Accrued Payroll

assume you are accruing payroll for June - run a P&L on the first day of payroll (check date) in July. Filter on transaction type and select paychecks - this will give you where all of the expenses will be posted. look at the date range for the pay period paid on that first payroll in July. Assume you pay weekly the pay period is June 28 Monday - July 2 Friday (you are closed on weekends) - 3 out of 5 days relate to June; or 60% - export the above P&L out to excel and multiply the expenses by 60% - this amounts should be expensed to the appropiate accounts (debit) and the total amounts should be accrued to an other current liab (credit) - this entry should be booked on June 30 and reversed on July 1 (or July 31)

No - that isn't what I'm looking for - my employees do the work in June - timesheets entered. Payroll not created for that period. They will not get paid for that work until we receive payment for that work - might be 2-3-4 weeks later. i want to record the correct expenses (including the accrued payroll amounts) for the June payperiod - even though they don't get paid for it until July or August....

I think what rsmithgsw suggests is correct.

You want, on June 30th, an amount booked for the payroll expense and liability for the days of June not yet recorded (because payroll for those days will not be run until after July 1). The entry that rsmithgsw suggests should do this. Then, because you do not want to double count the expense and the liability when payroll is actually run in July, you need to reverse the June 30th entry in July before payroll is run. Richard

One of the most perplexing things about QB is how it "records" your payroll. All based on check date...totally unrelated in most companies as to when the work was performed and any related revenue earned.
QB should add a simple feature: For payroll checks generated there should be an option to "record" the check to a specific month/period.
So the payroll you pay on July 15, that was for work performed June 16 to 30, you should be able to tell QB to "record it" in month/period 6 for "accrual" purposes.
Problem solved.
This follows the GAAP principle of matching revenues with related expenses and saves the hassle of recording and reversing "accrual" entries which is the only way it can really be done now.
Any comments?

I think that's a great idea! Have you submitted that as a requested improvement to future releases?

I have not submitted it as a request for future product releases, because I can't find where that request is submitted. Sorry to be so stupid, but I have searched and find nothing. Can you tell me where this is done? Thanks.

You can submit suggestions in your program by going to help-send feedback online-submit suggestion.

But, what happens to your payroll liabilities when your payroll is accrual based?  If your pay period straddles the end of a quarter, does the payment go to the prior quarter or the following quarter or split between the two?  What about the pay period that ends late in December but doesn't get paid until January.  Does the employee pay taxes for money he hasn't yet earned?  Sounds like a big can of worms to me...

Yeah, but we like worms . . .

The payroll liabilities function is a separate function anyway and can be set aside from the general ledger or not. Like in payroll liability adjustments, you can say whether you want the entry to affect the GL accounts or not.

I think it would be a great development to that function. Give the programmers a challenge.

HI there, In dealing with the whole payroll accrual method you described above - I am wondering if I need to print a separate report for the payroll tax liabilities for this "split" pay period" so i can accrue them also? (and follow the same method) if so, which report?

I agree with the person above me that it could open a whole can of worms. I don't use the accrual method during the year. I just let the auditor make the proper adjustments at the end of the year. But I can understand why you would want to do this if you are getting paid by the job or whatever.

I use the accrual method of accounting for all my clients including the cash basis clients. A simple JE entry resolves what you are proposing and can be easily reversed at the beginning of the next month. Why not do it the simple way with posting entries so that you account for costs in the proper period?