Options for entering pays more than two years ago?

Question

AccountRight Premier AU 2021.5.2&nbsp;Is there any way to enter pays older than the current or previous financial year, specifically in 2018/19?I know there's a two year limit so this can't be done directly. Can it be worked around?&nbsp;For example can I restore from an earlier year, enter the pays there, export the transactions, and reimport them into a current backup? Or will AR detect the current financial year no matter which backup I'm working from?&nbsp;Or for example can I check out the file locally rather than working in the cloud, change the system date, enter the pays, reset system date, and check the file back in?Or my third idea and I'm out on a limb here, manually create a file that looks like exported transactions (or edit an export of actual pays), and then import that file?I'm out of ideas after these three and I'm hoping people can tell me "no don't even bother trying, that won't work" before I start messing around with things...

steven_m · Accepted Answer

Hi&nbsp;JoeW&nbsp;
&nbsp;
To address your concerns around payment summaries and reporting. Yes, if you did record a payroll transaction outside of the payroll module this would not appear in the payroll reports (which will pull from the payroll transactions and the card history).&nbsp; Although, if you were to generate a payment summary for that period as you did need to be in that financial year to produce those payment summaries (i.e. have a restored a backup of the file), you could enter those pays or manually amend the payment summaries - Step 7: Review the Payment Summaries.&nbsp;
So, you would need to keep a record of what does need to be adjusted so that if required you can reproduce those payments summaries with the updated information.&nbsp;

gavin12345 · Answer

Hi&nbsp;JoeW&nbsp;&nbsp;It depends on what exactly you are trying to achieve. The best solution may well be a 2 step process. Restore a backup when MYOB was in the correct Payroll/and or financial year - add the payroll transactions and generate the Payment Summaries - lodge manually with ATO. This will handle that side of things (employee and reporting obligations) but will will not 'correct' your current year financial statements. For example if you are altering the profit for that earlier year, the flow on effects to your current balance sheet will not be picked up (eg Retained Earnings adjustment). Generate 'amended' P&amp;L and balance sheet.&nbsp;You would then update your current company file with General Journals to reflect the consequences of the prior year adjustments on your current account&nbsp;balances. You may need some direction from your accountant in this regard.&nbsp;RegardsGavin

joew · Answer

Thank you, I've decided against major surgery via restoring backups, I need to be able to trust that all reports generated by MYOB match the records in MYOB and I won't knowingly break that trust without much stronger reason than I currently have. It's good to know how to should I ever have that much stronger reason.

steven_m · Answer

Hi&nbsp;JoeW&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Payroll transactions can only be entered for the current and previous payroll years. As such, you wouldn't be able to record those transactions as payroll transactions in your company file.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
My recommendation would be to enter the transaction as a general journal entry or spend money for that older pay. This would ensure that the accounts are impacted so you have the overall outcome of recording those pays. Although, as the transaction is not a payroll transaction recorded by the Payroll module they would not show in the Payroll reports and employee card history - something to consider if you are needing to review older payroll information.
In theory, you could export out the payroll transaction from a company file that had them and then import it back into the company file. However, you would only be able to export those transactions out as the transaction journal entry and import them as a journal entry. Therefore you are not really gaining a lot going down that route as it would give you the same result, potentially only saving some time. Best to just bite the bullet and enter the transactions manually into the file as a general journal entry or a spend money.

joew · Answer

That's all very useful, thank you.&nbsp;I'm concerned about the Payroll module being oblivious to changes entered as general journal entries. That seems to imply that MYOB couldn't issue an amended Payment Summary (for the years that used them) or even show me correct numbers in the various Payroll reports?I could in principle issue a manually generated Payment Summary and I know how to issue an amended EMPDUPE file (for the years that used them), but I'd be nervous doing so without MYOB being able to tell me the correct YTD numbers for amended payslips and for the Payment Summary. I suppose in principal I could access those numbers through GL reports, yes?

joew · Answer

Hi gavin12345&nbsp;The situation is that there are some long term liability DL loans where the company owes the director as of 30 June for the 2018/19, 2019/20, and 2020/21 FYs.&nbsp;It's been suggested that some of the salary paid in those years could be restated to instead be repayments to the DL accounts. The total dollar amounts moved from company bank account to director bank account would not change, but they would be re-explained as DL repayments not salary.I'm aware of the trick to issue a new payslip for the period, which would have a negative to wages, a positive to Employee Reimbusement (already linked to the DL liability account). There would have to be some kind of restatement to Payroll Deductions and that money would then be reclaimed from the ATO via a revised IAS or BAS. I think that some Superannuation SGC amount (perhaps all if the wage on a given payslip was 100% converted to DL repayment) would have be negative with a corresponding positive to Employer Additional Super.&nbsp;This is (relatively) easy for the current and previous financial years as MYOB will allow me to write new payslips. I'm wondering if it can be done for 2018/19 as well.I'm prepared to say that 2018/19 is Just Too Difficult and do it only for the years where MYOB permits new pays.

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Options for entering pays more than two years ago?

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