Payroll Relief Client Portal: Who Enters Payroll, Who Reviews It and Who Approves It?

A payroll firm does not always need to enter every hour for every client.

Some employers prefer to submit their own payroll data. Others want the accounting firm to control the entire process. A larger client may allow location managers to maintain employees while reserving final approval for the owner or controller.

Payroll Relief client portal access is designed around that flexibility.

Payroll Relief is an accountant-centered payroll platform that allows accounting firms and professional payroll providers to decide how much access each employer client receives. The firm can grant selected permissions for payroll, setup, reports, compliance and other functions while retaining control of accountant-specific areas such as electronic services and practice-wide monitoring.

This guide explains how client access differs from employee access, how permissions shape the workflow and what should be reviewed before a payroll is approved.

One Platform, Several Types of Users

The word “portal” can refer to different experiences.

Accounting-firm users

Firm users manage payroll across multiple client companies. Their work can include processing payrolls, reviewing deadlines, monitoring electronic filings and managing client activity.

Employer-client users

A client may be allowed to enter payroll information, maintain selected setup data, view reports, approve payroll or print checks.

Employee users

Employees receive much narrower access through an Employee Portal. They may be able to view personal information, pay statements and tax forms without entering the employer’s payroll-processing environment.

Payroll Relief allows employer clients to create employee portals for workers who have an email address. Those portals can provide access to personal profiles, address maintenance, document uploads, pay statements, W-2s and applicable 1099s.

A client login and an employee login should never be treated as interchangeable.

The Accounting Firm Defines the Client’s Role

Payroll Relief does not require every client to use the same workflow.

The accounting firm can decide whether a client will:

• Send payroll information outside the system
• Enter hours directly
• Maintain employees
• Review payroll results
• Approve payroll
• Print checks
• Access reports
• Manage selected locations
• Create employee portals

AccountantsWorld describes this as an accountant-centric collaboration model. Firms can expose only the features appropriate for each client’s needs and abilities, reducing unnecessary work without surrendering control of the entire payroll process.

A five-person consulting company may need only report access.

A restaurant group may need location managers to enter payroll information.

A sophisticated internal payroll department may be allowed to maintain employees and submit payrolls for approval.

The correct permission set depends on the client’s staff, internal controls and payroll complexity.

Client Access Must Be Activated

Giving an employer access involves more than sending the main Payroll Relief address.

Current IRIS documentation states that the employer must first be established in the administration system, activated with a login, enrolled for payroll services and assigned appropriate access rights.

A client login may therefore fail because:

• Access was not activated
• The wrong user received the credentials
• The client was created but not enrolled for payroll
• Permissions were not assigned
• The user belongs to another legal entity
• The login was deactivated
• The firm changed the client’s payroll setup

The accounting firm should confirm the user’s role before resetting credentials.

A login problem and a missing permission are different issues. A user can sign in successfully and still be unable to enter payroll because the firm did not grant payroll-entry access.

Permissions Should Follow Actual Responsibilities

Payroll Relief can grant access to areas such as:

• Setup
• Payroll
• Compliance
• Reports
• 401(k) setup
• Data import and export
• Check allocation
• Employee maintenance

Firm-specific electronic-service and payroll-monitoring functions remain restricted to the accounting firm.

This allows the firm to follow a practical rule:

Give the client enough access to perform its assigned work, but not enough to create unnecessary risk.

A user who only reviews reports does not need employee-setup rights.

A location manager entering hours does not necessarily need company-wide payroll reports.

A client owner approving payroll does not automatically need access to electronic tax-service configuration.

Broad access can create accidental changes that are difficult to discover before payday.

One Client Can Have Several Users

After the accounting firm grants permissions to a client, the client may be able to create additional logins and assign subsets of its own permissions.

This can support distributed organizations where different people handle different responsibilities. For example, satellite locations may maintain their own employees, submit payroll data or print checks from their own bank accounts.

