A Guide to Enterprise Payroll Reporting

Discover the core reports and capabilities large businesses should look for to build more accurate and insightful enterprise payroll reporting processes.

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As enterprise teams become larger and more globally dispersed, their ability to run payroll reports that are accurate and reliable can greatly diminish.

The amount of employee data they have to manage—along with the impact of varying payroll tax requirements, local payroll providers, and inconsistent payroll software—often blocks them from making informed decisions on labor costs, payroll costs, and other business needs.

A step towards more holistic, standardized reporting

To tackle these challenges, enterprises often turn to global payroll solutions with strong reporting capabilities, integrated regulatory compliance updates, and system integration features. This approach helps ensure accurate, compliant, and efficient payroll reporting across all jurisdictions.

We created this guide to help you get the most from your global payroll reporting processes. Designed for enterprise finance teams and payroll experts, this guide is a primer on the core reports and capabilities you can use to obtain actionable insights on your workforce, improve data accuracy, and streamline your multinational payroll operations.

Enterprise payroll FAQ

What reports do you run for enterprise payroll?

For enterprise payroll management of a global team, generating comprehensive and detailed reports is crucial for compliance, financial planning, and strategic decision-making. Here are key reports that enterprises typically run:

Gross-to-net payroll reports: Details each employee's earnings before and after deductions, providing a clear view of gross wages, taxes, social security, benefits deductions, and net pay across different countries.

Variance reports: Compares payroll expenses over different periods to ensure accuracy and consistency in payroll processing. This report helps identify discrepancies or errors that need to be addressed.

Year-end tax reports: Summarizes annual employee earnings, taxes withheld, and contributions for tax filing purposes. These are essential for both employer and employee tax compliance across jurisdictions.

Benefits and deductions report: Provides detailed information on all employee benefits and deductions, such as health insurance, pension contributions, and tax withholdings, allowing for effective management and analysis of benefits costs.

How do I generate year-end payroll reports for an enterprise?

Your global payroll provider should be able to provide all mandatory end-of-year documents for taxation, including W2 forms in the United States, T4 forms in Canada, and P45s in the UK.

Deel can also generate non-mandatory Year Closing and Adjustments reports. This report can include a year-to-date report, variance report, changes export report, and more.

What are the most common payroll reporting challenges for enterprises?

Payroll reporting challenges specific to global enterprises include:

Holistic gross-to-net calculations: Calculating accurate take-home pay across different countries is complex due to varying tax rates, social security contributions, and other deductions. This complexity increases with the number of countries involved.

Compliant year-end summary reports: Different countries have unique requirements for year-end payroll reports, including varying deadlines and documentation. For example, generating P60s for employees in the UK.

Employee deductions and contributions: Accurately managing and reporting on employee and employer contributions (e.g., taxes, pension, health insurance) requires understanding diverse local regulations.

Payslip distribution: Providing employees with timely and accurate pay stubs and payments that comply with local regulations is another challenge. Payslips must reflect detailed breakdowns of earnings, deductions, and contributions in a format that meets the legal requirements of each country.

System integration: Enterprises often operate with different payroll, HR, and financial systems across global entities. Integrating these systems to produce consistent, accurate payroll reporting is technically challenging and resource-intensive.

Data consolidation: Many multinational companies have to manually consolidate payroll data from various countries into a coherent format for internal reporting and analytics. Without system automation, this process is often less efficient and accurate than using a single global payroll solution.

Regulatory compliance: Staying on top of changes in payroll-related laws and regulations in each country and updating processes accordingly is an ongoing task. This includes adapting to changes in tax rates, deduction rules, and reporting requirements.

How can enterprise companies overcome these challenges?

Enterprises can overcome global payroll reporting challenges through a combination of strategic actions and leveraging technology. Here are practical steps:

Implement a global payroll solution: Consider outsourcing payroll to an international payroll platform that can handle complex calculations, adhere to local compliance requirements, and offer integration capabilities with existing HR software solutions and finance systems. 

Centralize payroll data: Adopt a centralized approach to payroll data management. This allows for better control, consistency, and accuracy across different countries. Centralization also simplifies data consolidation for reporting and analytics.

Stay updated on regulations: Establish a process for regularly updating payroll systems in response to changes in local laws and regulations. This may involve subscribing to legal updates, partnering with local experts, or using payroll solutions that provide regulatory compliance updates.

Leverage cloud technology: Cloud-based payroll solutions offer scalability, security, and accessibility. They facilitate the integration of disparate systems and ensure that real-time payroll data is accessible from anywhere, simplifying global operations.

Use analytics for insight: Use payroll services with custom reports and analytics tools to gain insights into payroll and workforce management operations, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions. Analytics can also help in forecasting and managing currency fluctuations.

Partner with local experts: Work with local payroll and legal experts to navigate the complexities of each market. These partnerships can provide valuable insights into local tax liabilities and workers' compensation requirements, as well as regulatory changes and best practices for payroll reporting.

Automate processes: Automate routine payroll tasks to reduce errors and save time. Automation tools can handle calculations, deductions, and contributions accurately across different countries. Consider solutions with employee self-service workflows and automatic notifications to streamline onboarding processes for new hires.

Ensure data privacy and security: Adopt robust data protection measures to comply with international data privacy regulations like GDPR. This includes securing payroll data, managing access controls, and ensuring you process payroll and data legally.

 

Ready to streamline enterprise payroll reporting? Take the first step toward a smoother process by requesting your free guide today.