.

  1. Use Access Time Records to review and approve Time for Employees. It is recommended that Time be approved on a daily basis.
  2. Browse Raw Punches provides a real time look at employee punches.
  3. Browse Unmatched Punches can be used to correct any unmatched punches such as an employee neglecting to punch back in from lunch.

  4. Approve Time will be the process to follow to verify and approve the hours for employee payroll in Access Time Records.

  5. Generate Earnings finalizes the hours to be paid and makes the information available to create a payroll check.

  6. Create payroll checks or direct deposits using Payroll Checks or Payroll Direct Deposit.

Reports

Several sections of Payroll reports are available on the Payroll menu.

Use Employment Reports for Employees Salaries, Job History or Retirement Eligibility reports. Find the EEO Headcount report in this section.

General Reports contains reports for a Phone Directory, Emergency Contacts and a listing of Home Addresses and Phones.

Other Reports is where Reports on the information supplied in Supporting Tables are located.

Find reports based on Payroll Check History, Earning and Deductions, in the Payroll Reports section.

Reports that need to be run infrequently are found in the Periodic Reports section.

Once a report is generated, learn about the printing, saving and exporting options available in Report Basics.