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How to run and export a payroll

Create a payroll for a pay period, check and adjust the figures, and export them for payment.

Each pay period, you create a payroll for one of your payroll entities, check the figures for every worker in it, add anything extra they are owed or that needs taking off, and then export the result for payment.

The one thing to know before you start: exporting locks the payroll. Everything else can be changed and saved as a draft as often as you like, but the export is final.

 

Before you begin

  • Payroll is available on Agency Accelerator Pro.
  • You will need a user access level that allows you to work with payroll.
  • Your payroll entities need to be set up first, with the right workers assigned to them. See How to set up and manage payroll entities if you have not done this yet.
  • Check your entity's member list before you create the payroll. Adding a worker afterwards is more work than adding them beforehand.
  • Your workers' pay rates need to be set up and approved. Payroll works out pay from each worker's own pay rates, not from the rates you charge clients. See How to approve worker cost changes.

 

The payroll screen

Select Payroll in the left hand menu, then Manage Payroll.

Your payrolls are split into two sections:

  • Draft Payrolls: payrolls you have created but not yet exported. These can still be changed.
  • Exported Payrolls: payrolls that have been exported and are now locked.

Each card shows:

  • The entity the payroll belongs to
  • The pay period it covers
  • Its Reference, for example PR-2026-W44
  • The date it was created
  • Who created it

Select VIEW PAYROLL on a card to open it.

To narrow the view down, use Select Payroll Entity to focus on a single entity, or the All Payrolls dropdown to filter by state.

Tip: With several draft payrolls on screen at once, it is easy to open the wrong week. Check the pay period and reference on the card before you select VIEW PAYROLL.

 

Creating a payroll

  1. Select CREATE PAYROLL.
  2. Choose the entity from Select Payroll Entity.
  3. Choose the pay period from Select Period. The periods listed, such as Fri, Oct 30 to Thu, Nov 05, come from the schedule set on that entity.
  4. Select CREATE PAYROLL.

The payroll opens in Payroll View. The entity name, the payroll reference and the pay period are shown at the top, for example Night Shift Workers PR-2026-W48, November 27, 2026 to December 3, 2026, so you can confirm you are in the right place. The figures take a moment to load.

 

Understanding the figures

Payroll View is a wide table with one row per worker. Each worker's reference number, name and pay type, paye or psc, appear on the left, and the columns are grouped into sections:

  • General Pay: basic hours and cost, plus bank holiday and special holiday hours and costs
  • Sleep In Pay: sleep in hours count and cost, plus bank holiday and special holiday hours and costs for sleep in shifts
  • Leaves: paid leave and accrued leave, in both hours and cost
  • Additions: Bonuses, Expense Claims, Pay Adjustments and Other
  • Deductions: Pay Adjustments, Student Loans and Deductions
  • Statutory Deductions: PAYE (tax), NI Contribution and Pension Contribution

Hours and costs for general pay, sleep ins and leave are drawn from completed jobs and recorded leave, using each worker's pay rates, and are filled in for you. Total Gross Pay and Total Net Pay are calculated for you as you go, so there is no need to work them out yourself.

Because the table is so wide, each group can be collapsed or expanded using the + and − buttons along the top. A collapsed group becomes a narrow coloured band, so you can open just the sections you are working on and keep the totals in view.

Two other controls make checking much easier:

  • Search by employee name: jump straight to one worker
  • Show zero rates / Hide zero rates: show or hide entries with zero rates and zero hours

Where an entity has a lot of members, use the page numbers at the bottom to move through the list.

Tip: Hide zero rates while you check the payroll. It leaves only the entries with something to be paid, which is usually a much shorter list.

 

Adding bonuses, expenses and deductions

Use the Additions and Deductions columns for anything that is not drawn from jobs, such as a bonus, an expense claim, a correction to last period's pay or a student loan repayment.

  1. Select UPDATE at the bottom of the payroll. The amounts you can change become editable.
  2. Expand Additions and enter any Bonuses, Expense Claims, Pay Adjustments or Other amounts owed to each worker.
  3. Expand Deductions and enter any Pay Adjustments, Student Loans or other Deductions to be taken off.
  4. Select SAVE AS DRAFT to save your changes, or DISCARD to throw them away.

When your changes are saved, a Payroll updated successfully message appears. The amounts you entered are shown in pounds, with additions in green and deductions in red, and the worker's Total Gross Pay and Total Net Pay are recalculated.

Tip: Save as a draft after each section rather than leaving everything to the end. A draft can be reopened and changed as many times as you need until you export.

 

Checking the files before you export

You can download the payroll files while the payroll is still a draft, to check the figures or share them with a colleague before anything is final.

  1. Select the download icon beside Hide zero rates.
  2. Choose Download Payroll, NI Contribution Breakdown, Pension Contribution Breakdown or Bank Payment Breakdown.

See Exporting a finished pay run as payment ready files for what each file contains and where it goes.

 

Exporting the payroll

When you are satisfied the figures are correct, select GENERATE EXPORT.

A warning appears first, Your payroll will be locked after exporting, because this step is final. Once you generate the export:

  • The payroll is locked and cannot be exported again
  • No new jobs can be added to it
  • No further changes can be made within it

You can still download the exported files and edit them outside the platform if you need to.

Select GENERATE EXPORT to confirm, or GO BACK TO EDITING if you want to check anything first.

A Generating Payroll... message shows while the export is produced. When it finishes:

  • An Exported on badge shows the date of the export, for example Exported on: 3rd Nov 2026
  • A DOWNLOAD button replaces GENERATE EXPORT. Select it to download Download Payroll, NI Contribution Breakdown, Pension Contribution Breakdown or Bank Payment Breakdown
  • The payroll moves from Draft Payrolls to Exported Payrolls on the payroll screen

Please note: There is no way to unlock a payroll once it has been exported. Take a moment to check your totals, and if in any doubt, go back to editing.

 

What to do next

  • Pay your workers and report the run. See Exporting a finished pay run as payment ready files.
  • Get payslips to your workers. See Sending payslips to your workers from the pay run.

 

If something looks wrong

  • A worker's hours do not match what they worked. Check the underlying jobs and timesheets for that period before adjusting anything by hand, as the payroll draws its hours from completed jobs.
  • A worker's costs look wrong but the hours are right. Check the worker's pay rates. Payroll uses the worker's own pay rates, not the client's charge rates, and a rate change only applies once it has been approved.
  • A worker is missing entirely. Check they are assigned to the entity the payroll was created for.
  • The payroll you need is not under Draft Payrolls. Check Exported Payrolls, as it may already have been exported, and check the Select Payroll Entity and All Payrolls filters.

If you cannot put something right, or a payroll has been locked with incorrect figures, please contact our Support Team with the entity name, the payroll reference and the pay period, and we will help you resolve it.