Payroll & Billing Troubleshooting

This article covers common errors and issues encountered while processing payroll and billing batches, running or exporting payroll reports, and resolving payroll warning messages in Avionté. 

Checking Whether a Time Entry Transaction Was Pulled Into a Batch

To determine whether a time entry transaction has been included in a Payroll or Billing batch, and to find the related paycheck or invoice number:

1. Open the record in Time Entry.
2. Double-click the candidate’s name to open Card View.
3. In the right-side tab menu, click Open.
4. This view shows whether the transaction has been pulled into any Payroll or Billing batch, and the corresponding paycheck/invoice number.

“Billing Complete” Error When Adjusting Billed Hours to Zero

If you get an error that a time entry is in a billing batch when trying to set billed hours to zero after the Time Entry batch is closed: transactions with a $0 bill are automatically marked Billing complete, which blocks further adjustments to billed hours after the batch closes. This is expected behavior, not a bug — if you need to adjust billed hours, do it before closing the batch.

No Transactions Appear in the Payment Batch After Removing a Paycheck Correction

If you can’t void a paycheck and no transactions appear in the payment batch after removing a paycheck correction:

1. Discard the problematic payroll batch(es).
2. Confirm the associated Time Entry batch is completed.
3. Create a new Payroll batch and post it.
4. After posting, generate and send the ACH file to the bank.

Employees/Candidates Disappearing From a Batch View

If employees or candidates seem to disappear from a payroll or time entry batch after adding a new one, it’s usually an active filter, not a data problem:

1. Navigate to the Time Entry/QuickPlace grid in the batch view.
2. Locate the Clear Filters control (a box-with-a-slash icon to the left of the furthest column).
3. Click it to remove all active filters.
4. All employees/candidates in the batch will repopulate and become visible again.

Updating a Batch Description After It’s Been Created

Avionté doesn’t allow editing a batch’s Description field after creation. Workaround:

1. Create a new Time Entry batch and enter the correct Description during setup.
2. In the original batch, use Mass Update to delete the existing transactions.
3. In the new batch, use Create Transaction to pull the transactions back in under the new batch’s (correct) Description.

Severe Batch Errors From a Missing WC Code or Worksite Address

If a payroll time entry batch shows severe errors that persist after corrections:

1. Open the Job Order in BOLD and go to the Operations and Financials section.
2. Add or confirm a valid Workers’ Compensation (WC) Code.
3. Confirm a Worksite Address is set on the Job Order. If none are available, add a Company address on the Company record first, then return to the Job Order to select it.
4. Save your changes and refresh the time entry batch — this should clear the severe errors.

Correcting Outdated WC Codes on Existing Transactions

If a batch error is caused by an outdated WC code already attached to a transaction (rather than a missing one on the Job Order itself):

1. Go to Time Entry > Sheet View.
2. Right-click the affected transaction(s) and select Update from Order/Assignment to refresh the WC code from the current assignment.
3. If that doesn’t resolve it, open the transaction in Card View and check the Snapshot panel on the right to see which WC code is actually associated with it, then correct it manually.
4. Re-verify the payroll batch to confirm the errors cleared.

Handling Missed Payroll Entries (Without a Full Correction)

If an employee’s hours were missed after payroll was already completed, you don’t need a full payroll correction:

1. Create a new Time Entry batch and enter the missed hours for that employee.
2. Process the new batch like a normal payroll run.

This pays the employee for the missed hours without altering the already-completed payroll run.

Payroll Export Errors, and Exported Files That Look Wrong

If you hit an error exporting payroll time from Avionté Classic:

1. Close Avionté Classic completely and log back in.
2. Check export settings — make sure all required option boxes are checked at login (e.g., prompts enabling export components).
3. Verify the export file path. If it includes a year folder or filename (e.g., 2025), update it to the current year (e.g., 2026) before exporting again.

If an exported payroll file (for example, to a check register or third-party payroll system) is missing data or formatted incorrectly, re-run the export after confirming the source report data looks correct on screen first.

A Payroll Report Won’t Generate

If a payroll report fails to run or returns no results:

1. Confirm the pay period and date range parameters match a period that has been processed.
2. Confirm you have permission to view the report — see A Payroll Report Is Missing From the Reports Menu below.

A Payroll Report Is Missing From the Reports Menu

If you don’t see a payroll report you expect to see, you likely need to be granted access to it.

1. Go to Admin Tools > Report.
2. Search for and select the report.
3. Select the User radio button, check the box for your user, and click Save.
4. Restart Back Office to see the report in your Reports menu.

Missing SUI Employer Rate or Missing WC Rate

Two related error messages and their fixes:

Resolving a missing SUI employer rate:

1. Navigate to Admin Tools > Employer > Tax.
2. Click Add New and add the state-specific SUI ER tax.
3. Enter the rate (from your official tax documents/state resources) and save.
4. Reprocess payroll or reprint the check to clear the error.

Resolving a missing WC rate:

1. Navigate to Admin Tools > Supplier > [Your Supplier] > WC Code tab.
2. Identify the WC code entry that lacks a current rate.
3. Add a valid rate for the applicable date range and save.
4. Before troubleshooting further, confirm the employee’s transaction is mapped to the correct job/assignment (see the note above) — a “missing rate” error can also mean “right code, wrong job.”
5. Reprocess payroll to clear the error.

Closing the Accounting Period Fails With Multiple Errors

If you try to close an accounting period and get a block listing several error types at once (for example: partial transactions, Time Entry batches still open or active, transactions with an incorrect Transaction Pay, transactions with no Invoice Record, or transactions with no Payment Record), the underlying cause is almost always leftover, unprocessed Time Entry batches from that period:

1. Identify which Time Entry batch IDs are still open for the period you’re trying to close.
2. Check whether the transactions in those batches were entered under the wrong Accounting Period by mistake (for example, work for a later week entered into an earlier, already-closing period).
3. If the transactions were entered in error and don’t belong in this period: open the batch, use Mass Update > Delete Transactions to discard them, then close the Time Entry batch.
4. If the transactions are legitimate for this period: complete payroll and billing for them first, then try closing the Accounting Period again.
5. Once all Time Entry batches for the period are closed and fully processed, the Accounting Period should close without errors.

There is currently no built-in way to discard an entire batch at once — transactions have to be deleted individually via Mass Update before the batch itself can be closed.

Payroll Warning Messages

W-4 Exempt Status Warning

Warnings about W-4 forms, particularly those marked as exempt, typically indicate that an employee’s W-4 is outdated. These warnings are not blocking errors, meaning you can proceed with payroll processing, but they highlight the need for corrective action to ensure compliance. Here’s how to address them:

1. Understand the warning: it signifies that an employee’s W-4 is marked as exempt but is no longer valid due to being outdated. This can lead to incorrect tax withholding on paychecks.
2. Update the W-4 form: have the employee complete and submit an updated W-4 form. This ensures proper tax withholding and removes the warning from the system.
3. Proceed with payroll if necessary: while the warning persists, you can still approve payroll. However, updating the W-4 is strongly recommended to avoid future compliance issues.