Copy of Employee Payslip

[OurAccountant]

I write in support of many recent and past requests to provide the Employer with copies of the precise Payslip information that is emailed to the Employees each week.

Unfortunately, MYOB Payroll does not, to my knowledge, provide an efficient and practical method of meeting this requirement, and the current Payroll Advice report provides similar, but not identical, information to the Employer.

I agree with past commentators that a copy of the Employee Payslip email is not only a reasonable request, it is also a fundamental assurance tool for both the Employer and the Accountant, Bookkeeper and Payroll Officer in respect of managing the Statutory (Fair Work Act) obligation that the Employer has to issue Payslips “… within one working day of pay day … “ and with specified content.

The failure of MYOB to provide a workable and practical solution, by simply allowing a second email address for each payslip, is incongruous with good management, and is well documented by numerous users of the software as the Employer, Bookkeeper, Payroll Officer, and Accountants seek to manage complex Payroll compliance.

In addition, the Payroll Advice Report that I send to Employers each week is the only report (as opposed to customised documents – e.g. the Payslip) that includes the content of Payroll payments / Payslips that can be produced out of the MYOB reporting system. Unfortunately, the report is unable to be customised in any manner, other than selection of Employees and Date Ranges.

As mentioned above, I agree wholeheartedly, that the efficient and practical provision of a copy of the Payslip is a reasonable expectation (and requirement) of Employers and should be available to licensed users and customers of the MYOB AccountRight program.

MYOB – could you please pick up this issue and rectify the shortcomings in the Payroll Reporting and Email systems as a priority.

[Sam_R]

Hi @OurAccountant,

Thank you for reaching out, and for providing this feedback. 

Whilst the software does not currently enable users to send a copy of this to the employer when processing a pay run, it is still possible to provide this information to the relevant person/s by downloading the payslip and attaching it to an email, see below:

• To view, save, print, or email a past pay slip

However, I do understand that the workflow in this particular process is not as seamless as it once was, and do appreciate your feedback on the matter.

May I also recommend heading to our Idea Exchange Board where you can put this forward to our developers for a possible future enhancement? This also gives other users who agree with this, the chance to vote on the idea and gain more attention to it. 

If you had any further queries that I could assist with, please do let me know. 

[OurAccountant]

Hello Sam_R (MYOB Moderator). Thank you for your prompt reply. However, with the greatest of respect, and yet with some frustration, my deep delving into the suggested solution fails to meet the very reasonable expectations of myself as an Accountant, and my Client as an Employer, seeking compliance assurances, and I am sure many other well intentioned MYOB AccountRight users, including Bookkeepers and Payroll Officers.

The solution suggested does not produce an identical payslip to the actual payslip that was produced and emailed to the Employee. It would appear to produce a vanilla version and not the customised version that was actually emailed.

This may (or may not) be because the proposed solution relies upon the MYOB Web Browser version of the datafile, although I do not know. In any event the Payslip reprint is not an exact replica of the information sent to the Employee.

This being said there appears no way of providing 100% confidence to an Employer that the legislative requirements, best practice procedures, and simple good management obligations have been met, and can be proven beyond doubt, either currently or at some future date when under scrutiny or enquiry.

Given that my comments above are valid, then a most simple way to overcome this deficiency is to allow emailing of individual Payslips to two (2) or more email accounts at the same time. Unfortunately, the Employee Card Email: field will only allow for a single email address. Inclusion of a second address either with or without a separator such as a space, a comma, a semi-colon appears to be rejected by the system in both the Desktop and the Web Browser versions.

Whilst it appears possible to force inclusion of a second email address using a semi-colon within the Print/Email Pay Slips window it does not appear possible to do this once and for all on the Employee card, rather the addition must be carried out on each and every Payslip, each and every Pay Run. A very slow, cumbersome and risk related solution  with potential for error. The privacy issues associated with payroll or significant and the downside is the same. There is no recovery from mass mailouts of personal payroll information to the incorrect persons either within or outside of the organisation.

My position, on behalf of a significant number of professional persons and organisations who rely upon the resources of MYOB is paramount. To my knowledge any Employer relying upon the suggestions offered as a workaround would fail to meet the exacting standards of both the legislature and good corporate governance

I note with dismay your recommendation of heading "to our Idea Exchange Board where you can put this forward to our developers for a possible future enhancement" and "allowing  other users who agree with this, the chance to vote on the idea and gain more attention to it". 

The recommendation appears to highlight an important shortfall in the product and a short coming in the expectations of finance professionals. This is not about an enhancement, it is about providing a stable pillar of support to Professionals at all levels with reliance upon MYOB. I speak as a 25 years supporter of MYOB and half a century of experience in Accounting: significantly in Corporate Accounting, Public Accounting, Payroll management, legislative requirements (including Fair Work) and Corporate Governance at all levels.

As mentioned in my original posing: MYOB – could you please pick up this issue and rectify the shortcomings in the Payroll Reporting and Email systems as a priority - the solution is not difficult, and may I suggest not time consuming to implement.