🔐 To Process Payroll you'd need to be in the Circus Admin groups and Circus Payroll would need to be activated in the production settings. 🖥️ This feature is accessible for desktop users only.
Overview
In the entertainment industry, payroll plays a crucial role in ensuring the people behind the stories are compensated accurately and on time. Circus streamlines this process, making it easy for workers to get onboarded, log their hours, and receive payment—all in one seamless platform. For production companies, this means effortless oversight of worker records and payment processing.
This guide walks you through the steps to create both regular and off-cycle payroll runs, edit timesheets, view individual or summarized reports, and complete the payout process for all your workers.
Accessing Payroll
To access payroll, click on the Payroll icon in the left navigation of your production dashboard to reach the Payroll Overview page. Here you'll find your numbered payroll runs in the following states:
Draft – The payroll run is still pending approval.
Processing – The payroll run is awaiting completion of all transactions.
Paid – The payroll run has been successfully completed, and all worker timesheets have been fully paid.
Partially Paid – The payroll run includes some timesheets that could not be processed for payment.
In addition, you'll see:
Deposit Date - Anticipated date for the funds to be released to the workers.
Total Wages - Summary of all earnings, including straight time, OT, and penalties.
Total Additional Earnings - Summary of all kits & allowances.
Total Gross Pay - Summary of all wages + additional earnings.
Total Taxes - Summary of all fringes.
Total Reimbursements - Summary of all expenses submitted by the worker.
Total Payroll Cost - Summary of all funds to be withdrawn for the payroll run.
Deleting a Run
To delete a run, simply click on the 'Delete' (trash can icon) to the right of the payroll run in the table and confirm the deletion in the modal.
Warning: Deleted runs are not recoverable, however the Timesheets will be placed in a timesheet "reserve," where they can be added to a future payroll run.
Creating a Run
To create a payroll run, on the Payroll Overview page, click the 'Run Payroll' button to the right. This will launch a modal where you can choose which type of payroll you’d like to setup:
Regular Payroll - A scheduled payroll process that pays all employees based on the regular pay cycle.
Off-Cycle Payroll Run - An unscheduled payroll run used for special or urgent payments outside the regular cycle.
Next, include the range of Timesheets you'd like to include in the payroll run by selecting the Pay Period Start and End Dates. Then choose the anticipated Pay Date and click on the 'Run Payroll' button.
A payroll run will be created, automatically including all newly approved timesheets.
Navigating a Run
After a payroll run is created, three key steps are immediately apparent at the top of the page:
Review Payroll Run: This step must be completed by the specified deadline to ensure approval in time for workers to receive payment by the scheduled Pay Date.
Funds Withdrawn: This indicates the expected date when funds will be deducted from the company's bank account to pay the workers.
Workers Paid: This provides the anticipated date when the workers will have the funds deposited into their accounts from the payroll run.
Payroll Timelines: It currently takes up to 3 business days to process and pay out a payroll run. For example, if the deadline to pay workers is Thursday at 5 p.m. PT, you must approve the payroll run by Monday at 5 p.m. PT to ensure timely payment.
You can navigate between two sections of the payroll run:
Summary: This section provides a detailed breakdown of key payroll components of the payroll run:
Total Wages: A summary of all labor costs for employees and loan-outs.
Total Additional Earnings: Includes kits and allowances reported on timesheets.
Total Fringes: Covers union-related costs like pensions, health, and wellness benefits.
Total Taxes: Displays the federal and provincial tax amounts.
Total GST: Reflects the GST applied to Loan-Out timesheets.
Total Reimbursements: Summarizes the expenses reported across all timesheets.
Total Payroll: The total amount that will be deducted from your wallet to complete the payroll process.
Workers: This tab lists all approved timesheets, providing access to summary pay reports for each worker.
Adding Timesheets
After a payroll run is created, you can still add Timesheets from the Payroll Summary view. Click the 'Add Timesheets' button, and a panel will slide out displaying all available and newly approved Timesheets. You can select them individually using the checkboxes. Once your selection is complete, click the 'Add Timesheets' button at the bottom of the panel.
The payroll run will automatically recalculate to include the newly added Timesheets.
Removing Timesheets
To remove a timesheet from a payroll run, go to the 'Workers' tab and select the checkboxes next to the timesheets you wish to remove. Then, click the 'Remove' button in the action bar below. The selected timesheets will be removed from the current payroll run and placed in a timesheet "reserve," where they can be added to a future payroll run.
Reviewing Pay Reports
To view a summarized pay report, click on the 'Workers' tab, then simply hover over any worker and click the 'Open' button.
Left Panel: Displays a list of the worker's current and past timesheets, showing their Week Ending Dates and statuses.
Pay Summary: Shows the current and Year-to-Date (YTD) totals for Gross Pay, Deductions, Net Pay, Reimbursements, and Total Pay for all timesheets in the current payroll run.
Coding Panel: Lists the total costs categorized by Account Codes and Group Codes.
Detailed Summary: Provides a comprehensive breakdown of the Pay Summary.
To switch between timesheets in the payroll run, use the "Back" or "Next" buttons located in the action bar at the bottom of the page, or you can use the left panel to switch between each worker in the payroll run.
To navigate back to the Payroll run from the summarized pay reports, click on the back icon in the top left of your screen.
Approving & Paying Out Payroll Runs
To approve and pay out a payroll run, you must first be added to the Chain of Approval. Once this is done, navigate to the bottom of the payroll run and click one of two options in the action bar:
"Pay Now" will deposit the funds directly into Worker bank accounts via EFT
"Pay via Check" allows you to post all Timesheets to the ledger and mark them as 'Paid' so you can process those internally or via cheque.
Either option will initiate the process of withdrawing funds from the production company's wallet. For direct deposit, please refer to the timelines above for expected processing times.
Posting to the Ledger: Once approved, the payroll run will be posted to the ledger. Paystubs will also be generated, and the year-to-date (YTD) totals will be updated accordingly.
Cancelling Payroll Runs
Payroll runs can only be canceled before the funds have been deposited into the workers' bank accounts. To cancel a payroll run, click the 'Cancel' button located at the bottom of the payroll run in the action bar.
Voiding the Entry: If the payroll run is canceled, Circus will automatically void all related journal entries and reset the corresponding workers' year-to-date (YTD) totals.
Deleting Payroll Runs
Payroll runs can only be deleted if its in draft mode. To delete a payroll run, click the 'Delete' icon located on the Payroll Overview page.
Commenting & Audit Logs
On the right side of your screen, the toolbar features Walkie, where you can access a comprehensive audit log or history of all events related to a Payroll Run including timestamps for each action initiated.
Additionally, approvers and accountants have the ability to add internal notes regarding the Run, which are not visible to workers, facilitating private discussions about its status or required actions. To do this, enter your note and click on the plus ('+') icon.
To delete a note, simply click on the Delete icon.
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