This week, one of our most highly requested product updates will be going live in Xero Payroll: payroll history. We listened to you, our customers and community, and will be launching the first stage of the feature in Australia – employee records.

So, what does this mean? You’ll now have an easy-to-access audit trail of changes made within Xero by a small business owner, advisor or app partner. This helps you understand, track, manage and troubleshoot changes to employee details.

What exactly is payroll history?

With payroll history, any time anyone (or anything) makes an update, it’s captured and shown in Xero. This has a range of benefits but is especially useful when multiple people (like a small business owner, accountant and bookkeeper) are all accessing and making changes within Xero Payroll.

Anyone who is a Payroll admin for the organisation in Xero will be able to see this and can easily identify what changes were made, to what section/tab, when they were made and who made them. For example, if a bookkeeper updates an employee’s bank details, it will show that this happened, when and by who.

When will payroll history be available?

We’re rolling out the first phase from Tuesday, 23 August. This first phase will include employee records, such as the details, employment, taxes, bank accounts, pay template and opening balances tabs.

While the changes will be available in Xero from August, we’ve been capturing this information since 1 July. This means you’ll have a comprehensive history record for the full financial year.

What are the benefits of payroll history?

Payroll can be a tricky area because you want to make sure employees’ pay gets to them safe and sound. That’s why it’s important to keep track of everything in one place, so everyone is on the same page and they have all the information they need. This includes details on things like pay rates or bank accounts, especially for legal or compliance concerns that may arise.

Some of the other advantages include:

• Help resolving errors: Sometimes, things do go wrong – like incorrect payments or admin mistakes. With everything captured in Xero, it’s easier to go back and find where the error occurred. That way, you know what to avoid in future.
• Better visibility for clients and partners: With multiple people accessing one organisation in Xero, sometimes it can be hard to keep tabs on what’s going on. This single source of truth means everyone is on the same page – whether you’re an accountant, bookkeeper or small business owner. This supports better practices for everyone and protects against fraud.

What exactly is payroll history capturing?

Some third-party apps make changes to employee profiles in Xero on your behalf, like Deputy or Tanda. No matter who makes a change to the employee data, the new payroll history feature will capture it. This means you have an accurate record of updates all in the one place.

Where will I find payroll history?

Payroll admins can access the History table within Xero Payroll. Here’s how:

• In the Payroll, choose Employees
• Click into an employee’s record
• Click into the relevant tab within an employee’s record
• Click the drop-down menu for History
• View the history of changes related to the employee’s tab

To refresh the history audit table, Payroll admins will need to collapse and then expand the history table to reflect the latest changes.

Is there more information or resources available?

For more information on the employee detail part of payroll history, visit Xero Central. We’ll continue to share more updates as we expand this feature.

What’s next for payroll history?

We’ve already started working on expanding the payroll history to additional areas of Xero Payroll, and will provide further updates on these developments as early as possible.