To post payroll to Zoho Books, record each month as one manual journal: debit the salary cost accounts, credit each deduction to its own account, and credit the net pay owed to a salaries payable account, with debits equal to credits. When the bank pays the salaries, a second entry clears salaries payable against the bank. Set the accounts up once and every month after follows the same shape.
This guide covers the accounts, the debits and credits for a UAE payroll month, and a worked example in AED. Zoho and Zoho Books are trademarks of Zoho Corporation. Wurxa is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Zoho.
Payroll produces hundreds of numbers, but the books need a handful. Accountants usually want one summary journal per month, by account, with the employee detail kept in the payroll register. That keeps the ledger readable and the salary detail where payroll access controls it.
Which accounts do you need?
Ask your accountant to confirm the chart, but a UAE payroll journal typically uses:
Two choices are worth settling early. First, unpaid leave: you can post it as its own credit line, or against the basic salary account so the expense shows what was actually earned. Second, gratuity: if your accountant keeps a gratuity provision through the year, a settlement's gratuity should probably go against that provision rather than straight to expense. Either way, decide once and keep it.
If you employ UAE nationals, GPSSA contributions need an expense account for the employer share and a payable account for the amount due.
A worked month
A fictional company's October 2026 payroll:
Net pay is 60,000 + 30,000 + 1,500 = 91,500 gross, less 900 and 1,200, giving 89,400.
The journal, dated the last day of the pay period:
If unpaid leave is mapped to the basic salary account, the two basic lines net to a single debit of AED 59,100.
When the salaries leave the bank:
After both entries, salaries payable is back to zero, the expense shows the true cost of the month, and the loans account has dropped by the AED 1,200 recovered.
What changes in a month with a leaver?
The shape stays the same; a settlement adds lines. Say a leaver's settlement is paid in the November run with AED 32,000 of gratuity, AED 3,200 of unused leave and a AED 2,000 advance recovered. The November journal then carries a debit of 32,000 to gratuity (or to the provision, if you keep one), a debit of 3,200 to leave paid out, and an extra credit of 2,000 to staff loans and advances. Salaries payable rises by the difference, 32,000 + 3,200 - 2,000 = AED 33,200, which is the extra cash the bank pays out that month. Nothing else in the chart needs to change, which is the point of setting the accounts up once.
How does a manual journal work in Zoho Books?
Three points from Zoho's own help page on manual journals, checked on 12 October 2026:
Screens can differ by region and change over time, so follow the current version of Zoho's manual journal help page for your edition.
Three mistakes to avoid
Sending the journal from Wurxa
Wurxa Payroll can send the journal for you through its Zoho Books connection, which is in Beta. The workspace owner or an IT admin connects once, picks the Zoho Books organisation and gives each pay item an account. After the owner approves and locks a month, it arrives in Zoho Books as one balanced draft manual journal, with the reference WX-PAY followed by the year and month, for your accountant to review and publish. Wurxa never publishes, edits or deletes anything in Zoho Books. Without a connection, the same journal downloads as a CSV your accountant can import. It works with the Zoho data centres, including the UAE one.
To check whether your chart of accounts fits, Ask Sara on wurxa.com or message us.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Put the workflow into practice.
Start with every Wurxa feature for 14 days. No credit card required.
