MosoFin skill · payroll-journal-entry-builder · learning guide

From one payroll register to entries that you can post

This page shows how the skill turns a payroll register into journal entries, one level at a time. It starts with the three amounts in one pay run. It ends with the checks that the skill runs before a person posts anything. The page quotes every rule from the skill and works every number in front of you.

The rules are the skill's ownThe page quotes each rule word for word, with the file and section it comes from.

Outside sources back the factsThey are two sections of an OpenStax textbook, two IRS pages and a US Department of Labor page. Each one has a number and a link.

The page shows the mathOpen "Check it yourself" on any level. Follow every line on a calculator.

Your numbers, your checkAt the end, enter the totals of your own register. The page builds the two entries and the split. It has no tax rate field.

Rule: quoted from the skill Fact: from a cited authority, numbered like ¹ Example: made-up figures, calculated in full

How it thinks

Twelve rules the whole skill runs on

Every level below applies one or more of these rules. The example is the same made-up Northbrook Trading as the payroll reconciliation and payroll clearing reconciliation pages. Those pages check payroll after a person posts it. This skill builds the entries before anybody posts them. Northbrook keeps its books in US dollars on the accrual basis. The owner runs the skill on Wednesday 23 September 2026.

The skill's own read-back pays the September run on Friday 25 September, and this page follows it. The other payroll pages pay the same run on Wednesday 30 September. The amounts are the same. Every tax amount comes from the register of PayrollCo, Northbrook's payroll provider. This page applies no tax rate.

Northbrook's answers to the eight intake questions

Use MosoFin, or upload the data? MosoFin for the chart and the books. Gate 1 finds only the QuickBooks company file "Northbrook Trading" and no payroll platform. So the owner uploads the register, and the skill labels it [manual], supplied by the owner.
Which entity, and which run? Northbrook Trading, one entity. All the people in the run work for it.
Pay period, pay date and basis. Pay period 1 to 30 September, pay date Friday 25 September. Accrual basis.
The payroll register. PayrollCo's register for the September monthly run, as a CSV file. It shows 12 employees paid and the totals of each component.
Employer costs. They are in the register: social security and Medicare $3,450, the 401(k) match $1,000 and state unemployment $150.
A payroll clearing account? Yes: 2200 Payroll clearing. MosoFin shows that it carries payroll-cycle movement, and the owner agrees.
The split basis. Headcount. The owner decides this. The department dimension exists, but it does not give a basis.
Capitalised labour. None in this run. The software project stopped on 31 August. July and August each sent $2,000 of office pay to 1700 Software in development.

The skill then reads back the scope and waits for a yes. This is the card's own sample. This page adds only "accrual basis", because the sample does not give the basis.

“Building the payroll journal for Northbrook Trading's monthly run for September (pay period 1–30 September, pay date 25 September), from the register you uploaded, against the chart read from your Mosofin connection. Net pay through the payroll clearing account; wages and employer costs split by department on headcount; no capitalised labour. Shall I go ahead?”

Then it names the file and reports the period, the 12 people paid and the totals of each component. It never repeats the line of one employee.

Learning path

Six levels, from simple to complex

Check it yourself

Build your own payroll entries

Enter the totals of your own register, or load an example. The page runs the arithmetic of Steps 2 to 7 from references/method.md. It has no tax rate field. Every amount comes from your register. The page sends nothing anywhere.

The register Gross pay Net pay, from the register

#Employee withholdingAmount

Employer costs, on top of gross

#Employer costAmount

Split and funding

#DepartmentHeadcount

Capitalised labour, to an asset account Net pay goes to A draft's wages debit (optional)

Period-end accrual (optional) Wages or overtime of the last run for the period Working days in that period Working days earned, not paid Ratio: employer cost of the last run Ratio: gross pay of the last run

The page splits each expense line by headcount and rounds each share to the cent. The department with the largest headcount gets the remaining cent, so the split adds to the total. That cent rule is the example's choice. Capitalised labour leaves the wages expense and goes to the asset account. Everything here is a proposal. A person decides and posts each entry.

Using it

What it asks, needs and gives back

Asks firstEight things, in one message. Use MosoFin, or upload the data? Which entity and which run? The pay period, the pay date and the basis. Then the register, the employer costs, the clearing account, the split basis and any capitalised labour.

NeedsThe payroll register with totals by component, and the chart of accounts. It recommends the prior payroll journals, the liability and clearing balances, and the funding details.

Gives backThe proposed entries and a workpaper with eight sheets. It makes the Excel file only on a yes, for example Payroll_JE_2026-09-25_Northbrook Trading.xlsx.

NeverThe skill never reads your data before your yes to the read-back. It never writes or posts, and never shows the pay of one person. It never invents an account and never chooses a mapping, a split basis or a capitalisation for you. It never saves an amount.

After a person posts the entries, payroll reconciliation checks the quarter against the bank and the filings. Payroll clearing reconciliation finds what stays in 2200.

Sources

Where every fact on this page comes from

The rules are the skill's own. The facts below come from five outside sources. They are two sections of an OpenStax textbook, a US Department of Labor page and two IRS pages. MosoFin checked each one on 28 October 2026 from search results and did not open the pages. Follow the link for today's wording.

Not backed by an outside authority. The two-entry rule, the line tie, the run comparison and the ESTIMATE rule are the skill's own. So are the eight sheets and the [auto], [gated] and [manual] verdicts. The textbook accrues wages only. The rule that adds the employer costs to the accrual is the skill's rule. MosoFin made up Northbrook Trading, PayrollCo and every figure in the examples. The 5% limit, the cent rule and the cost ratio in the accrual are the example's choices, not a rule or a tax rate.