Approve and finalize payroll
Approval locks the payroll run and its employee results. Finalization then issues payslips and employee notifications. Review the employee population, calculated amounts and unresolved issues before either decision; neither stage proves that a bank transfer has completed.
Access needed
Access depends on your assigned permissions and workflow scope.
- Review periods and employee results
payroll.readThe Payroll plan feature is required. Source-record checks can require separate Attendance, employee-compensation or deduction permissions.
Role and permission labels
Typical responsibility: Payroll reviewer. Role names alone do not grant access.
- Read payroll periods and results
- Approve or request changes on a Processing run
payroll.approveApproving additionally requires a different account from the processor. Reading results separately needs payroll.read. State rules still apply.
Role and permission labels
Typical responsibility: Payroll approver. Role names alone do not grant access.
- Approve or reject payroll runs
- Reopen Rejected runs, process and recalculate
payroll.manageReopening requires Rejected and returns Draft. Process before recalculating. Source corrections have their own write permissions.
Role and permission labels
Typical responsibility: Payroll operator. Role names alone do not grant access.
- Manage payroll runs
- Finalize an Approved run
payroll.finalizeThe run must be Approved. Finalization issues payslips/notifications; it does not execute a bank transfer. The approver may also finalize if separately authorized.
Role and permission labels
Typical responsibility: Authorized payroll finalizer. Role names alone do not grant access.
- Finalize payroll runs
- Verify all issued employee payslips
payslips.readSeparate from period approval and finalization. Linked employees can read their own issued payslips without workspace-wide read access.
Role and permission labels
Typical responsibility: Authorized payslip reader. Role names alone do not grant access.
- Read workspace payslips
Demo screenshots may show broader access than your account.
Complete the review first
Open Payroll processing → Periods, then the intended run. Confirm its name, dates and Processing status. Use Calculate and review payroll and Review payroll transactions to inspect the expected employees, skipped or omitted employees, currency, earnings, deductions and net pay. Investigate overtime changes and failed readiness checks.
Use a different account for approval
The approver must have payroll approval access and must be a different account from the one recorded as the processor. This compares who started Processing, not who most recently calculated payroll. Use Run details to check the relevant accounts and timestamps.
The demo account sees Independent approval because it started this run. The absence of Approve for that account is expected. Do not change role assignments or use another person's credentials to bypass the separation rule; the designated approver uses their own authorized account.
Approve a reviewed Processing run
- Open the correct run as the approver
Verify the period, Processing state, processor and completed result review. Review current data rather than relying only on an old exported register.
- Read the approval confirmation
Choose Approve period from the action offered to your account. Check the warning that approval locks the period and employee results.
- Approve once and verify
Confirm only the intended reviewed run. Wait for success and verify Approved status and the approver information in Run details.
Approval was not executed in this demo because the available account is the processor. The steps above follow the current application and documented workflow; they are not a screenshot-based demonstration of a second account approving.
Request changes with a clear reason
For a Processing run needing correction, choose Actions → Request changes. Enter Reason for changes, within 1,000 characters, explaining what needs review or correction. Confirm Request changes only when the reason and run are correct.
Wait for success, then verify Rejected status and the Changes requested message. Request changes sends the run back for correction; it does not silently repair pay records or recalculate transactions.
The fictional reason asks for another population and deduction review. No actual employee dispute or compensation decision is represented by the example.
Reopen the same rejected run
- Read the requested changes
Open the Rejected period and inspect the stored reason before changing inputs.
- Choose Reopen period
Read the confirmation: the run returns to Draft and existing results remain until payroll is calculated again.
- Verify Draft, then correct
After reopening, check Draft status and correct the permitted period details or source records. Do not assume retained results are freshly calculated.
- Process and calculate again
Start processing, calculate the corrected run, review its updated results, and obtain independent approval. The rejection reason remains after reopening and clears when processing starts again.
Check the run details
Open Run details to inspect processing, calculation and decision information. Dates and counts can describe the previous successful calculation after rejection and reopening. Read them together with the current status.
The demo was moved Processing → Rejected → Draft. The prior fictional employee result remains stored. It is not a newly recalculated Draft result, and the run has not been approved or finalized.
Finalize only an Approved run
An authorized finalizer opens the reviewed Approved period and chooses Finalize period. Read the confirmation that it creates payslips and notifies included employees, then confirm only when issuance is intended. Wait for success and verify Finalized status, finalization details and the resulting payslips.
The approval separation rule does not by itself prevent the approver from finalizing; finalization still requires its own permission. Follow any additional separation required by your organization.
Payslips are not generated by calculation or approval alone. Finalization skips an existing payslip rather than recreating it. If the result is uncertain, inspect the period and issued records before attempting another action. Follow Payroll overview for employee pay access.
Continue with Payslips and employee pay access for the issued-record and employee workflows.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Approve period is missing for the processor | A different authorized account must approve. |
| The approver lacks access | Check payroll.approve separately from management and finalization permissions. |
| Approval is refused because overtime changed | Investigate the week and recalculate the Processing run before reviewing again. |
| A rejected run cannot be calculated | Reopen to Draft, correct, start processing, then calculate. |
| Old results remain after reopening | This is expected; the next calculation updates them. |
| An Approved or Finalized run cannot be edited | Those states are locked. Use the organization's correction process rather than duplicating the run. |
| No payslips exist after calculation or approval | Payslips are created only during finalization. |
| Finalize is unavailable | Check Approved status and payroll.finalize access. |