Introduction to Payroll Accounting 1 CPE

This course prepares the learner with the basic knowledge needed to administer the accounting for payroll. We start with a brief overview of payroll accounting. We will discuss debits, credits, liabilities, and assets. We then walk through an example of recording journal entries for payroll transactions and accruals for a month. The material taught in this payroll accounting course will enhance the skill-set of the payroll accountants and payroll specialist looking to advance in their career.

We review examples of:

• General employer payroll liabilities: such as liabilities for employee compensation, liabilities for employee payroll withholdings, and liabilities for employer payroll taxes.
• Payroll journal entries
• Payroll accrual journal entries

Prerequisites

No Advanced Preparation or Prerequisites are needed for this course. 

Learning Objective

• Define liability and asset accounts for payroll transactions.
• Identify payroll transactions that should be posted to a liability or asset account.
• Define debit and credit.
• Recognize the processes to ensure correct accounting of the payroll.
• Discover how payroll practices impact the cost of operating a payroll organization.
• Discover how to prepare payroll journal entries in payroll accounting for the general ledger posting.

Last updated/reviewed: July 9, 2025