Why Should I Import Historic Gross Earnings For A Migrated Employee?

Lightning Payroll uses the last 52 weeks of gross earnings to calculate Average Weekly Earnings (AWE), one of the inputs to annual holiday and leave valuation. For an employee migrated mid-year, you can import historic gross earnings from the previous payroll so AWE is accurate from day one.

Why it matters

• Annual holiday pay is valued at the higher of AWE or Ordinary Weekly Pay.
• Without historic data, AWE only includes pays processed inside Lightning Payroll, which can understate the rate for migrated employees.
• The historic gross data does not create real pays - it only feeds the AWE calculation.

How to import historic gross earnings

1. Open the employee list and click the historic gross earnings import.
2. Prepare a CSV with one row per pre-Lightning Payroll pay period and the columns:
   • pay_date - the date the pay was paid.
   • gross_earnings - the gross earnings for that pay.
   • employee_number or ird_number - to match the row to an employee.
3. Select the CSV and confirm the import.

How far back to import

Cover at least 52 weeks before the migration date so the full AWE lookback is populated. Importing more than 52 weeks of history is allowed but has no effect on the calculation.

This import is separate from the YTD payroll totals used for the tax year. See the migration totals FAQ for that step.