A pay period is the time span a payroll covers. Choosing the wrong timesheet cut-off date is the number one reason payrolls have to be redone — requests arrive late, after the cut-off.
Three dates you must distinguish
| Date | What it is |
|---|---|
| Pay period | The time span the payroll covers, e.g. 09/01 to 09/30 |
| Timesheet cut-off date | The date after which no more attendance or request changes are accepted for that period |
| Payday | The date the money reaches employees' accounts |
The timesheet cut-off date must be early enough before payday to prepare the payroll, approve it and make the bank transfers. Cutting off on the 30th and paying on the 31st is not enough time for any company.
Period closing process, step by step
- Clear all pending requests — every leave, overtime and business trip request for the period must be approved or rejected (article B8-14).
- Finalize and lock the timesheet in the Time & Attendance module (article B6-15). After this step, attendance data no longer changes.
- Create the pay period (article B9-09). The system pulls in the locked attendance data.
- Reconcile the payroll against the timesheet (article B9-10).
- Approve & lock the payroll (article B9-11).
- Export the bank transfer file and send payslips (articles B9-13, B9-12).
Steps 1 and 2 must be completed before step 3. Creating a pay period while requests are still pending means the payroll is missing data, and you will have to run it again.
Sample closing schedule for a monthly pay period
| Day | Task |
|---|---|
| Last day of the month | Deadline for employees to submit requests for the period |
| Day 1–2 of the following month | Managers approve all pending requests |
| Day 2–3 | Finalize and lock the timesheet |
| Day 3–4 | Create the pay period, reconcile, correct |
| Day 5 | Approve & lock the payroll |
| Day 5–6 | Export the bank transfer file, send payslips |
This is a reference schedule. What matters is not the specific day numbers but the order, and that everyone knows their deadlines in advance.
Non-monthly pay periods
Companies that pay twice a month, or weekly for seasonal workers, can still set this up — each period is a separate record on the Pay Periods screen, with a clear name to tell them apart, e.g. Payroll Sep 2026 period 1 and Payroll Sep 2026 period 2.
Three common mistakes
- Cutting off the timesheet too close to payday. There is no time left to make corrections when discrepancies are found.
- Not announcing the request submission deadline. Employees submit leave requests after the cut-off, and you have to unlock and redo the work.
- Changing the cut-off date midstream. If you must change it, do so at the start of the year or quarter and announce it at least one period in advance.
