Quick Tips: New Improvements to QuickBooks Payroll 2007

New Improvements to QuickBooks Payroll 2007

The Latest Update Brings More Improvements to the Pay Employees Workflow

Your feedback has helped us make even more improvements to the Pay Employees workflow in QuickBooks Payroll 2007. The R6 update delivers the following:

  • Sorting feature—A new sorting feature gives you the ability to organize your list of employees according to criteria you choose, making it easier to view and use the Enter Payroll Information screen.
  • One-click access—A single, one-click access button lets you open the paycheck detail, making it easier and more efficient to navigate through the paychecks for viewing and editing.
  • Progress bar—A three-step progress bar helps guide you through the steps to pay your employees. Just enter your payroll information, review and create paychecks, and then print and distribute paychecks.

These additional improvements to the Pay Employees workflow should make it easier and more efficient for QuickBooks Payroll users to process payroll. Read on for more details!

NOTE: The following information requires the QuickBooks Payroll 2007 R6 update available March 30, 2007. Click here to get the latest updates for your QuickBooks software.

Using the Sorting Feature

The sorting feature provides a way for you to view the list of your employees in the Enter Payroll Information screen according to your chosen criteria. The default view shows the employee list in alphabetical order by employee name (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Employee List in the Enter Payroll Information Screen
Figure 1: Employee List in the Enter Payroll Information Screen

To sort the list of employees, click the Sort By drop-down arrow and choose how you want to sort the list. You can sort by the following criteria:

  • Employee name (default)
  • Class
  • Employee number
  • Last check date
  • Last pay period end date
  • Pay frequency

When you choose a criteria, it becomes a column on the grid. For example, if you selected to sort your employees by class, a new column with the employee classes will appear on the screen (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Sort the Employee List by Class
Figure 2: Sort the Employee List by Class

Each time you select a new field to sort by, that column will appear on the Enter Payroll Information screen.

Note that the columns for the sort criteria are gray. That means you cannot add or change the information that appears in these columns.

To remove a sort column from the Enter Payroll Information screen, click the Show/Hide Columns button and select the column(s) you wish to hide from the available list.

NOTE: Removing a sort column using the Show/Hide Columns button simply hides the column in the Enter Payroll Information screen. To display the column again, use the Show/Hide Columns feature to add it back to the display.

Customizing the Enter Payroll Information Screen

The Enter Payroll Information screen was designed to allow you to enter hours for your employees directly on the screen without drilling down into the individual paychecks to enter data. (Alternatively, you can enter payroll data directly into the paycheck detail screen by selecting the Open Paycheck Detail button or by double-clicking on an employee's name.)

Depending upon your preferred method of data entry, you can customize the Enter Payroll Information screen to best suit how you work. If you always need to view or edit the paycheck detail for each payroll run, you might want to customize the Enter Payroll Information screen to be a display screen only and hide the editable columns. Or, you might want to use the Enter Payroll Information screen for your data entry but display certain columns (such as class, last paycheck date, etc.) to help you organize your employees for more efficient payroll processing.

To use the Enter Payroll Information screen as a display screen only, click the Show/Hide Columns button, and then hide the columns you do not want displayed and select the columns you wish to display. Figure 3 illustrates how the Enter Payroll Information screen can be customized to display non-editable columns.

Figure 3: Customizing the Enter Payroll Information Screen
Figure 3: Customizing the Enter Payroll Information Screen

Accessing Paycheck Detail

In Figure 3, the employees are displayed and sorted by their pay frequency. None of the columns in this view are editable, and any payroll information must be entered directly into the paycheck. You can open the paycheck stack by selecting the Open Paycheck Detail button or by double-clicking the first employee's name.

Enter payroll data directly into the first paycheck, and then select Save & Next to proceed to the next paycheck in the stack. When you are finished, select Save & Close, and the total hours per employee will be updated and refreshed on the screen.

Select Continue to proceed to the Review and Create Paychecks screen (Figure 4). This screen will provide a summary of the gross-to-net calculations for each employee and will display the company-paid taxes and contributions for the payroll run.

Figure 4: Review and Create Paychecks Screen
Figure 4: Review and Create Paychecks Screen

Remember, until you select Create Paychecks, you can always go back to any or all of the paychecks to make corrections if needed!

We'd Like Your Feedback

In the R6 update to QuickBooks Payroll 2007, we added improvements to the Pay Employees workflow to make it easier and more efficient for QuickBooks Payroll users to accurately process payroll. We hope you are now more familiar with how to use the new features and can take advantage of the benefits.

Did the information in this short lesson help you understand the new features? Please let us know.

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