Most employers pay salaries by sending their bank a payment file: one instruction per employee, generated from payroll. Some countries go further and require a government-mandated salary file, such as a wage protection system (WPS) file. Either way, the file is where payroll mistakes become real money in the wrong account.
Why the file matters
The ILO's Protection of Wages Convention (No. 95) asks that wages be paid regularly and in full, and many countries set deadlines for payment and penalties for paying late. A payment file that is rejected, incomplete or out of step with the approved payroll puts both at risk, and fixing it under deadline pressure is how further errors creep in.
What a salary file usually contains
- the employer's identifiers and the bank account the salaries are paid from;
- the pay period, the value date and control totals (number of lines and total amount);
- for each employee: name, an identity or employee number, bank and account details (often an IBAN), and the net amount; government formats may also ask for basic pay, allowances, deductions and days worked.
Formats are set by each bank or authority and change from time to time, so treat the current specification as the source of truth.
Where payroll teams get caught out
- Stale bank details. Accounts closed or changed without payroll being told.
- Identity mismatches. An identity number that has been renewed or mistyped, so the line is rejected.
- Totals that do not reconcile. The file total differs from the funded transfer or from the approved payroll.
- Edits after approval. A last-minute change made in the file rather than in payroll, so the two no longer match.
- Late approvals. A run that waits on one signature past the bank's cut-off.
- Unexplained exceptions. Unpaid leave, mid-month joiners and leavers, or held salaries with no recorded reason.
A checklist for every pay run
- Lock attendance, leave and other inputs before calculating.
- Review the run against last period and explain every significant variance.
- Have someone other than the preparer approve it.
- Lock the approved run so nothing can change underneath the file.
- Generate the file from the locked run, never by hand.
- Validate it: account formats, identity numbers, control totals.
- Send it before the bank's cut-off and keep the bank's acknowledgement.
- Follow up rejected lines the same day and record how each was resolved.
How Mawro handles it
Mawro generates bank salary files from the locked, approved payroll run, so the file always matches what was approved. The layout is configurable per bank or authority, and is set up and checked against the current specification during onboarding. Bank details and identity numbers come from the employee record, with document expiry warnings so a renewed identity document is caught before payday. The person who prepares a payroll cannot approve it, and every step is in the audit trail.
Not legal advice. This guide explains common practice for HR teams. Labour law differs by country, and sometimes by region, sector or collective agreement, and it changes. Check the current law where your people work and take legal advice for specific cases.