ABKA694 Certificate in Xero Payroll Assessment 2026 | The Career Academy NZ

ABKA694 Certificate in Xero Payroll Assessment

Read through the requirements below, complete all parts of the assessment, and then save your work as a PDF file. Once you have saved your work, click on the Assessment Submission link within this course and upload your completed payslips to your tutor for marking.

Information

You are required to complete the following assessment in the Xero Demo Company. To access the Demo Company, please login to Xero > Go to “My Xero” > Click on “Try the Demo Company” at the bottom of the screen.

Note: The Demo Company contains its own data and is reset every 28 days, which means you will lose any data you have entered after this period.

Before you start this assessment, if you have already accessed the Demo Company, please reset it by clicking the ‘Reset’ link on the ‘My Xero’ Home Page. Then, ensure you complete all assessment requirements before the Demo Company resets in 28 days.

Case Study

Your employer has decided to switch from the current payroll provider to Xero Payroll. You have been assigned to oversee the transition, and all relevant information for each employee is provided on the following pages.

Required

You will need to set up Xero Payroll and then add each employee. Once all details have been entered, process the first pay in Xero for the week ending last Friday, and submit the payslips for each employee for marking.

Step 1: Xero Setup Information

Navigate to Payroll tab> Payroll settings and make the following changes:

Organisation

• Leave all account information as per Xero’s default settings.
• No details are required in the Payroll Tracking section for this assessment.

Pay Frequencies (New staff are all paid weekly on a Wednesday.)

• Create a new pay frequency using the Add button, where staff will be paid weekly on a Wednesday.
• Name this new pay calendar: Weekly – Wednesday.
• Set the Start Date in Xero for this new pay calendar to Monday of last week.
• Set the First Payment Date in Xero for this new pay calendar to Wednesday of this week.
• Make this the default pay frequency for new employees.

Pay Items

• One staff member works 2 hours a week at double time. Using this information, create a new Ordinary Time Earnings item where the Earnings Name and Display Name will be Double Time. The Rate Type will be Multiple of employee’s ordinary earnings rate, the Multiple will be 2, the Expense Account will be 477: Wages and Salaries, and tick the option Accrue Leave for this Earnings Rate then click Add.
• All staff are required to “give back” to society and are paid for one day of community service each quarter. Using this information, create a new Paid Leave item where the Leave Category and Leave Name will be Community Service Leave. The Type of units will be Hours, the Normal Entitlement will be 32, and tick the options Exempt from Superannuation Guarantee Contribution and Show Balance on Payslip then click Add.
• One staff member attends seminars for professional development each month and is reimbursed for the cost of these sessions upon providing an invoice to the employer. Using this information, create a new Reimbursement item with the name Professional Development and the Account set to 429: General Expenses then click Add.
• Create “Sick Leave” as a Paid Leave pay item. Using this information, create a new Paid Leave item where the Leave Category will be Personal (Sick/Carer’s Leave), the Leave Name will be Sick Leave, the Type of Units will be Hours, the Normal Entitlement will be 40, and tick Show Balance on Payslip then click Add.

Step 2: Employees’ Setup

Refer to the table on the following pages for the details of the three employees. Navigate to Payroll > Employees > New Employee and add three new employees into Xero Payroll:

1.John Petric
2.Abby Rose
3.Wendy Miller

Part 3: Pay Run

Now that the employees are set up, process the first Weekly – Wednesday pay run for these employees. Navigate to Payroll > Pay employees and + Add Pay Run

• Select the pay period you created (Weekly – Wednesday) and process the pay run.
• Pay only the three new staff members, not the other staff set up in the Demo Company.
• Enter a payslip message to thank the employees for the work they have been doing.
• Click on each employee and check the following:
  oEnsure the Double Time pay item appears for John Petric.
  oEnter a Professional Development reimbursement amount of
  350.00 for Abby Rose.
• Click Save and Close once completed.

Part 4: Payslips

Don’t post the pay run. Navigate to View Reports, then Payslips.

• Check that all three employees are listed and ensure that three leave items appear on each employee’s payslip.
• Download the PDF and save it somewhere you can access it. You have now completed this assessment!

Assessment Submission

Submit the PDF file containing the payslips for the three employees for grading.