How To Create A Payslip

How To Create A Payslip

Payslips, also known as paychecks, have changed a lot in the past few decades. Twenty years ago, employees would expect to receive a paper payslip with their paycheck as a record of their income and deductions.

While many companies worldwide (especially smaller businesses) still offer paper payslips, it’s much more common today for all records to be kept online in a safer virtual environment. Whether you prefer to use an online-only system for your workforce or print paper payslips as an additional record for them, the simplest way to create payslips is by using a dedicated piece of software.

Building Blocks of a Payslip

A payslip is an informational document for your employee showing how much money she made for the pay period, what deductions were taken out of her gross pay, the amount of each deduction, and her final net pay. Every payslip has to contain a list of basic elements, including:

• The employee’s name and identification numbers
• The company’s name and contact information
• The employee’s gross pay (the amount earned before deductions)
• The name of each deduction and the amount deducted
• The employee’s net pay (the amount left after deductions are subtracted from the gross pay)
• The method and amount for any partial payment (if some is paid in cash and the rest deposited in an account, for example)

You may include additional information on the payslip such as the rate of pay and the employee’s National Insurance number, but this isn’t necessary.

Online Payslip Creators

The simplest method for creating a payslip system for your employees is to create an account with one of the many online payroll programs available. If your company already uses some form of online or virtual accounting, check your program to find out if it offers a dedicated payslip template. Since you’ll already have all your financial information stored in the program, it should be a simple task to set up an additional form template to create your employees’ payslips.

If you haven’t yet committed to a particular accounting software, you’ll find a dizzying array of choices online. Spend some time deciding exactly what you need for your business before exploring all the shiny options. The perfect program for a small restaurant won’t be nearly robust enough for a medium-sized factory. Try out a few to find the right one for your business.

Total DIY

If you take pride in taking care of all your business details on your own, creating payslip in Excel or OpenOffice spreadsheet allows you the freedom to go completely custom. Once you have all the basic details included, you’ll be able to create individualized wage or salary payslips for each employee simply by punching in a few details. Simply create a basic template, then use it every payday to make an individualized weekly or monthly payslip for each employee.

If you’re not experienced with using spreadsheet programs, invest in a class to familiarize yourself with this type of software. Doing payroll using Excel and the like is easy once you’re used to the process, but it can pose a steep learning curve if you’re not up to speed.

Begin creating your template by naming the columns. Some columns are basic for every business, but this is where your penchant for individuality will pay off. You can add or remove any column you like to make your template fit perfectly with your payroll needs. Start with a column for employee names, then add columns as needed. Some of the more common examples are:

• Pay rate
• Total hours worked
• Overtime pay rate
• Total overtime hours worked
• Gross pay
• Individualized deductions
• Net pay

Change the font and placement of your column headings to make the template look like you want it to. Center the words, make them bold or italic or do whatever else you like to make it pleasant to work with.

Create formulas for the columns when needed. The most convenient thing about these spreadsheet programs is that they keep the drudgery out of payroll by doing the endless small math problems for you. Not every cell will need a formula, but you’ll have to input one where you want the spreadsheet to figure out gross pay, personal income tax and other deductions, and net pay.

Once you’ve included all the needed formulas, enter an imaginary employee with all of his details to test them out and make sure they work as you expect them to. Once the math is correct, customize the template so that your payslips will match your company branding, then save the program until needed during the next payroll period.

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