Adjustments and exports

Manual adjustments are explicit corrections that are not derived from connected sources or automatic rules. They remain separate from source-derived resolutions.

Prerequisites

• An open, selected payroll period.
• Account-administrator authorization for live adjustment changes.
• A valid reviewed payee.
• For a historical import, an explicitly enabled workflow and the retained manual-adjustment CSV for the exact period.

Create an adjustment

1. Open Adjustments.
2. Choose the payee. Use All payees only when the screen offers it and that is the intended correction.
3. Enter an optional operating date and location.
4. Enter a non-zero USD amount. Negative amounts are supported for corrections.
5. Choose Tips, Wages, or Other.
6. Confirm the pay type; the default is manual_adjustment.
7. Add a clear note explaining the reason.
8. Select Create adjustment.

The adjustment is applied after automatic earnings. It remains distinguishable in employee totals and audit views.

Import historical adjustment history

1. Confirm the selected period.
2. Under Historical decision import, choose the retained manual-adjustment CSV format requested for that exact period.
3. Select Import adjustment history.
4. Review imported, previously existing, active, voided, and active-total counts.

Use this import only when the historical decision workflow is enabled and support has confirmed the expected file. It is not a general upload for creating arbitrary payroll rules.

Void an adjustment

1. Find the active record in Adjustment list.
2. Select Void.
3. Add a correcting adjustment if needed.

Voiding preserves the audit record. Hard deletion is not available.

Download output files

1. Open Payroll result.
2. Review source, exception, employee, adjustment, and calculation checks.
3. Download individual available files, or check Totals and files reviewed and download the reviewed set.

Expected result

Adjustments remain distinguishable in payroll totals and retained audit history. Available output files download only after PayCanvas verifies your signed-in account access. Recheck the current calculation and totals after a correction before using any downloaded file.

Current limitation: File download is available, but official export to a payroll provider, run locking, payroll approval, email delivery, submission, and payment are not enabled. The review checkbox does not change the run's status.

The MCP connector cannot create arbitrary adjustments, void them, or download exports. Its adjustment permission only copies an exact confirmed selection of existing active employee adjustments into one open period. See the copy workflow.

Troubleshooting

• Adjustment entry is disabled: the period is not open, your role is insufficient, or live mutations are disabled.
• Zero amount rejected: enter a non-zero correction.
• Import rejected: verify that the file is the expected CSV for the selected period; do not alter private identifiers to force a match.
• No output files: calculate the period and resolve any result-generation blocker first.

Related articles

• Exceptions and resolutions
• Audit trails, evidence, and version history
• Creating and reviewing payroll runs