A possible structure might look like this:

Owner or controller

• Reviews payroll totals
• Approves payroll
• Opens management reports

HR administrator

• Maintains employee information
• Adds new hires
• Updates departments or locations

Location manager

• Enters hours for one location
• Reviews only assigned employees

Accounting-firm processor

• Calculates payroll
• Reviews exceptions
• Handles direct deposit and compliance

Each login should belong to one person.

Shared usernames weaken accountability and make it harder to determine who changed an employee, submitted payroll or approved a result.

Payroll Can Arrive Through Several Paths

A client does not necessarily need direct application access to collaborate.

Payroll Relief supports workflows in which clients can:

• Enter payroll directly in the system
• Send data through a structured spreadsheet
• Provide information to the accounting firm for manual entry
• Use integrated timekeeping
• Maintain selected employee records
• Submit payroll for professional review

AccountantsWorld states that clients without direct Payroll Relief access can provide payroll data through an Excel template that the firm imports.

This can be useful when a client is not comfortable working inside payroll software but still wants a consistent data-submission format.

The spreadsheet should be treated as payroll source data, not as an informal note.

Review it for:

• Correct pay period
• Missing employees
• Duplicate rows
• Regular and overtime hours
• New hires
• Terminations
• Bonuses
• Reimbursements
• Department or location coding

A clean import does not prove that the client supplied accurate hours.

Payroll Approval Begins After Calculation

Once payroll data is entered and calculated, the Review Payroll screen provides the accountant or authorized user with a detailed review before approval.

Current IRIS documentation identifies several review areas:

• Summary of payroll costs
• Employee pay
• Employer taxes
• Hours
• Gross pay
• Net pay
• Direct-deposit amounts
• Employee pay-stub previews

The reviewer can also run a pre-approval report set that includes a Payroll Register and a Payroll Comparison Report. The comparison places the current and prior payroll side by side to highlight discrepancies.

Approval should come after those checks—not merely after the system calculates without an error.

The Payroll Register Answers “What Is in This Payroll?”

The Payroll Register provides detailed paycheck information for the selected employees and payroll period. Payroll Relief reports can be produced in formats such as PDF, Word and Excel, depending on the report.

The register can help confirm:

• Employee count
• Hours
• Pay types
• Gross wages
• Taxes
• Deductions
• Net pay
• Direct deposits
• Printed checks

A reviewer should pay special attention to exceptions:

• Zero-net checks
• Negative checks
• Unusually high gross pay
• Missing regular hours
• Duplicate bonuses
• Unexpected deductions
• Employees paid after termination
• New employees without payment
• Unusual direct-deposit totals

The report summarizes what the system will process. It does not establish that the client intended every line.

The Payroll Comparison Report Answers “What Changed?”

A current payroll can look reasonable in isolation while still containing a major change from the previous cycle.

Payroll Relief’s pre-approval workflow includes a Payroll Comparison Report that summarizes the current and previous payroll side by side.

Useful questions include:

• Why did gross payroll increase?
• Why did employee count fall?
• Why is overtime twice as high?
• Why did employer taxes change?
• Why is one department missing?
• Why did direct-deposit totals decrease?
• Why did printed checks appear?

A difference does not automatically indicate an error.

The client may have paid bonuses, hired employees or experienced seasonal overtime. The report’s purpose is to make the change visible enough to investigate before approval.

Client Submission Is Not Always Final Approval

IRIS documentation notes that the selected firm contact can be notified when an employer submits a payroll for approval. However, assigning a staff contact does not automatically give that person approval rights.

This distinction matters.

Possible milestones include:

1. Client enters payroll data.
2. Client submits the payroll.
3. Firm receives notification.
4. Processor reviews the data.
5. Reviewer resolves discrepancies.
6. Authorized person approves payroll.
7. Electronic payments and reports are processed.

A client may use the word “approved” when it has merely finished entering hours.

The firm should define the exact meaning of submission, review and final approval in its client procedures.

Approval Has a Direct-Deposit Deadline

Payroll approval timing affects when direct deposits can be processed.

Current IRIS guidance gives an example for firms operating on a three-day direct-deposit cycle: a Friday payday requires approval no later than 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. Where direct deposits are processed through the employer’s own bank, Payroll Relief creates an ACH file, and the employer must fund the payments according to that banking workflow.

