Payroll produces the same handful of reports everywhere and they have different audiences. Knowing which report answers which question saves a great deal of exporting, and two of them exist specifically to catch errors before money leaves the account rather than to describe what happened afterwards.
The pre run reports that catch errors
A gross to net register showing every employee's calculation, and a variance report comparing this period to the last. The variance report is the one that finds mistakes: a person whose pay doubled, a leaver still included, a deduction that stopped unexpectedly. Reviewing it before approval is the single most valuable five minutes in a payroll cycle.
The post run reports
The payroll summary for the period, the journal for finance, the statutory reports for filing, and the payments file for the bank. These describe what happened and are read by different people, which is why a product that lets each audience get their own report without asking payroll is worth more than it looks.
Custom reporting and its limits
Every organisation eventually wants a report the product does not have, usually cost by department over time. Check what the reporting tool can do and whether raw data can be exported, because the alternative is somebody rebuilding it in a spreadsheet every period and introducing errors in the rebuild.
Questions people ask about sample payroll report
Which report should be reviewed before approval?
The variance report against the previous period. It finds the errors that a register of correct looking numbers hides.
Who should receive the payroll summary?
Finance and whoever owns the budget. Individual pay detail should go to a much shorter list.
Can we get data out for our own analysis?
Check the export before buying. Payroll data is frequently needed in a form the standard reports do not produce.