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Set Accounting Grouping Using Custom Fields and Cost Centers for GL Reports & Xero

Customise your payroll accounting with Select-type custom fields. Group GL Reports and Xero entries by categories that fit your organisation.

Audience & Scope

Audience: HR Admin

Module: Payroll 

Country: Malaysia & Singapore

Pre-requisites: Access as Account Admin and Payroll module in HR Lounge

 

You can now use a Select-type custom field as an accounting grouping option for your GL Report and Xero configuration.

This allows you to group your payroll accounting entries based on information that is specific to your organisation, such as Employee Type, Academic/Non-Academic, Business Unit, or other custom categories.

You can also group your GL Report and Xero entries by cost center. This is a good fit if your finance team books payroll cost by cost center, as each cost center has a unique Cost Center ID that finance systems can match on. 

Once configured, the selected custom field will appear as an additional option in the Grouping dropdown, alongside the existing options of Company, Offices, Departments and Cost Centers. 

NOTE:

The Select-type custom field feature is available for GL Report and Xero. It is not available for Sage X3. 

Grouping by Cost Centers is also only available for GL Report and Xero. 

How Accounting Grouping Works

When a custom field or Cost Centers is selected as the accounting grouping:

  1. The custom field or Cost Centerd appears as an option in the Grouping dropdown.
  2. Each option within the custom field or each cost center, is shown as a separate mapping panel.
  3. An Unassigned panel is also available for employees who do not have a value assigned to the custom field, or who have no cost center on the pay date. 
  4. You can map the relevant debit and credit accounts for each option.
  5. After payroll is completed, the GL Preview groups the accounting entries based on the selected custom field values or cost centers.
  6. The downloaded GL Report or Xero transfer will follow the same grouping.

The existing mapping, preview, download and transfer processes remain the same. The main difference is that your accounting entries are grouped according to the selected custom field or cost center.

 

Set up Custom Fields as an Accounting Grouping

If you’re grouping by cost center, skip to Set up Cost Centers as an Accounting Grouping. 

Before you can use a custom field for accounting grouping, an HR Admin needs to make it available for accounting grouping.

1. Click into Settings > Personal Data

2. At Personal Details, click +Add to create a new field

3. Fill in the details accordingly 

 

TIP:

  1. Make sure the Field Type chosen is the 'Select' option.

  2. Enable 'Available as accounting grouping'.

4. Click Save

Once enabled, this custom field becomes your company's accounting grouping field.

IMPORTANT:

  1. Only one custom field can be used for accounting grouping at a time.

  2. The Available as accounting grouping option is only available for Select-type custom fields.

  3. Existing custom fields cannot be edited to remove or enhance data, only additional selections can be included, otherwise, it is best to add a new custom field. 
  4. It is recommended that the custom fields created are made applicable to all offices. 

 

Set up Cost Centers as an Accounting Grouping 

Cost centers don’t need to be enabled for accounting grouping. Cost Centers is always listed in the Grouping dropdown, even if your company hasn’t created any cost centers yet.

Before you select it, make sure your cost centers are created and assigned to employees. See Create and Assign Cost Centers as an Admin.

 

IMPORTANT:

  • Each employee is grouped under the cost center in their Job History that is effective on the payroll cycle’s pay date.
  • If an employee changes cost center mid-month, their full amount goes to the cost center effective on the pay date. Amounts are not split. For example, an employee in SALES-KL until the 14th and OPS-KL from the 15th, with a pay date on the 28th, is grouped wholly under OPS-KL.
  • Cost center is optional on the employee profile, so some employees may fall under Unassigned.

While Cost Centers is the selected grouping in any GL Report or Xero configuration, some changes under Settings > Cost Centers are restricted to protect your mappings:

Action Allowed?
Add a cost center Yes. It appears as a new, unmapped panel. Remember to map it.
Rename a cost center Yes. The panel title updates and its mappings are kept.
Edit a Cost Center ID No. A message explains that the ID is used for accounting grouping.
Delete a cost center with saved mappings No. A message names the integration(s) using it.
Delete a cost center assigned to employees No (same as before).

If Cost Centers isn’t the selected grouping in any configuration, cost centers can be edited and deleted as usual.

 

Switching to Another Custom Field

If you want to use a different custom field for accounting grouping:

  1. Go to Settings > Personal Data.
  2. At Personal Details , click on the Edit button for the required custom field
  3. Turn off Available as accounting grouping for the current field.
  4. A confirmation message will appear, then select Turn off to confirm.

IMPORTANT:

Turning off accounting grouping will clear the existing GL Report and Xero account mappings for that field. You will need to configure the grouping again if you select another field.

 

Configure the Accounting Grouping

Once the custom field has been enabled for accounting grouping, or your cost centers are set up, you can configure the account mappings.

1. Click into HR Lounge > Payroll

2. Click into :

  • GL Report configuration, or
  • Xero configuration

3. Under General Configuration > Grouping, the custom field and cost centers will appear as an additional options.

The available options will be:

  • Company
  • Offices
  • Departments
  • Cost Centers
  • Your selected custom field

Select the custom field or Cost Centers to use it for your accounting grouping.

