Step 1: Review the imported leave balances

First, you'll want to check the imported leave balances and determine whether adjustments are required. 

1. Open the relevant Pay Run in Deputy Payroll.

 

2.  Select the relevant employee's Payslip from the panel on left-hand side. 

 

3. Navigate to the Leave section of the payslip.

 

4. Review the current balances under the Balance column and calculate the adjustment, if required. You'll then need to determine whether it needs to be a positive adjustment (to add hours), or a negative adjustment (to deduct hours). 

Tip: We recommend you write the adjustment amount down on a piece of paper before continuing.

The balance displayed here is the current leave balance and is derived from the closing balance of the last pay run, leave accrued and/or taken in this pay run, and any changes made in the "Earnings/Leave from previous payroll system" since the last pay run. 

5. Repeat the steps above for every employee whose leave balances need checking.

If adjustments are required, continue on to Step 2. If no adjustments are required, you should stop here.
 

Step 2: Correct the leave balances

1. Open the relevant employee profile on the People tab, then select the Payroll tab. 

2. Navigate to Payroll calculation and click Edit.

3. In the Earning/Leave from previous payroll system section, select the current financial year (for example, 2026/27).

You may find that figures from the previous financial year are now also displayed in the current financial year. If this is the case, you should:

• First, double check that you have selected the current financial year (2026–27). 
• If there should not be any values for this financial year (i.e. you have not transitioned off another payroll and need to enter the current YTD amounts from the old payroll or, you have not already used this function to make prior adjustments for this financial year), then, go through each leave type and enter 0 into every field to clear the existing values. This leaves the screen ready for you to enter your adjustments. The same process can be used for the Earnings values if there should not be amounts in these fields. 

4. Go to the relevant leave type field(s) (eg. Annual leave, Personal leave etc.), and type the adjustments you calculated in Step 1: Review the imported balance.

Enter the adjustment required so the employee's leave balance reflects the correct balance as of today, before their next pay run.

Note: If you have used this function to make adjustments previously in this financial year, you will need to consider the amount showing in your adjustment calculations. For example, if you previously entered 30 hours to increase an employee's leave balance and now need to reduce it by 10 hours, the value entered in the leave field should be 20 hours (30 − 10 = 20).

5. Click Save changes at the top of the screen.

6. Repeat the steps above for every employee whose leave balances need adjustment.

When you're finished, proceed to Step 2 below. 
 

Step 3: Refresh the leave balances in a pay run

The steps to refresh leave balance adjustments depend on whether you have a pay run in progress. 

Select the scenario below that matches your situation:

• Scenario 1:  I already have a pay run in progress

• Scenario 2:  There's no pay run in progress 
   

Scenario 1:  I already have a pay run in progress 

You should only follow these instructions if a pay run was already in progress before the adjustment was made on the employee's profile. If not, see Scenario 2.

After you've corrected the relevant leave balance(s) in the employee's profile:

1. Open the relevant pay run in the Payroll tab.

2. Click Reprocess. 

This recalculates the employee's leave balance using the updated adjustment and immediately updates the Balance section of the payslip.

3. Continue processing the pay run, as normal.
 

Scenario 2:  There's no pay run in progress 

You should only follow these instructions if no pay run was in progress. Here, you'll be creating a new $0.00 Ad Hoc Pay run to apply leave balance adjustments.

After you've corrected the relevant leave balance(s) in the employee's profile:

1. Open Deputy Payroll and click Pay runs.

2. Create an Ad Hoc Payrun. This is required to apply the leave balance adjustments to the employee's leave balances.

Note: This $0.00 Ad Hoc Payrun must be dated in the future (today, tomorrow, or any later date). It cannot be created with a pay date in the past.

3. When creating the Ad Hoc Payrun, you can:

• Choose to include all employees or specific employees, depending on who required the leave adjustment.

• Set the pay run period to the next upcoming pay period. Leave balance adjustments can only be applied moving forward, they cannot be applied retrospectively. This means historical payslips will not reflect the adjustment, but all future payslips will display the updated leave balances.

4. Check that all employees requiring leave balance adjustments are included in the Ad Hoc Pay Run. Before finalising the payrun, confirm that each employee's leave balance reflects the adjustments you calculated. 

You should also verify that there are no payments included, such as wages, expenses, deductions, or other pay items. The Ad Hoc Pay Run should have a total value of $0.00.

5. Click Complete Payrun when you're confident that adjustments are correct. 

Additional information

For the the leave balance calculations in your recent pay runs, please note the following:

• The overtime rates within the FBTMA Award that have been applied to your team members' timesheets are currently classified under the Overtime payment class.
• With this Payment Class, as a default, Leave Accruals and Superannuation is not considered for Overtime Hours.

For more information on this, visit STP categories and classifications for Deputy Payroll and refer to the Class section. The Class table indicates whether each payment class:

• Considers an item (✓)
• Optionally considers an item (!)
• Does not consider an item (✗)

The items covered include:

• Ordinary Hours
• Overtime Hours
• Leave entitlements
• Super guarantee
• Tax

When it comes to Overtime, by default, Leave Entitlements are not considered, and Superannuation is optional (negotiable between Employee and Employer). See below:

How adjustments work

The Payroll calculation fields support both positive and negative values and can be used whenever leave balances need to be corrected.

• Enter a positive number to increase a leave balance.
• Enter a negative number to decrease a leave balance.

These fields are no longer limited to one-time opening balance entries and can be used for ongoing adjustments where required.
 

FAQs

Which leave types can I adjust with method?

You can adjust:

• Annual Leave
• Personal Leave
• Long Service Leave (LSL)
• Time Off in Lieu (TOIL)

Do I use a positive or negative value?

Use a positive value to add hours. Use a negative value to remove hours.

How does the accrual of leave work when using the Earnings/Leave from previous payroll function?

Caution should be taken when using this function. Amounts entered into this screen during a current financial year will be used in the calculation of leave in the next upcoming pay run. It's best to only use this function when transferring pay roll system during a financial year. If you need to adjust leave balances for any other reason, the best practice is to do this within a pay run. 

The calculation of leave accrual is as follows:

1. At the end of the financial year, the leave balance in the last submitted and locked pay run (usually the finalisation pay run) is hard set as the starting balance of unused leave for the next financial year. 
   
   EOFY pay run
   
   First pay run of the new financial year
   
    
2. Any amounts entered for the previous financial year in the Leave from previous payroll function, will now be hard locked and will not be transferred into any future pay runs. 
   
    
3. Any amounts entered and saved for the current financial year in the Leave from previous payroll function, will be used in the calculation of the leave balance in the next upcoming pay run. It is recommended to ensure that these amounts are 0 at the beginning of a financial year (if you are not transferring from another payroll at the beginning of a financial year). 
   
   
4. Any leave accrued or taken in the pay run will update the balance. 
   
   First pay run of the new financial year where sick leave is taken
   

Why doesn't the balance in Deputy Schedule Leave update immediately?

The updated balance is calculated when a pay run is processed and locked. After saving your adjustment, you should reprocess an existing pay run or execute an ad hoc pay run to refresh the employee's leave balance.