Parallel runs
A parallel run calculates a month’s payroll in Cadre for comparison only. Use it when you’re moving from another payroll system or a spreadsheet: run the same month in both, and compare the figures person by person before you rely on Cadre.
Who can open and calculate a parallel run: Owner, Payroll admin.
What a parallel run can and can’t do
Section titled “What a parallel run can and can’t do”A parallel run is calculated exactly like a live run, from the same pay, tax profiles, leave, time and statutory rates. But it pays nobody:
- It can never be approved or locked.
- Its payslips and statutory schedules are previews, marked PARALLEL RUN — NOT FOR PAYMENT. Nobody is told about them and employees never see them.
- It never produces a bank file, a payroll journal or a remittance, and it never appears in the statutory liability report.
- Salaries can’t be paid from it.
- It isn’t counted in anyone’s tax year to date.
You can open a parallel run for a month that already has a live run, and a live run for a month that has a parallel one. In the runs list it’s marked Parallel — pays nobody.
Open and compare a parallel run
Section titled “Open and compare a parallel run”- Go to Payroll → Payroll runs and choose Open run.
- Choose the month and, for an agency, the legal employer.
- Tick Parallel run, then choose Open run.
- Choose Calculate.
- Compare the Register with your current payroll’s figures for the same month, person by person. Select a line to see how each figure was calculated.
- On the Outputs (preview) tab, generate preview payslips and schedules, or export the register, to compare them side by side.
You can submit a parallel run so another person can look at it, but it goes no further than review.
Make the comparison fair
Section titled “Make the comparison fair”- Declare the year so far. Cadre works PAYE out on the year to date. Parallel runs are never counted in it, so enter each person’s months paid before Cadre, opening chargeable income and opening PAYE deducted on their tax profile. Otherwise Cadre taxes the month as a twelfth of the year, and PAYE won’t match a payroll that has taxed the earlier months.
- Use the same inputs. Pay, the statutory role of each pay component, NHF opt-in, reliefs, unpaid leave and approved time must match what your current payroll used.
- Expect some differences. Cadre applies current Nigerian law. Where your current payroll works differently, for example on benefits in kind or on how part months are paid, the figures will differ, and the calculation on each line shows why.
When you go live
Section titled “When you go live”When the figures agree, or you understand every difference, open a live run for the next month. The parallel runs stay in the list for reference.