Software collection playbook
Gusto: payroll journal and earned-period evidence
Earned payroll cutoff versus completed run.
By Sam Yang · Updated
Does the labor number include earned days and contractors?
Use the employee journal for its actual completed runs; use contractor payments for their separate population. Review earned days after the latest completed run as an accrual question rather than calling them zero.
Evidence basis: Saved Payroll Journal and contractor export sequence. The top-level menu path has not been established by these sources.
Check supported payroll objects and exact journal/contractor coverage.
The owner wants job labor cost for a month
Keep the employee journal service dates and employer burden separate from its pay dates, then identify the earned interval after the latest completed run. A complete paid-run file may not cover every earned day in the month.
The owner wants total labor including subcontractors
Collect contractor evidence separately and preserve its dates and details. The employee journal does not establish the contractor population.
Use supported API or native report access for the required scope. A permitted browser session can collect a specific gap. Neither route proves reconciliation or complete costs.
Put the evidence to work
Does the Gusto journal cover all labor earned this month?
A completed payroll journal can be complete for its selected runs while missing labor earned after their service cutoff. Contractor payments are another population. Separate service dates, pay dates, employer cost and funding, then connect operational time evidence to any unprocessed earned days.
Find the month-end earned-labor gap
- Bind the company, requested month and all relevant payroll schedules. Retain run service periods separately from pay/check dates.
- Collect the completed Payroll Journal with required earnings, employer-tax and detail settings. Read back the committed custom dates and grouping.
- Identify the latest covered service date, then collect approved time/earned-pay evidence through month end. Do not estimate earned cost from an empty report row.
- Keep employee cost, applicable employer burden and separately sourced contractor costs explicit; avoid treating employee deductions as additional employer cost.
Bring to the review: A coverage timeline and reviewed earned-cost bridge showing paid-run cost plus an identified cutoff interval.
Then decide: Review the actual cutoff/accrual and job allocation before using monthly payroll totals for job pricing.
Explain bank funding from payroll evidence
- Use the supported payroll source or native run detail to preserve run identity, totals and each funding component.
- Compare net pay, tax, reimbursement and other applicable debits to the provider's company debit rather than expecting one bank withdrawal.
- Identify separately paid obligations or components outside that source, including any contractor population needed for the question.
- Match actual bank occurrences and existing ledger postings; preserve timing or identity mismatches.
Bring to the review: A run-to-bank funding bridge distinct from gross earned labor.
Then decide: Resolve missing components and unmatched occurrences before claiming payroll cash is reconciled.
Which collection route answers this question?
Choose the route for the missing evidence and the access available in your account. The comparison below distinguishes documented coverage from coverage that still needs checking.
Supported API
- What it supplies
- Gusto documents payrolls:read for a single payroll, company/payroll identities, calculated or processed totals and paginated employee compensations. Benefit detail requires additional scopes.
- What still needs proof
- Authorized integration access, complete pages, optional include fields and account/version scope must be checked. An API default zero for an unentered field does not prove no earned obligation.
Choose it when: Repeatable extraction when approved access supplies the required run and employee population.
Native export
- What it supplies
- Saved collection evidence supports configured Payroll Journal CSV and separate contractor-payment CSV after the report is ready.
- What still needs proof
- The exact current menu, checkbox labels and company permissions must be verified. Completed-run files do not automatically accrue later earned days.
Choose it when: Review a selected native run/report population with original CSV evidence.
Permitted browser
- What it supplies
- The saved collector commits custom dates, verifies the company and settings, then waits for the actual completed report file.
- What still needs proof
- A generated report popup is not the next run's company source tab. A download click or report title alone is not complete custody.
Choose it when: Obtain the authorized original report where existing verified data access does not provide the needed source.
Reproduce the diagnostic
Fictional earned cutoff and separately sourced contractors
All records and amounts below are fictional teaching inputs. This example demonstrates the calculation, not a customer outcome or a reproduced software defect.
Selected completed-run gross wages are 4000. Approved but unprocessed earned wages add 600, making employee earned gross wages 4600. Separately evidenced earned contractor cost adds 900, for a combined earned wage/service-cost subtotal of 5500 before employer burden. Bank funding is not provided.
What the CSV columns mean
- population: employee_paid, employee_unprocessed or contractor
- basis: employee rows use earned gross wages only; contractor row uses earned service cost
- earned_cost: teaching USD cost for the target month; excludes employer burden
- Completed-run gross wages
- 4000 USD
- This selected employee run population only.
- Employee earned gross wages
- 4600 USD
- Completed plus supported unprocessed earnings for the target month.
- Earned wage/service subtotal
- 5500 USD
- Employee gross wages plus separately sourced contractor service cost, before employer burden.
- Omitted earned cost
- 1500 USD
- 600 of unprocessed wages and 900 of contractor service cost.
Inspect gusto-earned-cost.csv
population,basis,earned_cost employee_paid,earned_gross_wages,4000 employee_unprocessed,earned_gross_wages,600 contractor,earned_service_cost,900Download this CSV
Next decision: Collect actual employer burden and service/job allocation before calling 5500 fully loaded labor cost. Do not infer bank funding from this fixture.
Run the example locally
Save the CSV files, expected-results.json and reproduce.mjs in one folder. With Node.js installed, run the command below. It calculates the checks from the CSV bytes and rejects a changed input or expected result.
node reproduce.mjs expected-results.json
No software login, customer records or API key is required.
When the result does not make sense
Monthly labor looks unusually low
Check: Compare the final completed service date with month end and inspect unprocessed time.
Resolve the question: Show the uncovered earned interval and review an accrual supported by actual time/rates, not a generic percentage.
Total labor excludes subcontractors
Check: Determine whether the file is the employee Payroll Journal only.