4. After selecting the custom field, the Entries Mapping section will display a separate panel for each option in the custom field.

For example, if your custom field is Employee Category, the mapping may look like:

  • Academic
  • Non-Academic
  • Intern
  • Unassigned

If you select Cost Centers, a panel is shown for each cost center, headed with its name and Cost Center ID, plus Unassigned.

For example:

  • Sales KL (SALES-KL)
  • Ops SG (OPS-SG)
  • Unassigned

If your company has no cost centers yet, only the Unassigned panel is shown. It can still be mapped and saved.

5. Each panel allows you to configure the relevant debit and credit accounts, just as you would when configuring accounting grouping by Departments or Offices.

6. You can also use the apply this mapping to other groups option to make the setup easier when multiple groups use the same account mapping.

 

IMPORTANT:

1) The 'Apply this mapping to other groupings' function is now available across GL Report and Xero.

2) Applying a mapping will override any existing mapping in the selected groupings, and this action cannot be undone. Please review your selections before confirming. 

3) If no mapping has been configured:
The “Apply this mapping to other groupings” button will be disabled. Hover over the button to see the message: “Map at least one entry before applying it to other groupings.” 

7. Click on the button then select which other groupings to have this mapping applied to

8. Once selected click on the Apply button

9. A confirmation will pop-up to confirm if the mapping is to be applied to the other groupings selected, choose the relevant option and proceed. 

10. Once you have completed the mapping, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.

11. Your selected custom field and account mappings will remain configured when you return to the page.

 

View the GL Report

1. Click into the Completed payroll cycles.

2. Open the Transfer Integrations / GL Preview modal.

3. Review the accounting entries.

The preview will display a separate debit and credit section for each custom field option or cost center.

For example, a Malaysia payroll grouped by Cost Centers has Employee A (RM 5,000, SALES-KL), Employee B (RM 15,000, OPS-KL) and Employee C (RM 1,500, no cost center). The preview shows SALES-KL RM 5,000, OPS-KL RM 15,000 and Unassigned RM 1,500. Together they total RM 21,500, matching the payroll total. 

Unassigned Employees

If an employee does not have a value assigned to the selected custom field, their accounting entries will appear under Unassigned.

When grouping by Cost Centers, employees with no cost center effective on the pay date will appear under Unassigned. 

A warning banner will also indicate the number of employees affected.

This warning does not prevent you from downloading the GL Report or transferring the payroll to Xero.

 

Download or Transfer Your Accounting Entries

After reviewing the GL Preview, you can continue with your usual accounting process.

You can either:

  • Download the GL Report, or
  • Send the payroll data to Xero through the integration.

The downloaded report or Xero transfer will use the same grouping shown in the GL Preview and no additional steps are required.

 

How the Cost Center Appears in Your Accounting Entries

When grouping by Cost Centers, each output identifies the cost center by its Cost Center ID:

Output Where the Cost Center ID appears
GL Report download In the payroll item label, for example “Net Salary (SALES-KL)”
Xero In each journal line’s description

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What type of custom field can be used for accounting grouping?

A: Only Select-type custom fields can be enabled as an accounting grouping option. The selected field will then appear in the Grouping dropdown for GL Report and Xero configuration.

Q2. Can I use more than one custom field for accounting grouping?

A: No. Only one custom field can be selected as the accounting grouping field at a time. If another custom field is selected, this is the error message received.

Q3. Where will the custom field grouping be reflected?

A: The selected grouping will be reflected across the GL Preview, downloaded GL Report, and Xero transfer, following the same grouping configured in the accounting settings.

Q4. What happens if an employee does not have a value assigned to the custom field?

A: The employee's accounting entries will be grouped under Unassigned. A warning will also appear in the GL Preview showing the number of affected employees, but this will not prevent the GL Report download or Xero transfer.

Q5. Can I rename or delete the custom field or its existing options after enabling accounting grouping?

A: No. While a custom field is being used for accounting grouping, the field and its existing options cannot be renamed or deleted. New options can still be added.

Q6. Should I group by Cost Centers or a custom field?

A: Use Cost Centers if your finance team books payroll cost by cost center. Use a custom field for other categories, such as Employee Type or Business Unit.

Q7. Will my existing grouping change after Cost Centers is added?

A: No. Your existing configuration stays as it is. Cost Centers is simply a new option in the Grouping dropdown.

Q8. Can I split one employee across two cost centers?

A: No. Each employee has one cost center at a time, and their full amount goes to the cost center effective on the pay date.

Q9. Does Xero use tracking categories for cost centers?

A: No. The Cost Center ID is added to the journal line description, the same way Departments works.

Q10. Can I group Sage X3 entries by cost center or a custom field?

A: No. Grouping by Cost Centers and by custom field is only available for GL Report and Xero.

 

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