Payroll History

This guide assists payroll admin users in accessing payroll history and understanding the information available on the Payroll History page. The Payroll History page facilitates post-payroll tasks, enabling users to audit previous payrolls, respond to employee inquiries, and review payroll statuses and reminders. Admin users can access this feature after processing their first payroll in BambooHR. The page displays pay cycles for the current year, with options to search, filter, and export data. Users can view detailed information about each pay cycle, including employee count, payroll ID, status, transfer amount, reminders, and reports. The timeline section aids in auditing the payroll process by displaying significant status changes. Filters applied will also affect exported data.

  • Oct 21, 2025
  • Knowledge

Title
Payroll History
Article Text
Payroll history is part of Payroll that is an add-on feature.

How do I view payroll history for previous pay cycles? 

Purpose: This guide will show payroll admin users how to access their payroll history and what information they can find on the Payroll History page.

Table of Contents:

Payroll History Overview

The goal of the Payroll History page is to make post-payroll tasks easy to facilitate. Below are a few examples of how payroll history could benefit your business operations: 

  • Auditing previous payrolls and their timeline of events
  • Quick access to information from past payrolls in the case of one-off questions from employees
  • Reviewing the status of a payroll
  • Reviewing past payroll reminders
  • Pulling payroll report data for a specific pay cycle

After you process your very first payroll in BambooHR, a left arrow will appear on the payroll carousel at the top of the Payroll tab. Clicking that button will reveal a Payroll History button that payroll admins can click to view and export data from past pay cycles. 

The Payroll History page is available to the Account Owner, Full Admins, Payroll Admins, Payroll Admins (Non-Approvers), and custom payroll access users with access to reporting. Those users without access to reporting will not see the Payroll History button on the Payroll tab. 

Payroll History Page

By default, the Payroll History page displays a list of pay cycles within the current year. You can manage the page using the following functions: 

  1. Search: You can search your payroll history by pay cycle ID or reminders.
  2. Filter: You can filter the page by pay cycle name, year, and payroll type. 
  3. Show [20XX]: Change the year of the payroll history you would like to view.
  4. Export: Easily export your payroll history as an Excel or CSV file. The downloaded file will be named “Payroll History [20XX]” and include the following fields: 
    • Pay Schedule
    • Pay Period
    • Pay Date
    • Employee Count
    • Pay Cycle ID Status
    • Transfer Amount 
    • Reminders
    • Payroll Timeline

Filters applied to the payroll history page will also apply to the export.

Click on a pay cycle name to reveal more information about the specific payroll. You will be able to access the following information: 

  1. Employee Count: The total number of employees included and paid within that pay cycle.
  2. Payroll ID: Your company payroll ID and the pay cycle ID will be displayed here. These numbers come in handy when you call into Support with payroll-specific questions.
  3. Status: The Status field will help you determine whether or not payroll funds have been processed.
  4. Transfer Amount: The Transfer Amount is the total wire/electronic amount needed to fund the payroll.
  5. View Approved Payroll: Clicking the blue View Approved Payroll hyperlink will take you to the Approved Payroll page for the specific pay cycle.  
  6. Reminders: Completed payroll reminders created for this pay cycle will appear here, along with who completed them and the timestamp. If you create more than 3 reminders, a "More" button will display. Clicking More will allow you to view the rest of the reminders. Please note you will not be able to mark reminders complete after payroll has been processed.
  7. Reports: A list of all 16 Pay Date reports for the pay cycle will appear for you to access and review quickly. You can download these reports the same way you would be able to on the Payroll Reports tab.
  8. Timeline: The timeline section can help you carefully audit every step of your payroll process for that pay period by displaying important status changes outside of editing the payroll run. These status changes include who completed the action and the date it was completed. Payroll statuses include:
    1. Payroll Started
    2. Payroll Reset
    3. Funds Processed
    4. Payroll Approved
    5. Payroll Deleted
    6. Pay Date Moved
    7. Late Fee Accepted
    8. Funds Processed
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