What is a payroll cut-off date?

It is the last date on which a change, such as a new starter or a pay rise, can be included in the next pay run. A change after the cut-off waits for the following run, unless you run an off-cycle payment.

Which exchange rate should international payroll use?

Agree one rate source and one date for each currency pair before the run, write them down, and use them every month. Then you can check the figure you were charged against the market rate for that day.

How early should I start the month-end checks?

Start before the earliest cut-off among your countries. Collect changes in the days before it, so the cut-off is a day to lock inputs, not a day to find out what is missing.

International payroll month-end checklist

What should be on an international payroll month-end checklist?

Each country has its own cut-off and pay date, so run the first two groups separately for each country, using your payroll schedule. Tick a line when its "done when" test is true.

Before the cut-off

Open the payroll schedule and list each country's cut-off date. Done when: You have a list of countries with the cut-off for changes and the pay date for each, dated this month.
Payroll schedule template
Collect joiners, leavers and changes to pay. Done when: Every change has an approved document, and you have asked each manager to confirm that none is missing.
Collect leave, absence, overtime and expenses. Done when: Time and expense data is final for every country, and the approver has signed it.
Chase anything late before the deadline. Done when: Each late item has a named owner and a time, and you know which will go to the next cycle.

Lock and check

Freeze the inputs at the cut-off. Done when: Nobody can change an input for this cycle, and late changes are logged for the next one.
Payroll cut-off date
Compare this run with last month, person by person. Done when: You have listed every difference above your threshold and written a reason for each.
Check new starters and leavers in full. Done when: Each has the right start or end date, pay and final amounts, and the first or last payslip has been read.
Check for blanks, negatives and duplicates. Done when: No employee has zero or negative net pay without an explanation, and no one appears twice.
Agree the exchange rate and its source. Done when: The rate, its source and its date are written down for each currency pair, and finance agrees.
Multi-currency payroll
Have a second person review. Done when: The reviewer did not prepare the run and has signed the summary.

Approve, fund and pay

Get the named approver's sign-off. Done when: The approver has seen the totals by country and currency, and has approved in writing.
Fund each country's payroll in time. Done when: Funds have arrived in each currency before its pay date, allowing for bank cut-off times.
Payroll funding
Release payments and payslips. Done when: Every payment is released on its date, and every employee can open their payslip.
Fix failed payments the same day. Done when: Each failure has a cause, a corrected payment and a note in the log.

After the run

Reconcile payroll to the bank and the ledger. Done when: The register, the bank and the ledger agree, and each difference has a written reason.
Payroll reconciliation
Post the journals and the accruals. Done when: Finance has the payroll journal for each entity and currency, and the accruals for leave and bonus.
Pay and file what each authority is owed. Done when: Each payment and filing is made by its date from the country's calendar, and the receipt is saved.
Statutory filing calendar
Archive the run. Done when: The register, approvals, rate record and receipts sit in one folder for the cycle.
Payroll register
Log errors and fix their cause. Done when: Each error has an owner and a change to the process, and this checklist is updated if a step was missing.

That is the whole checklist.

Why does month-end payroll need a fixed order?

In one country, a late change can be corrected in the next run. Across several countries, each with its own cut-off, pay date and currency, a missed step in one place is easy to miss because nobody is looking at all of them at once.

A fixed order makes each handover visible: inputs locked before checks, checks before approval, approval before funding. When something goes wrong, you can see which step it came from.

How does Ted help check a payroll run?

For clients whose payroll runs on Teamed, Ted, Teamed's AI agent built into the platform, audits a payroll run across hundreds of employees in one pass and surfaces the anomalies. Every action Ted takes is logged and confirmed by a person.

Payroll compliance checklist
The wider checks behind each cycle.
Payroll schedule template
The dates for each country on one sheet.
Off-cycle payroll run, defined
What to do when a payment cannot wait for the next cycle.
Global payroll
Teamed's payroll service.

Questions people ask

What is a payroll cut-off date?
It is the last date on which a change, such as a new starter or a pay rise, can be included in the next pay run. A change after the cut-off waits for the following run, unless you run an off-cycle payment.
Which exchange rate should international payroll use?
Agree one rate source and one date for each currency pair before the run, write them down, and use them every month. Then you can check the figure you were charged against the market rate for that day.
How early should I start the month-end checks?
Start before the earliest cut-off among your countries. Collect changes in the days before it, so the cut-off is a day to lock inputs, not a day to find out what is missing.

This checklist is a planning aid, not legal advice. Where a step depends on a country's rules, check the country guide or take advice.

Send this page to an AI and ask it to explain it.

An international payroll checklist for month-end.

What should be on an international payroll month-end checklist?

Before the cut-off

Lock and check

Approve, fund and pay

After the run

Why does month-end payroll need a fixed order?

How does Ted help check a payroll run?

Questions people ask

Print this checklist

What should be on an international payroll month-end checklist?

Before the cut-off

Lock and check

Approve, fund and pay

After the run

Why does month-end payroll need a fixed order?

How does Ted help check a payroll run?

Where should you go next?

Questions people ask

Print this checklist