Payroll Prep Checklist
Payroll Prep Checklist
Quick Summary
A payroll prep checklist helps construction companies organize payroll information before processing employee pay. Taking a few minutes to review hours, approvals, deductions, and payroll records can prevent costly mistakes and employee pay issues. This checklist is useful for office managers, payroll administrators, bookkeepers, and business owners.
When to Use This Checklist
- Before every payroll run.
- At the end of each pay period.
- Before submitting payroll to a payroll provider.
- After receiving employee timecards.
- When reviewing labor costs by project.
- After correcting payroll discrepancies.
- Before final payroll approval.
Before You Start
- Confirm payroll processing date and pay period.
- Collect all employee timecards or timesheets.
- Gather supervisor-approved labor records.
- Verify employee roster is current.
- Review recent employee status changes.
- Gather payroll reports and job costing records.
- Prepare payroll software or processing system.
Safety Checks
- Verify safety meeting hours are recorded correctly.
- Confirm safety training time has been entered when applicable.
- Review labor entries tied to incident investigations if applicable.
- Verify safety-related labor hours are coded correctly.
- Review unusually long shifts for possible entry errors.
- Document payroll corrections related to safety activities.
Tools, Equipment, and Materials
- Employee timecards or timesheets.
- Payroll software or payroll provider portal.
- Employee pay rate records.
- Job cost reports and project codes.
- Supervisor approvals.
- Employee deduction records.
- Previous payroll reports.
Payroll Prep Checklist
- Confirm all employee timecards have been received.
- Verify all timecards have supervisor approval.
- Review regular hours worked.
- Review overtime hours and verify calculations.
- Confirm labor hours are assigned to the correct projects.
- Verify employee pay rates are current.
- Review vacation, sick time, or paid leave entries.
- Review employee reimbursements if applicable.
- Verify payroll deductions are current.
- Review new hires added during the pay period.
- Review terminated employee payroll requirements if applicable.
- Investigate missing, duplicate, or unusual entries.
- Verify payroll totals against labor reports.
- Make and document necessary payroll corrections.
- Review payroll summary before final approval.
- Approve payroll for processing.
Documentation Needed
- Employee timecards or timesheets.
- Supervisor approval records.
- Payroll correction logs.
- Employee pay rate records.
- Deduction and reimbursement records.
- Payroll summary and approval records.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Processing payroll without reviewing all timecards.
- Using outdated employee pay rates.
- Missing overtime or deduction errors.
- Failing to verify project labor coding.
- Ignoring unusual payroll entries.
- Making undocumented payroll adjustments.
End-of-Day / Final Review
- All employee hours have been verified.
- Payroll corrections have been completed and documented.
- Payroll totals have been reviewed.
- Labor coding has been verified.
- Final payroll approval has been completed.
- Payroll records have been saved and filed.
Checklist Completion
Project / Job Name
Jobsite / Location
Completed By
Role / Title
Completed Date
Completed Time
Signature
Reviewed / Approved By, if needed
Notes / Follow-Up Items
Need another checklist?
Find more free construction checklists at SimplySub.com/checklists.