Leave balances should generally only be adjusted when a genuine correction is required — for example, if leave has been missed or employee records are being migrated into SmoothPay.
If your leave settings are correct and leave has been properly recorded as part of each pay process, manual adjustments should rarely be necessary. Adjustments should not be used as a substitute for processing leave through the pay process, as changes made this way are not reflected on payslips in the same way and may lack supporting audit detail.
There are three methods available to adjust leave balances:
Adding a manual transaction - Directly increases or decreases the anniversary balance by the amount specified.
Using the spanner button (to-date calculation) - Automatically adjusts the anniversary balance to achieve a specific to-date balance, based on the current period end.
Importing leave balances (Owner only) - Allows importing balances either as fixed figures or calculated to-date values, based on the current period end.
Adding a manual transaction
Use this method when you need to make a one-off correction or minor adjustment to an employee’s balance, such as:
An accrual or use of leave missed in a previous pay process
Correcting an isolated error for one employee
Adjusting balances following a verified historical correction
Establishing a take-on balance as part of a migration
This method is best for individual employees where the change can be clearly documented.
⚠️ Important: Always include a detailed comment explaining the reason for the adjustment, as this becomes part of the employee’s leave history.
Making an adjustment with this method
To add a manual transaction:
Go to the Staff screen.
Select the employee you need to amend.
Select the Leave tab
Select the nested Entitlement tab
Select the leave type you need to adjust.
Click the + button at the bottom of the leave history column.
A modal will then appear, allowing you to create a new transaction.
Complete the form as follows:
Date - Automatically populates with today’s date. It’s recommended to leave this as-is.
Comment - Describe the reason for the adjustment, including relevant dates where possible. The more detail provided, the easier the adjustment will be to audit later.
Units - Enter a positive value to increase the balance, or a negative value to reduce it. The units correspond to the type displayed to the right of the field (e.g., hours, days, or weeks).
Once completed, click Save.
The transaction will appear in the leave history column and increase or decrease the anniversary balance accordingly.
Spanner button (to-date calculation)
Use this method when you need to bring a to-date balance into alignment with your records or another system without manually calculating the anniversary adjustment.
This method automatically calculates the required anniversary balance to reach the desired to-date balance.
It’s particularly useful for:
Correcting small discrepancies between the system’s to-date balance and verified records
Re-aligning balances after adjusting the period end or last anniversary date
Bulk reconfigurations where the jurisdiction uses a to-date liability rather than an anniversary-only model
Before processing:
This option can only be used where the leave type supports a to-date liability calculation; the spanner button will not appear if this is the case. Adding a manual adjustment must be used instead.
The spanner option will also not appear if the current period end is before the employee's last anniversary date.
Determine which period end the to-date balance will be calculated from.
Making an adjustment with this method
First, the period end needs to be aligned with the adjustment:
Click the Pay dates button on the navigation bar
Set the Period end date to the date that the calculation will be based on
Click Save
Then make the adjustment to the leave balance:
Go to the Staff screen
Select the employee whose leave balance you want to adjust
Select the Leave tab
Select the nested History tab
Select the leave type from the leave type column
Click the spanner button next to the balance, below the summary on the right
In the field The leave balance should be, enter the desired to-date balance.
Click Save
A transaction will appear in the leave history column. It will show as a positive or negative entry depending on whether the anniversary balance needed to increase or decrease to reach the desired to-date balance.
Example
Below is an example of a to-date balance leave adjustment:
Accrual rate: 10 days
Current period end: 12.10.2025
Last anniversary date: 29.09.2025
Desired to-date balance: 5.5 days
Resulting adjustment: +5.144 days to the anniversary balance
This is because:
There are 13 days between 29.09.2025 and 12.10.2025.
The pro-rated portion is calculated as: (10 ÷ 365) × 13 = 0.356 days.
To achieve a total of 5.5 days to-date, the anniversary balance must therefore increase by 5.144 days (5.5 − 0.356).
Importing leave balances (Owner only)
This method should not be attempted without first consulting the FlexiCSV guide and having a comprehensive understanding of how FlexiCSV operates.
It can only be performed by the account Owner or support staff, and it’s generally recommended that you work with Support for imports of this nature — an incorrect import can be difficult (and sometimes impossible) to fully reverse.
When to use this method
Use this import process only when a bulk update is required, such as:
Migrating employee data from another payroll system
Rebuilding lost or corrupted leave balances from verified records
Aligning balances after a change in accrual method or configuration
If your adjustments affect only one or two employees, it’s safer to add manual transactions or use the spanner button instead.
Before importing, decide whether the anniversary balance will be:
Updated to a set anniversary balance "residual balance"
Updated using a to-date calculation "balance to-date"
Preparing your CSV
Create a CSV file containing the balances to be imported, formatted as follows:
badge# | leave code | residual balance / balance to-date |
100 | ANNUAL | 5.5 |
101 | ANNUAL | 5 |
Column definitions:
badge# - The employee record that needs to be amended
leave code - The leave type to be adjusted (should link by abbreviation or alias codes)
residual balance / balance to-date - The target balance, depending on which method you’ve selected
Before importing your CSV file
Perform a backup of your data.
Set the required period end if using the to-date calculation method.
Importing the file
Open the FlexiCSV import tool
Select the DEV: Leave balances import profile.
When mapping headers, choose either Residual balance or Balance to-date — whichever method matches your spreadsheet.
Review the mapping for accuracy before confirming the import.
After the import completes
Review the audit trail report to confirm that all transactions were processed without error.
Spot-check balances in the Staff screen with the Leave and nested History tab selected to ensure the imported results match expectations.
If any discrepancies or errors occur
Restore your backup
Correct the CSV
Re-import the CSV via FlexiCSV