Open 3 · Reconciliation & sign-off and add up to three files: this period's register, last period's register, and the GL file payroll sends to accounting. Only the first is required. Each extra file turns on more checks, and they run as soon as the current register is in.
The scan and every check are free and need no account. Employee names and the sign-off workbook need Pro. Files are read in your browser and never uploaded.
Three files for one invented biweekly pay date: the current register, the prior register and the GL file. Add all three and the GL balances to $0.00, four of the five tie-out lines pass, and net pay breaks by $25.00 on one worker, whose 401(k) deduction was reversed in payroll after the GL file went out. Against last period there's one new payee, one missing payee and one pay swing of +62.9%.
Current register
Prior-period register
GL outbound detail
| File | Needed? | What it must have | Turns on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current register | Required | Employee ID, Gross Pay and Net Pay. Add Federal Income Tax, Social Security and Medicare columns for those tie-out lines. | Register totals, and everything below once the other files are in |
| Prior-period register | Optional | Employee ID, Gross Pay and Net Pay. | New and missing payees, pay swings, gross vs prior |
| GL outbound detail | Optional | Worker, Account#, Amount and Reference. | Journal balance, the register-to-GL tie-out, per-worker net |
Registers are read with the same column names as the register audit. This stage has no mapping screen: if a column needed a manual fix on card 2, rename it in the file before you add it here. A timekeeping, deduction or GL file dropped in a register slot is refused with a message saying so.
One row per journal line, the detail your payroll system sends to the general ledger. Worker, Account#, Amount and Reference are required, matched ignoring case. Other columns are ignored.
Worker
Account#
Amount
Reference
Company
Description
| Column | What goes in it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Worker | The employee's name with their ID in brackets at the end. The ID has to be digits for the per-worker check. Company-level lines can leave it blank. | Imogen Tarrant (310178) |
| Account# | Your GL account. Read, but no check uses it. | 2130 |
| Amount | Debits positive, credits negative. The whole file should add up to zero. | -26.45 |
| Reference | What the line is. This decides how it's counted (below). | Medicare |
| Company | Optional. | Larkspur Mills |
| Description | Optional, and ignored. | Medicare payable |
These are tried in order and the first match wins. For the tie-out, federal income tax is every line whose Reference contains Federal Withholding, and Social Security and Medicare are the lines named exactly OASDI and Medicare. A worker's GL net is minus their Cash lines; if your file posts cash once for the whole company, it's the sum of that worker's lines instead.
Take accrual and reversing entries out before you add the file. Every line is read as actual, so an accrual would count twice against the register.
GL journal balance
Tie-out: Net pay (GL Cash)
Tie-out: Gross earnings
Tie-out: Federal income tax
Tie-out: Social Security (OASDI)
Tie-out: Medicare
Per-worker net breaks
Gross vs prior period
New payees
Missing payees
Pay swings over 50%
| Check | Passes when | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| GL journal balance | Every GL amount adds up to within $0.01 of zero. | GL |
| Tie-out: Net pay (GL Cash) | Register net matches the Cash lines within $1.00. | GL |
| Tie-out: Gross earnings | Register gross matches the earnings codes (under 400) within $1.00. | GL |
| Tie-out: Federal income tax | Register federal tax matches the Federal Withholding lines within $1.00. | GL, and a federal tax column in the register |
| Tie-out: Social Security (OASDI) | Register Social Security matches the OASDI lines within $1.00. | GL, and a Social Security column |
| Tie-out: Medicare | Register Medicare matches the Medicare lines within $1.00. | GL, and a Medicare column |
| Per-worker net breaks | Each employee's register net matches their GL net within $0.01, paired by employee ID. | GL with IDs in Worker |
| Gross vs prior period | Total gross moved 15% or less. Over that, it's marked for review. | Prior register |
| New payees | Paid this period but not last. | Prior register |
| Missing payees | Paid last period but not this one. | Prior register |
| Pay swings over 50% | Gross changed by more than 50% either way against last period. | Prior register |
A tie-out line with no register column behind it compares $0.00 with the GL and breaks whenever the GL has lines for it, so a register without a Medicare column breaks on Medicare. The per-worker check compares only IDs found in both files; someone in one file and not the other isn't flagged there. The Register tie-out on the card means register to GL, so it needs the GL file.
On the page: the register totals, four GL scorecards (journal balance, GL net, GL gross earnings and worker net breaks), the tie-out table marked PASS or BREAK, the per-worker breaks (the first 250), and a period-over-period section with up to 10 each of new, missing and swing.
With Pro, Download sign-off workbook saves payroll-close-signoff-YYYY-MM-DD.xlsx. Its Sign-Off tab lists every check with PASS, OK or REVIEW and ends with blank Prepared by and Approved by lines for signatures. GL Tie-Out, Period Variance and GL by Reference tabs follow when those files were added, with the full lists rather than the first 10 or 250.