Most payroll errors are not calculation errors. They are inputs that changed after someone stopped looking: a late regularisation, a new joiner without a bank account, a loan that should have been on hold. This checklist is the order we recommend working in.

Before the register closes

  • Confirm every joiner and leaver for the month has a joining or relieving date.
  • Clear pending leave, regularisation and overtime approvals.
  • Check that holidays and week-offs for the month are right for every branch.
  • Look for employees with no punches and no leave — usually a device or mapping problem, not an absence.

Before you run payroll

  • Freeze the attendance register so paid days stop moving.
  • Review salary revisions effective this month.
  • Confirm loan EMIs: anything to skip, hold or pre-close?
  • Check that new employees have PAN, UAN and bank details.

Before you approve

  • Compare gross and net pay with last month and explain every large difference.
  • Check PF, ESI, PT and LWF totals against the previous month.
  • Spot-check three payslips end to end: a new joiner, a leaver and someone with loss of pay.
  • Only then approve, generate payslips and release the bank file.
In PeopleOS the payroll run reads paid days straight from the register, so most of this list is about getting the register right.