Set up your payroll journal

Your payroll journal is where you tell Remote how each pay item on your payroll should appear in your accounting system. Once it is set up, Remote produces a general ledger (GL) report after every payroll run that you can upload directly into your accounting software.

This article is for Admins setting up a legal entity on Payroll. You do not need an accounting background to complete it. Remote AI reads the files you upload and proposes the mapping for you, and you review and confirm it.

In this article:

• What the payroll journal is
• Before you start
• Step 1: Create your chart of accounts
• Step 2: Add your suspense accounts
• Step 3: Map your pay items
• Ask Remote AI to map again
• After you finish setup
• Keeping your payroll journal accurate
• Terms you will see
• Get help

What the payroll journal is

Every payroll run creates costs your finance team needs to record: salaries, employer taxes, deductions, and benefits. Your accounting system records those costs against accounts in your chart of accounts.

The payroll journal connects the two. You tell Remote which account each pay item belongs to, and Remote generates a general ledger report after each payroll run using those instructions.

Setup happens once per legal entity, and takes three steps:

1. Create your chart of accounts
2. Add your suspense accounts
3. Map your pay items

You complete the steps in order, and confirm each one before the next opens. You can pause at any point and pick up where you left off.

Before you start

You need two things:

• Access. Your Remote account needs Admin permissions for the legal entity you are setting up. If you cannot see the Payroll journal tab, ask your company's account owner to update your role.
• Your chart of accounts. A list of the accounts your company books payroll to, with an account code, an account name, and an account type for each one. A CSV or XLSX export from your accounting system works. If you do not have one to hand, you can download a template in Step 1 or add accounts manually.

To open the payroll journal:

1. Go to Company settings and select Legal entities.
2. Select the legal entity you want to set up.
3. Open the Payroll journal tab.
4. Select Set up payroll journal.

💡 You set up the payroll journal separately for each legal entity, because each entity books to its own accounts. Repeat these steps for every entity you run payroll for.

Step 1: Create your chart of accounts

In this step you build the list of accounts Remote can post payroll costs to.

Upload your existing accounts

1. Select Set up payroll journal

   

2. Upload a chart of accounts export, a past general ledger report, or both
3. Select Upload files, which appears once you have added at least one file. Remote shows "Uploading and analysing your files" while it reads them, and the accounts table stays locked until it finishes.

The Create general ledger report window, showing the drop zone, the chart of accounts template link, and the Upload files button

File requirements:

• CSV or XLSX format
• Up to 10 files at once
• Up to 1 MB per file, and 5 MB in total

When Remote AI finishes, your accounts appear in the Accounts table. Review them and correct anything that looks wrong.

The accounts table after Remote AI has created the accounts, with the Confirm accounts button above it

Add accounts manually instead

If you would rather not upload a file, select download our chart of accounts template in the upload window and fill it in, or select Add account above the accounts table to add them one at a time. Each account needs an Account code, an Account name, and an Account type.

Confirm the step

When your accounts look right, select Confirm accounts.

💡 You can add, edit, and archive accounts at any time after setup. You cannot archive an account while it is being used as a suspense account or while pay items are still mapped to it. Remap those pay items first, then archive the account.

Step 2: Add your suspense accounts

A suspense account is a holding account. When a pay item reaches payroll without a mapping, Remote posts it to your suspense account instead of leaving your report unbalanced. You then move it to the correct account when you spot it.

You designate two suspense accounts, and both are required:

• A debit account, the fallback for uncategorized expenses such as salaries and employer taxes
• A credit account, the fallback for uncategorized liabilities such as deductions and net pay owed

What you see next depends on whether Remote AI already found suspense accounts in the files you uploaded.

If it found them, this step is a review. Select Review suspense account. The window is titled "We set up your suspense account automatically" and shows the Debit and Credit accounts it chose. Check they are the ones you want, then select Confirm and continue.

If it did not, select Add suspense account, pick an account for the Debit account and Credit account fields, then select Add suspense account to save.

Either way, you can change a suspense account later from that account's details.

The suspense account window, showing the debit and credit accounts Remote AI selected

💡 Remote starts mapping your pay items as soon as you confirm this step. The Pay items section shows "Mapping pay items" and disables actions while Remote AI works through them. You do not need to wait on this screen.

Step 3: Map your pay items

In this step you check where each pay item lands. Remote AI has already proposed a mapping for every pay item, so most of your work here is review rather than data entry.

Select the pay items card above the table, which is labelled with the number of pay items on the entity, for example "7 pay items". Each row then shows a status:

The pay items table showing all three statuses: Mapped by Remote AI, Mapped by user, and Unmapped

Review and adjust

• Open a pay item's row actions to Edit general ledger (GL) mapping, Undo general ledger (GL) mapping, or View details.
• Some pay items map to one account. Others map to two, one debit and one credit, because they affect both sides of your ledger. Remote shows you which applies.
• Use the search box to find a pay item by name or description.
• Use the filters to narrow the table by account, direction, or status. Filtering by Unmapped is the fastest way to find what still needs attention.
• Select the checkboxes on several pay items of the same direction and assign them all to one account at once. If your selection includes pay items that Remote AI mapped, Remote tells you how many mappings you are about to replace.

