Payroll mistakes are much easier to prevent than unwind. ClockOn’s guide to running payroll in Australia shows where the pre-finalisation review fits into the wider pay-run process.

An incorrect pay rate, duplicated timesheet, outdated bank account or unexplained change in an employee's earnings can take minutes to catch before payroll is processed, and considerably longer to fix once the money has left the business.

That matters for more than administration. Payroll errors can lead to overpayments, underpayments, delayed wages, incorrect employee records and payroll compliance problems. In Australia, correcting an overpayment is not necessarily as simple as deducting the money from an employee’s next pay. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s guidance on overpayments explains that deductions to recover an overpayment are only permitted in limited circumstances.

So, what should you actually check before pressing Finalise?

We asked 11 payroll, finance, HR and business professionals for the payroll check they would refuse to skip.

This guide combines their practical checks with an Australian pre-payroll review process you can use before every pay run.

Payroll processing in Australia follows a repeatable sequence: collect and approve payroll inputs, calculate employee entitlements and gross pay, apply PAYG withholding and deductions, review the draft pay run, pay employees, report through Single Touch Payroll (STP), pay super and reconcile the results.

Since 1 July 2026, Payday Super has also made super a normal part of each pay cycle. Employers generally need employee super contributions to reach the employee's fund within seven business days of payday.

The Australian payroll process looks like this:

Most payroll software demos start at the wrong end of the process.

You see the pay run screen. You see a payslip. Someone shows you how quickly you can click "process payroll".

But if your employees work under complex Modern Awards, that's rarely the hard part.

The difficult work happened earlier, when a Tuesday shift, Saturday shift, late finish, missed break or overtime threshold had to be turned into the right combination of ordinary hours, penalties, overtime and allowances.

That changes what "best payroll software" actually means.