Job workflow-payroll-input-checks-run-by-you · revised 12 October 2026
Get a payroll input checker that you run yourself, tested by us on made-up files only
A workbook or script you run on your own payroll input file before it goes to payroll: hours against contract, rate changes, duplicate ids, leavers with hours. We never see real payroll data.
You might be seeing
- A leaver was paid an extra month
- Hours beyond contract went through unchecked
- The same employee appears twice in the input
No passwords, keys, card details or admin invites needed to start.
What usually happened
Payroll inputs are checked by eye by the person who prepared them, so errors such as duplicate employees, leavers with hours or rate changes without a note slip through. Sending real payroll files to a contractor creates special-category data risks of its own. The checker has to run in your hands, on your files.
Who it’s for: Office manager or finance lead who prepares payroll inputs each period and wants a second check before submission.
Usually starts when: A payroll error: a leaver paid, a duplicate employee line, or hours beyond contract that nobody noticed.
The result: You receive a checker workbook or script that you run on your own payroll input file. It checks hours against contract, rate changes, duplicate employee ids, leavers with hours and missing fields, and lists what it notices for your payroll person to review. We build and test it on synthetic files only and never receive real payroll data.
Check whether this job fits
Answer these without sending files or logins. Nothing is submitted unless you choose to contact us.
What you get
- The checker workbook or script
- Synthetic test files and results
- Run book
- List of checks and thresholds
Included
- A checker built from your list of checks, as a workbook with formulas or a script you own
- Built and tested on synthetic payroll-style files that we make from your column names
- Checks you choose from: hours against contract, rate change without a note, duplicate employee id, leaver with hours, missing required field, pay above a ceiling you set
- A results sheet that lists each item noticed with its row and the rule
- Rules do the checking: no language model ever sees your file
- A run book for running it yourself
Not included
- Processing payroll, producing payslips or submitting anything to a tax authority
- Receiving, storing or opening real payroll data
- Advice on pay, tax, leave or entitlement
- Decisions about individual employees
- Accounting, tax, audit, legal or financial advice: a named person at your business decides every money question
- Filing, submitting, approving, posting or paying anything in any system
- A statement that your figures are correct, complete or ready for audit
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
On synthetic files that we plant with at least one problem for every check you chose, every planted problem is listed with the right row and rule; because we plant them, this is a smoke test
Evidence: The planted list and the results sheet
You add 5 problem rows of your own to a copy of a synthetic file and run the checker yourself; it lists all 5 with the right rule
Evidence: Your run log and your 5 rows, which we do not see
On a clean synthetic file, false items stay at or under the count agreed in advance
Evidence: The item count
You run the checker yourself on a synthetic file and get the same results
Evidence: Your run log
The deliverables contain no real payroll data, and the checker sends nothing anywhere
Evidence: The file list and a run with the network off
Sign-off. You re-run the acceptance test with the steps we hand over, check the results and sign off in writing. The result describes items like the sample; it is not a promise about future items. Payment follows sign-off.
If it fails. If the agreed test is not passed, you do not pay for this fixed scope. We hand over what we found and agree whether to stop or re-quote. No surprise work.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- You can describe your payroll input columns without sharing real data
- You can name the checks and thresholds you want
- A payroll person on your side runs the checker and decides what to do with its results
- You run it on your own computer or system
- A named person at your business who decides what to do with the results and approves anything that goes live or to someone outside
We stop and tell you if
- You want us to see real payroll files
- You want payroll processed for you
- You need the checks to decide about individual employees automatically
- You want the system to post, send, file or pay by itself, without a person at your business approving each action
What could go wrong
The workflow is built on a copy or sandbox and switched on by you. Switching it off with the steps in the run book puts you back to how you work today. Our copies of your files are deleted, in writing, when the job ends.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| The checker misses a kind of error, and is trusted as a clearance. | The results sheet says it lists things noticed by the rules you chose, not that the file is correct. |
| Real payroll data reaches us. | We take column names only and make synthetic files ourselves. Payroll files can contain special-category health data such as sickness records, and nothing real is needed to build the checker. |
| The output is read as a clearance or an accountant's opinion. | Every output says it lists things noticed, not that anything is correct. Your named person decides what to do. |
A separate automated reviewer checks the workflow and the test results before hand-over. Your named person approves anything that goes live or to someone outside. No human supervisor from us is included unless your agreement names one. At launch the work is largely automated, and we say so.
How we deliver
We arrange the work and independent review, then show you the result against the agreed checks. You keep authority over your systems.
- Agree the column names, checks and thresholds in writing
- Write synthetic files that match your columns, with planted problems
- Build the checker as a workbook or script you will own
- Run it on the synthetic files and a clean file, and record the results
- A separate automated reviewer checks the rules and the results
- Hand over checker and run book; you add five problem rows to test it
This is a one-off job, not a subscription or emergency cover. We confirm eligibility, the total price, a start window and a delivery date before you accept. Work starts only after the agreed inputs and permissions are in place. Model usage is included up to a cap stated in writing. An enquiry creates no charge or booking.
Need to keep it working?
Discuss a re-test of the checker after your payroll file layout changes.
Ongoing work is separately scoped and quoted: no monitoring, response-time guarantee or automatic subscription is included in this job.
Mention the responsibility you need in your enquiry.
What you can check
This is a new service. We have not delivered this job for a client yet.
Other ways to get this done
- Most payroll software has its own pre-submission checks; ask your provider what it warns on before building your own.
- Sort the input by employee id and by hours in a spreadsheet and look for repeats and outliers before each run.
Questions
Is this AI?
No. Rules do the checking, and no language model sees your file. It is listed here because it is the safe, checkable form of payroll checking.
Will you process my payroll?
No. We do not process payroll or submit anything to a tax authority.
Do you need a sample payroll file?
No. We write synthetic files from your column names.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- The column names of your payroll input file, as text
- The checks you want and your thresholds
- Who will run it. No payroll data of any kind in the first enquiry
Later, once you agree
- Column names and example values that we write ourselves and agree with you
- Your sign-off of the check list and thresholds
- A person on your side who runs the checker on your real file
You keep your accounts, mailbox, bank and every original document. We work from your column names only. We never receive, store or open real payroll data, and no language model sees your file. We never ask for passwords or keys. Nothing is posted, sent or paid by us.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “workflow-payroll-input-checks-run-by-you” as the subject.