As part of the monthly payroll posting process, the payroll system estimates the remaining salary and benefit amounts that biweekly employees will earn in the current month but will not post as an expense to the General Ledger until the following month. An accrual journal entry is created to record this estimated amount on the General Ledger; this estimate is automatically reversed when the actual payroll expense posts in the following month.
The use of accruals for biweekly payroll is a standard accounting practice. The goal of this guide is to explain the biweekly payroll accrual process in greater detail, including how to identify biweekly payroll accrual transactions within financial reports.