Glossary of Terms

A

ABA: This refers to a standard file format that is used for quickly uploading employee payments to banks. This is also referenced as an "EFT file" in ClockOn.

Accruals: A generic term for an accumulation and can be considered as a simple record or as a means of tracking employee compensation. In ClockOn this usually relates to leave entitlements with accrual rates set in the Rule Set.

Active Licenses: Located in the Subscription Manager this shows the number of employees counted toward the subscription.

Activity Summary: A report showing rostered hours, worked hours and cost breakdowns including allowances and paid amounts.

Additional Annual Leave: A ClockOn-specific leave category for employees deemed “Shift Workers”.

Additional Tax: An allowance that increases the tax portion withheld from an employee’s gross earnings.

After Tax: Usually describes allowances paid after tax and super calculations.

Allowance Set: A list of allowances assigned to an award template, applied across linked employees.

Approve: Timesheet feature that confirms warnings and applies payroll rules.

Australian Business Number (ABN): Unique identifier for Australian businesses used for STP reporting along with Branch Number and BMS ID.

Auto Fill: Timesheet feature that auto-completes based on shift details.

Award: Container for ClockOn rule sets, rate sets and allowance sets used to automate payroll.

---

B

Bank Clearing House: A financial institution that processes ABA uploads and disburses payroll funds.

Before Tax: Payroll amounts before tax deduction.

BMS ID: Unique serial number identifying payroll software for ATO STP reporting.

Branch Number: Used with the ABN to uniquely identify a company with the ATO.

Breaks (Timesheets): Rest periods recorded in timesheets, either paid or unpaid.

---

C

Casual: Employment type without guaranteed ongoing hours. Casuals normally do not accrue paid leave but receive a loading.

Casual Leave Loading: Percentage uplift applied to hourly rate for casual employees.

Cessation Type: ATO-defined termination reasons required in STP submissions.

Child Support (Deduction): Mandatory deduction from employee after-tax income under Services Australia direction.

Child Support (Garnishee): A stronger enforcement method that may override Protected Earnings rules.

ClockOn Desktop: Legacy ClockOn system using a local database install.

ClockOn GO: Mobile app for employees to clock work times, view rosters, request leave and access payslips.

CDEP: Former federal program replaced by CDP and later RJED.

Compassionate Leave: Also called Bereavement Leave. NES entitlement for death or life-threatening illness of immediate family.

Contractor: Independent worker operating under a commercial agreement rather than employment.

Cost Summary: Reports summarising gross, tax, GST and super amounts.

Custom ID: Optional ID field used in imports and integrations.

---

D

Department: Subcategory of a location used for costing and organisational structure.

Disaggregated Gross: Itemised breakdown of earnings required for STP Phase 2.

Document Template: Pre-filled template used during employee onboarding for items like employment contracts.

---

E

EBA: Enterprise Bargaining Agreement between employer and employees covering wages and conditions.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Ensures fair access and no discrimination in employment.

EFT Banking Summary: Report showing net payments and bank details.

Email Payslips: Bulk sending of payslips via email.

Employee: Person engaged under an Australian employment contract with entitlements.

Employee Allowances: Adjustments outside timesheets including bonuses, deductions or corrections.

Employee Groups: Controls access to self-service features like GO and the employee portal.

Employee Onboarding: Process of capturing initial employee details including optional contract generation and right-to-work checks.

Employee Portal: Employee self-service features available in ClockOn Pro.

Employer: Entity responsible for pay, record keeping, super and WHS under Fair Work Act.

Employment Anniversary: Annual date used for service recognition and leave calculations.

Export: Menu category for bank ABA, STP, SAFF and integration exports.

---

F

Flare Benefits: Employee benefits platform integrated via ClockOn onboarding.

Flat Loading: Casual loading options in rule sets.

Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT): Employer tax on certain non-cash benefits.

---

G

Geofence: Virtual radius around a location for authorised clock-ins.

Gross Type: STP category defining employment type.

---

H

HECS: Student loan repayment system deducted via income tax.

HELP: Successor to HECS.

Hourly Rate: Pay rate per hour or calculated equivalent of a salary.

HR: Human Resources – management of employee records, leave, hiring and compliance.

---

I

Industry Hours: Accumulated hours used to determine rate increases.

Integration Wizard: Tool to transfer costings and journal entries to other systems.

Irregular Payroll: Payroll where employee hours vary week to week.

---

J

Job Keeper: Temporary COVID-19 wage subsidy program.

Journal (Account ID): Identifier linking payroll items to accounting systems.

Journal (Credit): Liability amounts such as tax or wages payable.

Journal (Debit): Payroll expenses like wages and super.

Journal (Job Code): Assigns payroll costs to projects or cost centres.

Journal (Tax Code): Ensures BAS compliance.

Journal (Tracking Names): Used for Xero cost allocation.

Journal Report: Report of payroll-related ledger entries.

---

K

Kiosk: Tablet app for PIN-based employee clocking.

---

L

Leave Accrual (Pro-Rata Down): Adjusting full entitlement proportionally when fewer hours are worked.

Leave Accrual (Pro-Rata Up): Increasing leave accrual when working more than the standard schedule.

Leave Entitlements: Types and amounts of leave an employee can access.

Leave Loading: Extra payment added to annual leave.

Liability: Employer financial obligations.

Loading: Additional percentage added to wages in certain conditions.

Location: Organisational unit used for payroll and costing.

Long Service Leave: Leave entitlement after long service, including casuals.

---

M

Manager Category: Classification for employees in managerial roles.

Minimum Wage: Minimum legal hourly pay rate.

MYOB: Australian accounting software with ClockOn integration.