Resolve the question: Collect the separate contractor-payment population and inspect service/invoice dates before combining costs.
Gross payroll does not equal bank withdrawals
Check: Inspect deductions, employer taxes, reimbursements and separate debit components.
Resolve the question: Reconcile the funding population to bank occurrences while retaining gross earned cost as a different metric.
Where automation earns its place
Good work for automation
- Collect complete report populations, retain run/date fields and reproduce funding or earned-cost subtotals with explicit coverage.
Keep a person on these decisions
- Assess accrued earnings, employer burden, contractor service timing and job allocation; these are not established by a completed-run status.
References behind these workflows
Product documentation supports the specific scope stated beside each source. Level's diagnostic methods and fictional calculations remain distinct from vendor capabilities.
- Gusto single-payroll API
Read scope, pagination, optional benefit access and calculated/processed population. Reviewed .
- Gusto payroll fundamentals
Service periods, gross/net definitions and multiple payroll-funding debit components. Reviewed .
Collect and verify the population
- Payroll Journal setup
- Read back the custom date range and selected summary/detail, employee scope and grouping.
- Completed CSV
- Wait for Your report is ready! and retain the actual Download CSV file, including required earnings and employer-tax detail.
- Contractor payments and later earned days
- Keep the contractor file distinct and identify the unprocessed service interval after the final completed run.
Export the native payroll journal for the selected entity, run and dates. Retain the service period, pay date, employer burden and contractor population. Review earned days after the latest completed run separately.
Dated collection sequence
Dated saved collection procedure reviewed October 6, 2026. Verify the current account, interface, permission and available reports. Menu names may differ.
- Verify the visible company, then open the Payroll Journal setup available in the authorized session. The saved source does not establish a top-level menu sequence.
- Select Custom date range, enter both dates and commit each with Tab. Confirm the applied range.
- Select the authorized summary-and-payroll detail, all-employee scope and employee or department grouping. Verify actual current labels before proceeding.
- The observed optional detail labels include Detailed employment info, Employee earnings breakdown, Employee earnings breakdown by job, Employer tax breakdown, Employee tax breakdown, Deductions and contributions, Detailed totals, and Reimbursements. Select only the authorized detail needed for the question.
- Select CSV > Generate report. Wait for Your report is ready!, then Download CSV.
- Collect Contractor payments separately when authorized, with its own custom dates, all-contractor scope, payment grouping and required Hours, Bonus, Invoice, Memo or Reimbursement detail. Do not infer contractor costs from the employee journal.
Evidence acceptance checklist
- Keep payroll entity, run, service dates and pay date in the evidence manifest.
- Retain journal, employer burden and contractor scope where authorized.
- Identify earned days after the latest completed run for separate cutoff review.
Fictional collection example
A fictional payroll run ends before month-end. Its completed journal establishes that run, not the cost of later earned days. Return the uncovered service interval for an accountant to review. Do not silently zero the interval or create an accrual under a collection-only instruction.
Invented teaching scenario, not a customer result or a reproduced vendor defect.
Capture the setup with the evidence
- Company, legal entity or account, report name, period, basis, currency and timezone.
- Selected filters, status, page count, original record identifiers and control totals.
- Collection time, source route and authorized role. Record browser and automation versions when using a browser.
- Original files and exceptions. Keep credentials, customer identifiers and financial artifacts private.
A browser version helps reproduce an interface issue. It does not validate the financial conclusion.
Pitfalls and stop conditions
Completed payroll does not establish accruals for later earned days. Payroll cost per operational hour and wages per paid hour use different denominators.
How a plausible answer can go wrong
A payroll CSV can be complete for completed runs while the month still has earned wages awaiting the next run. Adding contractor costs without collecting their separate population leaves another coverage gap.
Stop if account identity, permission, cutoff or population is uncertain. Return the missing evidence for review. Do not fill the gap with an invented record, a balancing entry or an assumed zero.
Read-only AI collection prompt
Replace the bracketed scope before use. This prompt collects evidence; it does not permit edits, approvals or accounting execution. Requesting an emailed report is a separate account action and requires explicit authorization.
Collect read-only evidence for Gusto to answer [financial question]. Confirm [company], [account/entity], [period], [basis], [currency] and [allowed reports]. Export the native payroll journal for the selected entity, run and dates. Retain the service period, pay date, employer burden and contractor population. Review earned days after the latest completed run separately. Retain original files, complete record IDs, counts, filters, collection timestamp and exceptions. Completed payroll does not establish accruals for later earned days. Payroll cost per operational hour and wages per paid hour use different denominators. Stop if the source or scope is uncertain. Do not post, match, reconnect, delete or change settings. Return the evidence for financial review; do not claim the books are correct. Do not approve, submit payroll, pay, transfer, refund, send messages, invite users or accept terms. Stop at any login, MFA or credential prompt and hand back to the account owner. Store files only in [approved private location]. Do not paste customer artifacts into public tools. Use only preauthorized collection actions. Request an emailed report only when its delivery is explicitly authorized; otherwise ask the account owner to supply the file.
Next decision
What does the evidence support?
State which employees, contractors and earned dates the cost includes. If a monthly accrual or burden component is missing, show the limitation before using the number to price work.
Compare the same population, identities and cutoff. Keep unsupported costs or settlements visible before using the result for pricing, cash or close.
Open the financial acceptance guide →Sources and scope
Base product-reference scopes were reviewed . The collection procedure retains its own review date in the dated sequence above. Individual source rechecks are dated with their citations. Operator decision guidance was reviewed 2026-10-07. The references below support their stated product scope, not every observed interface detail. It is not a vendor capability certification, a measured customer result or an independently reconciled account. Verify current features and entitlement in the account you use.
- Gusto payroll retrieval and pagination
Payroll retrieval and pagination, not native journal or contractor coverage.