SurePayroll Import
Many churches use SurePayroll for payroll processing. Wired Church can import your payroll reports directly, creating the corresponding journal entries in your fund accounting system. This eliminates the need to manually re-enter payroll data every pay period. This guide covers exporting from SurePayroll, uploading to Wired Church, mapping employees and accounts, and setting up recurring imports.
What Gets Imported
When you import a SurePayroll report, Wired Church creates a journal entry that records:
- Gross wages — Debited to the appropriate expense accounts (salary, hourly wages, housing allowance, etc.).
- Employer payroll taxes — Debited to tax expense accounts (Social Security, Medicare, Federal Unemployment, State Unemployment).
- Employee withholdings — Credited to liability accounts (federal income tax withheld, state tax withheld, employee Social Security, employee Medicare).
- Net pay — Credited to your checking/payroll account for the total amount disbursed.
- Employer tax obligations — Credited to liability accounts for taxes the church owes.
The result is a complete, balanced journal entry that captures every component of the payroll run.
Wired Church does not process payroll or calculate taxes. SurePayroll remains your payroll processor. This import simply brings the financial records into your church's books.
Step 1: Export from SurePayroll
- Log in to your SurePayroll account at surepayroll.com.
- Navigate to Reports in the main navigation.
- Select the Payroll Detail Report or Payroll Summary Report. The detail report is preferred because it includes per-employee breakdowns.
- Set the date range to the pay period you want to import. For best results, export one pay period at a time.
- Click Export and select CSV as the format. Some SurePayroll plans also support Excel (
.xlsx) export — Wired Church accepts both formats. - Save the file to your computer.
What the Export Contains
A typical SurePayroll CSV export includes these columns:
| Column | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Employee Name | Jane Smith | Employee's full name |
| Pay Period Start | 03/01/2026 | Start of the pay period |
| Pay Period End | 03/15/2026 | End of the pay period |
| Pay Date | 03/20/2026 | Date the paycheck was issued |
| Gross Pay | 2,500.00 | Total gross wages |
| Federal Income Tax | 375.00 | Federal withholding |
| Social Security (EE) | 155.00 | Employee Social Security |
| Medicare (EE) | 36.25 | Employee Medicare |
| State Income Tax | 87.50 | State withholding |
| Net Pay | 1,846.25 | Amount deposited to employee |
| Social Security (ER) | 155.00 | Employer Social Security |
| Medicare (ER) | 36.25 | Employer Medicare |
| FUTA | 15.00 | Federal Unemployment Tax |
| SUTA | 67.50 | State Unemployment Tax |
If your SurePayroll report includes additional columns (retirement contributions, health insurance deductions, garnishments), Wired Church can map those as well. The more detail in the export, the more accurate your journal entries will be.
Step 2: Upload to Wired Church
- Open the admin sidebar and click Finance.
- Click Imports in the sub-navigation.
- Select the Payroll import type.
- Drag and drop the SurePayroll file onto the upload area, or click Browse to select it.
- Wired Church detects the file format and displays: the number of employees found, the pay period dates, and the total payroll amount.
If Wired Church cannot detect the pay period dates from the file, you will be prompted to enter them manually. This is common with summary-format exports that do not include period dates in the data rows.
Step 3: Map Employees to Members
The first mapping step connects SurePayroll employee names to member records in Wired Church. This linkage is important for tracking compensation by person and for generating year-end payroll summaries.
The Employee Mapping Interface
The wizard displays a two-column layout:
- Left column — Employee names from the SurePayroll export.
- Right column — A searchable dropdown of members in your Wired Church database.
- For each employee, type their name in the member search dropdown. Select the matching member.
- If an employee is not in your member database (e.g., a contracted worker), select Create New to add them as a non-member payee record, or select Skip to import their payroll data without a member linkage.
- Wired Church auto-suggests matches when employee names closely match member names. Verify each suggestion.
Saving Employee Mappings
Employee mappings are saved automatically. The next time you import a SurePayroll file with the same employee names, the mappings are pre-filled. You only need to map new employees.
If an employee's name changes in SurePayroll (e.g., after a legal name change), you will need to re-map that employee on the next import. The old mapping will appear as "Unmatched" since the name no longer matches.
Step 4: Map Payroll Categories to Accounts
The second mapping step connects each payroll category (gross pay, taxes, deductions) to accounts in your Wired Church chart of accounts. This determines how the journal entry is structured.
Category Mapping Interface
Each payroll category from the SurePayroll file is listed with two mapping fields:
- Account — The chart of accounts entry this category posts to.
- Fund — The fund this expense should be allocated to (if your church tracks payroll by fund).
Recommended Mappings
Here is a typical mapping configuration for a church:
| Payroll Category | Account | Type | Fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Pay — Salary | Pastoral Salary Expense | Expense | General |
| Gross Pay — Hourly | Staff Wages Expense | Expense | General |
| Housing Allowance | Housing Allowance Expense | Expense | General |
| Federal Income Tax (EE) | Federal Tax Payable | Liability | — |
| Social Security (EE) | FICA Payable | Liability | — |
| Medicare (EE) | FICA Payable | Liability | — |
| State Income Tax (EE) | State Tax Payable | Liability | — |
| Social Security (ER) | Payroll Tax Expense | Expense | General |
| Medicare (ER) | Payroll Tax Expense | Expense | General |
| FUTA | Payroll Tax Expense | Expense | General |
| SUTA | Payroll Tax Expense | Expense | General |
| Net Pay | Payroll Checking | Asset | — |
If your church pays different staff from different funds (e.g., a youth pastor from the Youth Fund, worship leader from the Worship Fund), you can assign different funds per employee in the advanced mapping options. Click Per-Employee Fund Override to access this setting.