The exact cycle can depend on the approved arrangement.

A client should therefore know:

• Payroll submission deadline
• Review window
• Final approval deadline
• Direct-deposit lead time
• Required employer funding
• Holiday-adjusted dates

A portal makes collaboration faster, but it cannot remove banking deadlines.

What Happens When an Approved Payroll Must Be Changed?

Payroll Relief permits authorized users to review approved payrolls and, in certain circumstances, unapprove a payroll, purge a check issued in error or recalculate a check after setup changes.

This should not be treated as an ordinary editing method.

Changing an approved payroll can affect:

• Direct-deposit transactions
• Tax liabilities
• Child-support payments
• Client billing
• Reports
• Employee pay statements
• Filing records

IRIS documentation warns that unapproval can delete pending client billing, employer billing, child-support transactions, direct-deposit transactions and tax liabilities associated with the payroll.

Before canceling approval, determine what has already been transmitted or funded.

A correction made after ACH submission may require a different process from a correction made before the payroll leaves the system.

Batch Approval Can Speed Up Repetitive Payrolls

Payroll Relief includes a Batch Approval feature that can allow several payrolls from different employers to be approved from one screen.

The employer’s pay schedule must be configured to participate in that workflow. IRIS emphasizes that accurate pay-schedule information is critical to successful payroll processing.

Batch approval can be useful for stable payrolls with:

• Predictable salaries
• Few recurring changes
• Consistent schedules
• Established review controls

It should not become a substitute for exception review.

The firm should still identify:

• New employees
• Terminations
• Unusual payroll totals
• Bank changes
• Missing source data
• Special payments

Speed is valuable only after the underlying payrolls are ready.

Reports Can Be Shared in Several Ways

Payroll Relief supports sending payroll reports, tax forms and checks to clients. Files can be emailed in password-protected ZIP packages or archived to Cloud Cabinet for more secure document storage and sharing.

Reports can also be generated in formats such as:

• PDF
• Excel
• Word

They may be archived directly from the reporting workflow to Cloud Cabinet.

Choose the format according to the task.

PDF is useful for a stable review copy.

Excel is useful for analysis and reconciliation.

Word may be useful for certain editable report outputs.

Do not send a complete payroll register when the client only needs a summary. Payroll reports can contain sensitive wage, tax and employee information.

What Cloud Cabinet Adds

Cloud Cabinet is AccountantsWorld’s cloud document-management and client-portal product. It is designed to store and exchange accounting and payroll documents securely.

Payroll Relief can archive reports and forms into Cloud Cabinet. If the client folder does not already exist, archiving from Payroll Relief can create the appropriate application folder.

This can provide a structured location for:

• Payroll reports
• Tax forms
• Client copies
• Historical records
• Employee-related documents
• Approval support

Cloud Cabinet and the Payroll Relief Employee Portal serve different audiences.

Cloud Cabinet is oriented toward accounting-firm and client document exchange.

The Employee Portal is oriented toward individual employee payroll records.

Email and Text Notifications Support the Workflow

Payroll Relief can send clients automated reminders and notices.

AccountantsWorld lists communication options for payday reminders, federal and state tax deposits, e-service notices and forms. Quick time-stamped reminders can be sent to one client, multiple clients or firm staff.

IRIS documentation also describes text-message options for payroll reminders, insufficient-funds warnings and confirmation that payroll has been processed and is ready for remote check printing.

Notifications should support—not replace—the client calendar.

A message can fail because:

• Contact information is outdated
• Email was filtered
• Text notifications are disabled
• The recipient changed roles
• The firm selected the wrong contact

Payroll deadlines remain the client’s and firm’s responsibility even when a reminder does not arrive.

Tracking Payrolls Across the Practice

The Payroll Center includes practice-wide tools so accounting firms do not have to open each client separately.

Current IRIS documentation says the Payroll Activity screen can show:

• Payrolls approved today
• Payrolls printed today
• Payrolls currently created
• Payrolls calculated and awaiting review
• Employer setup changes across clients

Employer changes can also be exported to Excel for analysis or recordkeeping.

