Automatically record superannuation payments in Reckon One

This article explains how to set up Reckon One to automatically record superannuation payments after lodging a Beam SuperStream batch, so you can spend less time recording them manually.

Before you start

Before you can automatically record superannuation payments you need to enable Beam as your SuperStream provider. This feature only works with Beam, and the setting won't appear in your Payroll settings until Beam is set up.

With Beam enabled you will be able to create and lodge a SuperStream batch.

Turn on automatic super payment records

This setting is off by default.

1. In the Payroll menu, select Payroll settings, then select Payments.
2. Under Automatic payments, select the Record superannuation payments after Beam lodgements checkbox.
3. Two selection fields will appear. Complete both fields.
   1. Select a Clearing bank account. This is a ledger-only holding account. No real funds will move in or out of it. If you do not have an existing account for this purpose, select Create new.
   2. Select Beam as the Supplier. If you haven't recorded Beam as a supplier yet, select Create new and fill in Beam's details.
4. Click Save changes.

Your Superannuation payment account, further up on the same Payments settings page, is what Reckon One will use to record the real superannuation payments you make. Check this is correct before you lodge your first batch.

What happens when you lodge a SuperStream batch

With this setting enabled, Reckon One automatically records your superannuation contributions as paid and reconciles your accounts to match. This happens when you lodge a Beam SuperStream batch using the Direct debit, EFT or BPAY payment methods, whether you lodge from the pay run screen or from the SuperStream screen.

Three sets of records are created:

• A clearing journal. This recognises what you owe Beam. The total super contributions are debited to your clearing bank account and credited to Accounts Payable, with Beam as the contact.
• A payment to Beam. This settles what you owe Beam, and is paid from your superannuation payment account. This is the transaction that reflects money actually leaving your bank.
• A payment to each superfund. These are paid out of your clearing bank account and match the discrete payments Beam makes to each fund on your behalf. Contributions to the same fund within the same batch are combined into a single payment record.

Together, these take the amount Reckon One believes is owed to Beam and turns it into a trackable balance through the clearing bank account.

Contributions to the same fund within the same batch are combined into a single payment record.

All of these records use the batch lodgement date and the pay run name as the reference, so you can find them easily when reconciling.

The 'Pass through' method works differently

Lodging a Beam SuperStream batch with 'Pass through' as the payment method follows a different process because no money is sent to Beam. When you choose 'Pass through', you're telling Beam that you'll pay each superfund yourself. You're 'passing through' Beam so that Beam can send your contribution data to each fund while you handle the payments.

With this method, Reckon One creates a payment to each superfund only, paid directly from your superannuation payment account. No clearing journal is created, no payment to Beam is created, and your clearing bank account is not used at all.

You'll still be asked to nominate a clearing bank account when you turn the setting on. This is because the payment method is chosen each time you lodge a batch, so Reckon One needs the account ready in case you use Direct debit, EFT or BPAY later.

Reverting a pay run after you've lodged a SuperStream batch

Normally, when you revert a pay run, the pay run journal and its employee payments are deleted, and recreated when you mark the pay run as Paid again. If your SuperStream batch is still in Draft, or has been cancelled, the superannuation payments and clearing journal for that pay run are deleted along with it.

Once you've lodged a SuperStream batch, you've reported your liability to Beam and money is in motion to your nominated superfunds. Those superannuation payments and the clearing journal can't be deleted.

Instead, Reckon One removes the link between the superannuation payments and the pay run journal so that the pay run can be reverted to a draft. The payments and their amounts stay exactly as recorded. When you mark the pay run as Paid again, a new pay run journal is created and the existing payments are linked to it.

What happens next depends on whether your changes affected super:

• No change to contributions - nothing further is required. The existing payments simply re-link to the new pay run journal.
• Contributions increased - the extra amount is recorded the next time you lodge a SuperStream batch, as a new clearing journal and new payments for the difference only.
• Contributions decreased - the amounts already lodged can't be reversed automatically. You must manually record the overpayment from each affected superfund as a Receipt, using Super Payable as the payable account and your superannuation payment account as the bank account.

If you manually delete any of these automatically created payments, Reckon One won't recreate them. You'll need to record the missing transactions yourself to keep your ledger balanced.

Read more

• Learn how to use Beam to lodge a superstream batch