Payroll that comes out of the roster and lands in the ledger
Payroll is rebuilt by hand in most firms this size: attendance from one register, advances from a notebook, overtime from a supervisor's message, and the whole thing typed into a spreadsheet that becomes the payslip. It works, until someone leaves, disputes a deduction, or asks what labour actually cost on a project.
What a payroll run has to account for
- 01The live roster, including people who joined or left mid-month
- 02Attendance and approved leave, without re-keying either
- 03Advances taken and the schedule they are recovered on
- 04Overtime, site allowances and anything paid against work rather than time
- 05Deductions with a reason an employee can be shown
- 06A ledger posting with the cost on the right project
- 07A payslip the employee can open themselves
The advance is where it usually goes wrong
An advance is a loan the company gives against future wages, and in most small firms it is tracked in a personal notebook. Recovery gets missed, doubled, or forgotten when the person changes site. Handling advances as a real balance with a recovery schedule is not sophisticated — it is just the difference between a payroll that is auditable and one that is remembered.
Labour cost belongs to the project
If payroll posts a single wage expense, project profitability is a guess for any firm whose main cost is people. Because the roster already carries project assignment, the payroll run can split the cost where it was actually incurred — which is what makes the project P&L mean anything.
Written for how small firms here actually pay
Cash components, site allowances, mid-month advances and people paid partly per day are normal, not edge cases. Payroll for small firms covers the local reality in detail rather than assuming a monthly salaried office.
What a payslip has to be able to prove
A payslip is not a courtesy. It is the document an employee produces when they dispute a deduction, when they apply for a loan, and when they leave and want their dues calculated. If it was assembled in a spreadsheet from four sources, none of those conversations can be settled from the record — they get settled by whoever remembers more confidently, which is rarely the employee.
- Days worked, and where the number came from
- Approved leave taken, against a balance that was already agreed
- Overtime and allowances itemised, rather than folded into one figure
- Every deduction with a reason — including the advance recovered this month and the balance still outstanding
- The net, and the date it was actually paid
Who this is not for
If you are on this list, Ofivio is the wrong purchase and we would rather you know now than in month three.
- Firms needing statutory filing and tax computation for a jurisdiction we do not support — the run is produced here, filed by your accountant
- Companies with fewer than five employees
- Businesses wanting a payroll bureau service rather than software
- Multi-country payroll with per-country compliance engines
The products behind this
Questions people actually ask
Does payroll require the accounting product?
Can it handle daily-wage and monthly staff in the same run?
Do employees get their own payslip?
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