Creating Missing Accounts
If your chart of accounts does not yet have the necessary payroll accounts:
- Click + Create Account next to any dropdown.
- Enter the account name, type (expense or liability), and number.
- The new account appears immediately in the dropdown and is saved to your chart of accounts.
Take time to set up proper payroll accounts before your first import. Common accounts churches need include: Salary Expense, Hourly Wages Expense, Housing Allowance Expense, Payroll Tax Expense, FICA Payable, Federal Tax Payable, State Tax Payable, and a Payroll Checking asset account (if you use a separate payroll bank account).
Step 5: Preview Journal Entries
After both mappings are complete, Wired Church shows a preview of the journal entries that will be created.
Journal Entry Preview
The preview displays a standard double-entry format:
| Date | Account | Debit | Credit | Memo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/20/2026 | Pastoral Salary Expense | 2,500.00 | Payroll — Jane Smith | |
| 03/20/2026 | Federal Tax Payable | 375.00 | Payroll — Jane Smith | |
| 03/20/2026 | FICA Payable | 191.25 | Payroll — Jane Smith | |
| 03/20/2026 | State Tax Payable | 87.50 | Payroll — Jane Smith | |
| 03/20/2026 | Payroll Checking | 1,846.25 | Payroll — Jane Smith | |
| 03/20/2026 | Payroll Tax Expense | 273.75 | Employer taxes — Jane Smith | |
| 03/20/2026 | FICA Payable | 191.25 | Employer taxes — Jane Smith | |
| 03/20/2026 | FUTA/SUTA Payable | 82.50 | Employer taxes — Jane Smith |
The bottom of the preview shows the total debits and total credits, which must be equal. If they are not balanced, a red warning appears indicating which category mappings need correction.
If the journal entry is not balanced, the import cannot proceed. The most common cause is a missing mapping — for example, forgetting to map the net pay category to a checking account. Review all unmapped categories and assign appropriate accounts.
Step 6: Approve and Import
- Verify that the journal entry preview looks correct and totals are balanced.
- Click Approve & Import.
- Wired Church creates the journal entry (or multiple entries if the import covers multiple pay periods).
- The journal entry is dated to the pay date from the SurePayroll export.
- Each entry is tagged with "Payroll Import" as the source.
The journal entry appears in your General Ledger and is reflected in all financial reports for that period.
Recurring Payroll Imports
Since payroll happens on a regular schedule, Wired Church streamlines repeat imports:
Using Saved Mappings
- After your first successful import, both the employee mappings and category-to-account mappings are saved.
- On subsequent imports, the upload step detects the same structure and pre-fills all mappings.
- You still see the preview step to verify amounts, but you do not need to re-map anything.
Setting Up Quick Import
For even faster recurring imports:
- Navigate to Finance > Imports > Payroll.
- Click Quick Import (available after at least one successful payroll import).
- Upload the new pay period file.
- Wired Church applies saved mappings, validates the data, and shows a one-page summary.
- Click Import to create the journal entry in a single step.
Establish a routine: after each SurePayroll run, export the report and upload it to Wired Church the same day. This keeps your books current and makes monthly reconciliation straightforward.
Handling Changed Pay Structures
If SurePayroll adds new categories (e.g., a new benefit deduction), the import wizard flags any unmapped categories. Map them to appropriate accounts and the updated mapping is saved for future imports.
Handling Payroll Taxes and Deductions
Payroll taxes have two components: employee withholdings (credits to liability accounts, representing money owed to tax authorities) and employer taxes (debits to expense accounts, representing additional costs above gross pay). Both are captured in the SurePayroll export and mapped separately.
Voluntary deductions (retirement contributions, health insurance) also flow through: employee shares post to liability accounts, employer shares post to expense accounts.
Housing allowances for pastors require special handling. Ensure the housing allowance line maps to a dedicated "Housing Allowance" expense account, not the general salary account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I import payroll from a provider other than SurePayroll? Yes. The payroll import accepts any CSV or Excel file with employee names, pay dates, and payroll amounts. The column mapping wizard adapts to any format. SurePayroll is highlighted here because it is commonly used by churches, but ADP, Gusto, Paychex, and other providers work the same way.
What if I run payroll for multiple campuses? Export separate payroll reports for each campus (if SurePayroll supports filtering by location) and import them separately, assigning the appropriate campus during import. Alternatively, import a combined report and use per-employee fund overrides to allocate costs to the correct campus funds.
Can I edit a payroll journal entry after import? Yes. Navigate to Finance > Journal Entries, locate the payroll entry, and click Edit. Standard journal entry editing rules apply — the entry must remain balanced, and edits to finalized periods require reopening the period.
What happens if I import the same pay period twice? Wired Church detects duplicate imports by matching the pay date and total amount. If a potential duplicate is found, a warning appears in the preview step. You can proceed (creating a second entry) or cancel.