Which payroll records must reach the ledger

The payroll provider runs payroll, remits taxes, and produces the reports. The accounting team books the payroll journal, records payroll liabilities, and reconciles the payments. The handoff between them is not automatic; it is a defined record path.

• The per-pay-run report from the provider, retained as source.
• The payroll journal, recorded to the same period as the pay run.
• The payroll liabilities: employee withholdings, employer taxes, benefits deductions, until each is settled.
• Corrections and true-ups, treated as their own entries with a linked reason.
• The reconciliation between the provider's payment records and bank clearings.

Booking only the net pay, missing employer taxes, or leaving liabilities on the balance sheet after they have cleared. Each one distorts operating expense in the current period and creates a clean-up in a later one.