Why Payroll Errors Hit Differently
When you make an accounting error, you correct it and move on. When you make a payroll error — an employee underpaid, an overpayment that needs to be recovered, a tax withholding calculated incorrectly — you're directly affecting someone's livelihood.
Employees notice every discrepancy. One uncorrected payroll error destroys trust in ways that take months to rebuild. Two creates a culture of suspicion.
The Most Common Payroll Data Errors
Wrong pay rate: An employee received a raise that was approved but not updated in the payroll system. They've been paid at the old rate for 6 weeks.
Hours entered incorrectly: 84 hours entered instead of 48 (typo: 4→8, shifted place). Or regular hours entered in the overtime column (or vice versa), changing the rate applied.
Missing time entries: An employee forgot to submit their timesheet. Payroll ran anyway with an estimated amount or zero. The correction requires an off-cycle payment.
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Wrong deductions: An employee enrolled in a new benefit plan. The deduction wasn't activated in payroll. They've been covered but not paying their share — which must now be recovered.
Year-to-date (YTD) errors: A correction made incorrectly that throws off YTD totals, which affects W-2 accuracy at year-end.
The Payroll Pre-Processing Review
Before approving any payroll run:
Gross pay reasonableness check Compare total payroll this period to last period. Any variance over 5% deserves explanation. A spike in total payroll might mean a rate error, a duplicate entry, or an unauthorized bonus.
Sohovi automatically finds every duplicate in your dataset — including near-matches — and shows you exactly which rows are affected.
Employee count check How many employees are on this payroll? Compare to last period. Any new additions or unexpected removals?
Hours verification For hourly employees, verify total hours are within a reasonable range. No employee should be working 200 hours in a biweekly period without a clear explanation. Flag anything outside your defined range for review.
Deduction verification For each employee with a deduction change this period, verify the change was authorized and the amount is correct.
After Payroll Runs
- Reconcile payroll to your bank account: confirm the total debit matches your payroll provider's report
- Verify all payroll taxes were deposited on time
- Update YTD records in your accounting system
- File any required reports (state, federal) on schedule
Payroll errors caught before the check runs cost nothing. Payroll errors caught after the check runs cost the correction process plus the relationship damage.
Sohovi gives you the data quality picture you need to make the case for fixing it — and to track improvement over time.
