How payroll works
Each month you run payroll once for each legal employer. This page walks through that month from start to finish and explains the rules Cadre applies along the way.
Who can see payroll runs: Owner, Payroll admin, Payroll approver.
One run, one legal employer, one month
Section titled “One run, one legal employer, one month”A run is the payroll of one legal employer for one calendar month. The legal employer is the organisation that employs the people in it. It isn’t always the organisation operating the payroll. An agency, for example, may run payroll for a client. Cadre keeps the two apart, and every figure, schedule and remittance in a run belongs to the legal employer.
A legal employer has one live run per month. If you’re an agency, you can also limit a run to the people at one worksite. See Multi-client payroll.
The stages of a run
Section titled “The stages of a run”A run moves through four statuses, shown as steps at the top of the run page:
| Status | What it means | Who moves it on |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The run is open. You calculate it, check it and recalculate it as often as you need. | A payroll admin submits it for approval. |
| In review | The run is waiting for approval. Its figures can’t change. | An approver approves it, or a payroll admin returns it to draft. |
| Approved | A second person has checked and approved the figures. | An approver locks it. |
| Locked | The run is final and is the record of what was paid. Payslips, schedules, the bank file and salary payments come from it. | Nobody. A locked run never changes. |
The month, step by step
Section titled “The month, step by step”- Open the run. A payroll admin opens the month’s run for a legal employer.
- Calculate. Cadre works out every person’s pay from their current pay, tax profile, benefits in kind, final payments, approved unpaid leave, approved timesheets and the statutory rates for the period.
- Check the register and the variance. The register lists each person’s figures, and you can open any line to see how each figure was worked out. The variance tab compares the run with the last locked run and flags joiners, leavers and large changes in net pay.
- Submit for approval. The payroll admin submits the run. Its figures are now fixed.
- Approve. An approver who didn’t submit the run checks it and approves it, or asks for it to be returned to draft.
- Lock. An approver locks the approved run.
- Produce the outputs. From the locked run, a payroll admin generates payslips, produces the statutory schedules and the bank payment file, and exports the register and journal.
- Pay salaries. Pay net salaries from the legal employer’s payroll wallet on the Pay salaries page, or upload the bank file to your bank.
- Pay the authorities. Pay PAYE, pension, NHF and NSITF to the authorities, then record each remittance in Cadre.
The detailed steps are in Run payroll, Payslips, Pay salaries and Remittances.
Why Cadre works this way
Section titled “Why Cadre works this way”Two people for every run
Section titled “Two people for every run”The person who submitted a run can’t approve it, even when they hold both a payroll admin and an approver role. Payroll moves money, so a second person always checks it before anyone is paid. The approval and lock dialogs name the legal employer, the period, the headcount and the total net pay, so the approver can see exactly whose payroll they’re approving.
Paying salaries through Cadre adds another check: whoever releases the payments can’t be the person who submitted or approved the run.
A locked run is never edited
Section titled “A locked run is never edited”A locked run is the record of what was paid and what was reported to the authorities. Nothing in it can be changed afterwards, including its payslips. If something was wrong, you correct it in a later run. See Correct a locked run.
Cadre calculates every figure
Section titled “Cadre calculates every figure”PAYE, pension, NHF, NSITF and net pay are calculated by Cadre, and the screens show those figures as calculated. You don’t type or override them. To change a result, change what it’s based on (pay, the tax profile, leave or time) and calculate the run again while it’s still a draft.
If a figure can’t be loaded, the screen shows an error or a dash (—), never ₦0.00. A missing figure that looked like zero could be mistaken for a real one.
Statutory obligations follow the legal employer
Section titled “Statutory obligations follow the legal employer”Tax, pension, NHF, NSITF and ITF are the legal employer’s obligations, whoever runs the payroll. Cadre calculates them under the legal employer’s country and files them under the legal employer’s registrations, never the payroll operator’s. See Statutory deductions.