Mastering Australian Payroll with Xero In A Day For Dummies

Heather Smith is an accounting consultant who specialises in management report development, data detox, and cloud suitability scoping services. Heather remotely assists global businesses advising on process automation and maximising integrated data opportunities. A business and tech writer, Heather hosts the popular Cloud Stories podcast. She is an advisory board member for many dynamic businesses.

Introduction 1

What You Can Do In A Day 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Chapter 1: Navigating Payroll Basics  3

Gathering Payroll Information 4

Payroll information 4

Employee information 4

Setting Up Contacts, Accounts and Tracking Categories 5

Payroll contacts 5

Payroll accounts 5

Payroll Tracking Categories 6

Accessing Payroll for the First Time 6

Chapter 2: Defining Payroll Settings  9

Organising General Settings 9

Setting Up Pay Slip Options 12

Setting Up Pay Items 12

Earnings Pay Item for direct cost staff 13

Earnings Pay Item for overhead cost staff 14

Overtime Pay Items 15

Deduction Pay Items 15

Reimbursements Pay Items 16

Annual Leave Pay Items 17

Personal/Carer’s Leave Pay Items 18

Deleting a Pay Item 18

Setting Up Payroll Calendars 18

Monthly calendars 19

Fortnightly calendars 20

Editing a Payroll Calendar 20

Deleting a Payroll Calendar 21

Chapter 3: Expanding Your Staff: Setting up Employees  23

Setting Up Personal and Contact Details 24

Entering Employment and Superannuation Membership Details 25

Taking a Look at Tax Declaration Details 28

Recording Bank Account Details 30

Chapter 4: Defining Pay Template Settings and Processing Payroll  33

Adding Earnings Pay Items 33

Adding a Deduction Pay Item 34

Adding a Superannuation Pay Item 35

Adding Reimbursement Pay Items 36

Adding Annual Leave 36

Adding Personal/Carer’s Leave 37

Deleting an Item from the Pay Template 37

Processing a Pay Run 38

Getting comfy with employee timesheets 38

Working through a pay run 39

Creating a draft invoice 41

Chapter 5: Mastering More Advanced Payroll Functions  43

Learning about Advanced Payroll Functions 43

Entering Opening Balances 44

Publishing a Payment Summary 46

Connecting with Contacts While You’re Cruising 48

Inviting Employees to Access their Portal 48

Exploring the employee portal 49

Applying for leave via the Employee Portal 51

Submitting a timesheet via the Employee Portal 52

Paying Pay Run Liabilities 54

Processing superannuation liability 54

Setting up the Automatic Superannuation Payments feature 55

Processing PAYG Withholding liability 56

Understanding Superannuation 57

Adding a regulated superannuation fund 57

Adding a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) 58

Editing and deleting a superannuation fund 58

Chapter 6: Where to Go from Here 61

Finding Out How to Use Xero 61

Say ‘Hello’ to the Xero Community 62

Visit dummiescom 62