---

N

Net Pay: Employee take-home earnings after tax and deductions.

Non-Rostered Shifts: Timesheets without linked working-week shifts.

Novated Lease: Car lease arrangement via salary packaging.

---

O

Occupational Category: Defines type/level of work for award and pay purposes.

Onboarding Checklist: Set of tasks assigned to new employees or managers.

Overtime: Hours worked beyond reasonable contractual limits.

Overtime (Periodic): Triggers overtime after set hours across multiple periods.

Overtime (Rate Sheet): Defines the rate tiers for overtime.

Overtime (Cumulative): Overtime based on total hours in a period.

Overtime (Time Based): Overtime triggered by start/end times or shift length.

---

P

Parental Leave: Leave taken following a child’s birth, sometimes with government payments.

Personal Leave: Leave for illness or personal emergencies.

Payday Super: Paying super at or around payday.

Pay Period: Time window for payroll calculation.

PAYG Allowance: Regular instalment tax payments.

PAYG Location: Determines where an allowance is allocated.

Pay Higher Of: Selects the most beneficial pay condition for the employee.

Payroll: System for calculating earnings, deductions and taxes.

Payroll – End Date: Last day of the payroll period.

Payroll – Payment Date: Day wages are transferred.

Payroll – Start Date: First day of payroll period.

Payroll Tax: Obligatory employer tax above state thresholds.

Payroll Tax Percent: Rate applied to taxable wages.

Payslip: Document detailing earnings and deductions.

Penalty: Extra payment for working unfavourable hours.

Phone Support: Paid access to ClockOn’s support team.

Primary Manager: Manager responsible for approvals and oversight.

Protected Earnings Amount (PEA): Minimum income employee must retain after deductions.

Public Holidays: Government-declared non-working days.

Publish: Makes a roster visible to employees.

---

Q

Qualifications: Recorded certifications required for roles.

---

R

Rates (Timesheet): Overridden hourly rate applied for specific time blocks.

Rate Set: Minimum hourly rates by employee category.

RDO: Rostered Day Off accrued through additional hours worked.

Recall To Work: Returning an employee outside normal hours.

Registered Agent: BAS/tax agent authorised to submit STP.

Reimbursement: Repayment of employee expenses.

RSEC: Reportable Employer Super Contributions.

Role: Work position used in rosters and location configuration.

Rollback: Reverses payroll in the system only.

Roster: Scheduling feature for employee shifts.

Roster Costs: Estimated payroll costs for rostered hours.

Roster (Employee View): Shows employees vertically with hours worked.

Roster (Role View): Shows required roles with assigned shifts.

Roster (Templates): Pre-built shifts for fast rostering.

Rounding: Rounds timesheet times to rules set in the rule set.

Rule Set: Collection of payroll rules including rounding, overtime and leave.

---

S

S.I.C: Code defining the business industry.

Salary: Fixed remuneration for employee services.

Salary Sacrifice (Employee): Reduced salary in exchange for benefits.

Salary Sacrifice (Super): Foregoing pay for additional super contributions.

Secondary Manager: Alternative manager for approvals.

Self-Managed Super: A super fund managed by the individual.

Shift: Scheduled block of work hours.

Shift Worker: Employee working irregular or non-standard hours.

Single Touch Payroll (STP): Mandatory ATO payroll reporting each pay cycle.

Special Annual Leave: Additional accrual category for Sunday or public holiday work.

Special Rates: Override of base rate inside timesheets.

Statutory Annual Leave: Legally mandated annual leave entitlement.

STP Intermediary: Entity facilitating automated processing of transactions.

STSL: Student and Training Support Loan program.

Software ID: ATO identifier for payroll software (not used by ClockOn).

Subscribed Licenses: Number of licenses purchased for the organisation.

Subscription – Outsourced Payroll Service (OPS): Fully managed payroll by ClockOn.

Subscription – Starter: Free tier for up to 20 employees with limitations.

Subscription – Pro: Includes rostering, HR and full system functionality.

Subscription – Standard: Mid-tier plan with exports and add-ons.

Subscription Manager: Manages addons, licenses and payment details.

Super: Superannuation payments made by employers and employees.

Super Clearing House: Processes super payments to employee funds.

Super Co-Contribution: After-tax additional employee contribution.

Super Guarantee (SGC): Mandatory minimum super payment.

SAFF: File format for uploading super payments.

---

T

Tax: Payroll amounts withheld for the ATO.

Tax Agent: Qualified agent handling tax matters.

Tax Allowance/Rebate: Adjusts tax payable to increase/decrease net pay.

Tax Category: Determines tax scale used at payroll.

Team: Group assignment for onboarding or internal tasks.

Termination: Finalising employment and paying out balances.

Time In Lieu: Time off instead of overtime payment.

Training: Development of skills and knowledge.

---

U

Unavailability: Employee-entered times they cannot work.

Union Fees: Fees paid by union members.

Up Skilling: Learning new or advanced skills.

---

V

Vocational: Related to work or specific job training.

---

W

Wages and Salary: Monetary compensation for work performed.

WGEA: Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

WPN: Withholding Payer Number issued by the ATO.

Workers Compensation: Employer-funded injury insurance.

WHS: Workplace Health and Safety.

Working Holiday Maker: Visa program allowing work while travelling.

Working Week: Days and hours forming an employee’s standard schedule.

---

X

XERO: Cloud accounting software with ClockOn integration for journals and costings.

---

Y

Year To Date Balances (YTD): Total earnings reported during the financial year.

Year To Date Opening Balances: Starting balances when migrating from another system.

YTD Allowances: Corrections applied inside payroll without affecting totals.