Confirm the step

The button at the top of the page depends on your progress. When every pay item is mapped it reads Confirm mapping and go to reports. While some are still unmapped it reads Map pay items and go to reports.

Selecting it opens one of two windows:

• A warning, when at least one pay item is still unmapped. It tells you how many are mapped, for example "Only 6 of 8 pay items mapped. Do you want to continue?", and explains that the rest will post to your suspense account, which may affect the accuracy of your general ledger report. Select Close and make changes to go back and map them, or Continue with incomplete mapping to finish now and clean them up later.

The warning shown when pay items are still unmapped, offering Continue with incomplete mapping or Close and make changes

• Double check your pay items are mapped correctly, when everything is mapped. Select Confirm mapping to finish, or Close and make changes to keep editing.

Your payroll journal is now set up.

Ask Remote AI to map again

If you correct an account, add accounts, or simply want Remote AI to have another go, you can run the mapping again without redoing your setup.

1. Open the pay items card.
2. Select Re-run mapping.
3. A window titled "Re-run pay item mapping" explains what will happen. Select Re-run mapping again to start, or Cancel to back out.

The Re-run pay item mapping window, explaining that mappings made by hand are kept

A re-run does four things:

• Clears the mappings Remote AI made, then maps those pay items again, along with anything still unmapped
• Keeps every mapping you made by hand, including on pay items where you set one side and Remote AI set the other
• Leaves your progress alone. Your confirmed steps stay confirmed and the setup steps do not reappear
• Works both before and after your first payroll run

Mappings from the new run show as Mapped, By Remote AI. Anything Remote AI is unsure about is left unmapped for you to handle, the same as during setup.

A re-run takes a few minutes. While it runs, the pay items section shows "Mapping pay items" and the table is locked. You can only have one run going at a time.

💡 A re-run needs both of your suspense accounts to already exist, because Remote AI routes some pay items there. If you have not finished the suspense account step yet, finish that first.

💡 Pay items sitting in your suspense account are counted as mappings you made, so a re-run leaves them alone. If you want Remote AI to try those again, use Undo general ledger (GL) mapping on them first, then re-run. Unmapping warns you that the pay item will not be included in general ledger entries for future payroll runs, which is expected here because the re-run maps it again.

After you finish setup

If the legal entity has already run payroll, Remote takes you to your reports so you can download a general ledger report and check the mapping produced the result you expected. Reviewing this first report is the quickest way to catch a mapping mistake.

If the entity has not run payroll yet, your first general ledger report is ready after the first payroll run completes.

💡 General ledger reports are generated using the mapping in place at the time. Changing a mapping later does not change reports you have already downloaded, so review your first report carefully.

Keeping your payroll journal accurate

Your payroll changes over time. New pay items appear, and a mapping that was right last quarter may not be right now. Remote checks your general ledger report after every payroll run and tells you when something needs your attention.

Update your payroll journal

Your latest payroll run includes pay items that Remote could not fit into your existing mapping. Open the Payroll journal tab, review your pay item mapping, and confirm it. The message clears on its own once a payroll run produces a balanced report.

Review potential errors in your payroll journal

Your latest payroll run posted amounts to your suspense account, which usually means a new pay item was added without a mapping. Open the Pay items section, filter by Unmapped, and map those items to the correct accounts before you download your next general ledger report.

If neither message appears, your payroll journal is working and there is nothing for you to do.

Terms you will see

• General ledger (GL) account. A single line in your chart of accounts, such as 6100 Wages and salaries.
• Chart of accounts. The full set of general ledger accounts your company books to.
• Pay item. A single line on your payroll, such as basic salary, employer social contributions, or statutory sick pay.
• Mapping. The link between a pay item and the general ledger accounts it posts to.
• Suspense account. The holding account that catches any pay item without a mapping, so your report stays balanced.
• General ledger report. The file Remote produces after each payroll run, listing debits and credits, that you book into your accounting system.
• Debit and credit. The two sides of an accounting entry. Costs are debits, and amounts your company owes are credits. Remote works out which side applies to each pay item.

Get help

Contact your Customer Success Manager or Remote support if:

• Your general ledger report does not balance after you have mapped every pay item
• A pay item is missing from the Pay items section
• Remote AI cannot read your file after you have checked the format and size
• You need a mapping that the accounts available to you cannot express

See also: 

• How to run reports to my General Ledger (GL) accounts
• Connect Remote to NetSuite
• How to set up the Xero integration