This supports a daily management routine:

1. Identify payrolls still in progress.
2. Find calculated payrolls awaiting approval.
3. Confirm completed payrolls.
4. Review significant employer changes.
5. Escalate anything approaching deadline.

The system provides visibility. The firm must still assign ownership of each unresolved item.

Employer Changes Deserve Review

Client access makes collaboration easier, but it also creates the possibility that employer setup changes occur outside the payroll processor’s immediate view.

The Employer Changes area can help firms review setup modifications across clients.

Sensitive changes may include:

• Employer address
• Pay schedule
• Contact person
• Employee setup
• Department
• Location
• Bank information
• Tax setup
• User permission

The firm should establish which changes clients may make directly and which require independent verification.

A last-minute bank change or pay-schedule change should never be treated like a routine phone-number update.

Employee Portals Can Be Created by the Client

When the firm grants the relevant access, an employer client can generate an Employee Portal for an employee with an email address.

Employee portals can give workers access to:

• Personal profile
• Address information
• Document uploads
• Pay statements
• W-2 forms
• Applicable 1099 forms

Current IRIS setup instructions say portal access can be activated or deactivated through the employee record by enabling access and assigning a login name.

Before creating access, verify:

• Employee email
• Correct employer record
• Legal entity
• Employee status
• Whether the employee already has a portal
• Whether a former email is still in use

Duplicate portals can make historical document access more confusing.

Client Portal Security

A client user may have access to employee wages, payroll reports and company information.

Use controls such as:

• Individual usernames
• Strong unique passwords
• Minimum required permissions
• Prompt removal of former users
• Separate roles for entry and approval
• Independent verification of bank changes
• Secure report delivery
• Regular permission review

Payroll Relief allows clients to grant subsets of their permissions to their own employees.

That flexibility should be used deliberately.

A user who changes positions should not retain payroll access simply because the login still works.

Common Payroll Relief Client Portal Questions

Does Payroll Relief offer client access?

Yes. Accounting firms can give employer clients secure access to selected parts of Payroll Relief and determine which functions they can use.

Can the firm limit client permissions?

Yes. Permissions can be customized for setup, payroll, compliance, reports and selected advanced functions. Firm-specific electronic-service and monitoring functions remain restricted.

Can clients enter their own payroll?

Yes. Clients may be allowed to enter payroll in the system. Firms can also import payroll information supplied through a structured Excel template.

Can clients approve payroll?

Approval rights depend on the permissions assigned by the accounting firm. A client submission or staff notification does not automatically grant final approval authority.

Which reports should be reviewed before approval?

IRIS recommends a pre-approval report set containing the Payroll Register and Payroll Comparison Report.

Can Payroll Relief compare the current and previous payroll?

Yes. The Payroll Comparison Report summarizes the current and prior payroll side by side to help identify discrepancies.

Can payroll reports be exported?

Yes. Payroll Relief reports can be produced in formats including PDF, Word and Excel, depending on the report.

Can reports be shared securely?

Reports and forms can be archived to Cloud Cabinet. Payroll Relief also supports protected file delivery through password-secured ZIP files.

Can clients create employee portals?

Yes. Clients with the appropriate access can generate Employee Portals for employees with email addresses.

Can one client have several users?

Yes. Clients may create additional logins and grant subsets of their own permissions, including access for users at satellite locations.

Good Collaboration Ends With Clear Approval

A Payroll Relief client portal works best when every participant understands where their responsibility begins and ends.

The client may enter payroll data.

The accounting firm may calculate and review it.

An authorized user approves the payroll.

Payroll Relief then supports the reports, direct-deposit processing, compliance workflows and employee document access connected to that approved payroll.

Permissions should match those responsibilities. Reports should be reviewed before approval. Sensitive documents should be shared through appropriate secure channels, and client access should be removed when it is no longer needed.

The portal creates collaboration. A defined approval process turns that collaboration into a reliable payroll service.

Editorial Disclosure: This is an independent informational guide. It is not a Payroll Relief client portal, is not affiliated with AccountantsWorld or IRIS and cannot create users, assign permissions, approve payroll or access client reports.