XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: Australia only
Risk Type: Payroll Risk
Business Function: Payroll
Overview
This XBert checks whether an employee is still being paid ordinary wages after the date their employment ended. Paying someone who has already left is a common payroll control failure and can also be a sign of fraud, so catching it early protects your wages bill, your pay records and your Single Touch Payroll reporting.
What it does
This XBert scans your pay runs and compares each employee's pay line against the termination date recorded for that employee. It looks at the type of pay, the amount, the pay period and the employee's current status to work out whether a payment of ordinary wages has been made after the person was meant to have left.
How it works
The XBert raises an alert when an employee keeps receiving ordinary recurring wages in pay runs that end well after their recorded termination date. To keep the alert accurate and avoid false alarms, it only fires when:
the employee has a termination date on file;
the pay period ends more than a short grace window after that termination date (by default, more than 35 days later);
the wages paid are above a small minimum amount, so very minor adjustments are ignored; and
the wages were paid across at least two separate pay runs after the termination date. A single late payment is usually a lawful final pay or a correction, so it is not flagged.
It deliberately ignores a pay line when:
the payment is a lawful final pay rather than ordinary wages, such as a termination or redundancy payment, an employment termination payment (ETP), a lump sum, unused annual leave or long service leave, back pay, payment in lieu of notice, a gratuity or an ex gratia amount;
the payment falls within the short grace window just after the termination date, when a final pay would normally still be processed;
the payment was made on or before the termination date; or
the employee's status shows they are active, current, rehired, reinstated or reactivated, which means the recorded termination date is out of date and they are genuinely back on the payroll.
XBert raises a single alert for each affected employee and highlights the largest payment. The alert shows the amount paid after termination, the total paid across the affected pay runs and how many days had passed since the recorded end date.
Example/Use Case
Daniel left Riverbend Cafe on 31 March, and his termination date was recorded in the payroll. Because of a missed step when his roster was closed off, he stayed in the regular fortnightly pay run and kept receiving his ordinary wage of $1,820 each pay. By mid-May he had been paid for several pay periods he was no longer entitled to. XBert sees that an ordinary wage payment was made well after his recorded termination date, that it was not a final or leave payout, and that he had not been rehired, so it raises this alert. The bookkeeper confirms Daniel had genuinely left, stops the future payments, recovers the overpaid wages and corrects the pay records before lodging the next Single Touch Payroll update.
Accounting software
This XBert runs on the major Australian-compatible accounting platforms, including Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Which countries it supports
Australia only.
Processes
This alert sits within your Payroll process and helps ensure people are only paid wages while they are actually employed. To resolve it:
Confirm the employee's actual end date and check whether their termination has been correctly recorded in your payroll.
Check whether the payment was genuinely ordinary wages, or a lawful final payment such as unused leave, an ETP or back pay that simply needs the correct pay type applied.
If the employee was rehired or never truly left, update their employment status and termination date so the payroll reflects the real situation.
If wages were paid in error, stop any further scheduled payments and arrange to recover the overpaid amount with the employee.
Correct the affected pay run and update your Single Touch Payroll reporting so wages, tax and super are reported accurately.
If you suspect the payments were not genuine, review who set them up and tighten your payroll approval controls.
Once the payroll has been corrected, mark the XBert as resolved.