SimplePay Payroll API Integration: Turn Payroll into Your Data Hub
You already run payroll in SimplePay. The problem is everything around it: employee records, leave balances, Sage or Xero journals, and bank files still move by CSV export and retyped payslips. Ops and finance leads feel that as Friday cut-off fire drills and month-end that never quite ties.
We build the SimplePay API integration that ends the spreadsheet bridges.
Sound Familiar?
These are the exact issues ops and finance leads bring us when SimplePay is the payroll engine but every other system stays siloed:
- Every pay cycle ends with CSV exports from SimplePay into Sage, Xero, or a bank portal, then re-keying until the numbers match
- New hires land in HRIS or CRM first, then someone retypes ID numbers, bank details, and cost centres into SimplePay by hand
- Leave balances live in one system and pay runs in another, so unpaid days and accruals drift until someone notices on a payslip
- Month-end payroll journals take half a day to rebuild in accounting, and one wrong account code throws the whole reconciliation
- Bank files are rebuilt from scratch each cycle because employee banking changes never reached SimplePay before cut-off
SimplePay's native accounting connectors cover Xero and QuickBooks Online only. Sage Accounting, custom HRIS platforms, leave systems, and bank portals sit outside that path. If you are still exporting CSVs every cycle, the SimplePay API is the reliable way to close the loop.
What SimplePay API Integration Actually Does
Hire or leave event → SimplePay updates → journals and bank files ready → month-end closes clean. No human copying between systems.
Event Hits HR / CRM
New hire, banking change, leave approval, or finalised pay run triggers the flow
SimplePay Stays Current
Employee master, leave, and payslip data update via the SimplePay API before cut-off
Accounting & Banking Feed
Pay-run journals post to Sage or Xero; bank files generate from clean employee banking data
Ops Reviews Exceptions Only
Month-end ties without rebuilding CSVs; your team signs off instead of retyping
Everything You Need for a Reliable SimplePay Hub
Employee Master Sync
Name, ID number, bank details, cost centre, and pay point stay aligned between your HRIS or CRM and SimplePay, so payroll stops chasing stale records.
Pay-Run Export to Accounting
When a pay run finalises, salary, PAYE, UIF, SDL, and deduction lines post into Xero, Sage, or QuickBooks with the right GL mapping. No CSV middleman.
Leave Balance Alignment
Approved leave and unpaid days sync into SimplePay before cut-off, so payslips reflect what HR already approved and leave liability stays audit-ready.
New-Hire Push from HRIS / CRM
When someone is marked hired, their profile opens in SimplePay with the fields payroll needs. First payslip readiness stops being a five-day chase.
Bank File Readiness
Banking detail changes and pay-point updates land in SimplePay before you generate the bank file, so you are not rebuilding payment batches from a spreadsheet.
Exception Alerts Before Cut-Off
Missing bank details, unmapped leave codes, and failed journal posts surface before you finalise the run, not after employees open their payslips.
Systems We've Connected Around SimplePay
From 11 Hours/Week to 1.5 Hours/Week
How an 85-person Cape Town professional services firm stopped rebuilding SimplePay CSVs into Sage every pay cycle.
The Manual Process
- Ops retyped new hires and banking changes from HRIS into SimplePay before every cut-off
- Leave register compared to SimplePay line by line so unpaid days did not slip through
- Pay-run totals exported to CSV, then rebuilt as Sage journals with GL codes checked by hand
- Bank file regenerated whenever an employee account change landed late
- Month-end took two extra days while payroll, leave, and the ledger were forced to agree
The Automated Process
- HRIS hires and banking updates push into SimplePay via API before cut-off
- Approved leave syncs so payslips and leave balances stay aligned
- Finalised pay runs post mapped journals into Sage without a CSV rebuild
- Bank files generate from current employee banking data already in SimplePay
- Ops reviews exception alerts only, then signs off the run
Before vs After SimplePay Integration
How It Works
From first conversation to live SimplePay API integration in 2–5 weeks.
Tell Us Your Setup
Which systems sit around SimplePay today, what you export by hand each cycle, and where employee data goes wrong.
Free Scoping Call
30-minute call to map employee sync, pay-run journals, leave write-back, and bank-file timing into one integration plan.
Build & Test
We build against the SimplePay API, map fields and GL codes, and run parallel for one full pay cycle against your current CSVs.
Go Live & Monitor
Switch off the spreadsheet bridges. Monitoring flags exceptions before the next cut-off so ops stays in control.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a SimplePay API integration take to set up?
A focused one-way sync (for example new hires into SimplePay, or pay-run journals into accounting) can be live within 1–2 weeks. A broader hub covering employee master sync, leave balances, pay-run export, and bank-file readiness typically takes 3–5 weeks from scoping to go-live, including a parallel pay-cycle test.
SimplePay already connects to Xero and QuickBooks. Why would we need a custom integration?
Those native connectors cover journal posting for those two ledgers. They do not sync employee master data from your HRIS or CRM, push leave balances, feed Sage Accounting, or keep bank files ready when banking details change outside SimplePay. If your stack goes beyond Xero or QuickBooks alone, the SimplePay API is how you close the gap.
Will this disrupt our monthly pay run?
No. We design every write to land before your payroll cut-off, and we run a full parallel cycle against your current process before switching anything off. Payroll managers keep their existing review and finalisation steps; the data simply arrives ready.
What employee and pay data can the SimplePay API actually move?
In practice we sync create, update, and terminate employee profiles, pull payslip and pay-run figures for accounting, record leave and read leave balances, and keep the fields payroll needs for bank files and cost centres. Exact field maps depend on your HRIS, leave system, and ledger.
We use Sage Accounting, not Xero. Can you still post payroll journals?
Yes. SimplePay's native accounting connectors focus on Xero and QuickBooks Online. For Sage Accounting and other ledgers we build the journal export through the SimplePay API so salary, tax, and deduction lines land on the correct GL accounts without a CSV rekey.
How much does SimplePay API integration cost?
Simple one-way syncs start from around R15,000. Broader hubs with employee master sync, leave alignment, pay-run journals, and bank-file readiness typically range from R25,000 to R60,000. Most mid-market teams spending 8+ hours a week on payroll spreadsheet bridges recover that within a few pay cycles.
Stop Rekeying SimplePay Data Every Pay Cycle
If ops and finance are still exporting CSVs from SimplePay into Sage, Xero, leave registers, or bank portals, you are funding a problem the SimplePay API already solves.
Tell us which systems sit around SimplePay today, what you export by hand each cycle, and where employee or leave data goes wrong. We will show you exactly how a payroll hub integration would work for your cut-off.