No Native Payroll in Zoho Books? Here’s How We’ve Solved It for Clients

Let’s be honest, if you’ve been using Zoho Books in Australia for any length of time, you’ve probably run into the same headache as everyone else: No built-in payroll.

We all know the catch in using this platform, it’s great for managing your books, goods and services tax (GST), business activity statement (BAS), invoicing, and reporting. But the missing presence of a native payroll has become one of the stubborn holes that’s caused friction for years for the Australian businesses.

Unfortunately, that’s not only a missing feature. For accountants, operations teams, and business owners, it means jumping between systems, double-handling data, and living with disconnected compliance.

But after making this change for one of our clients, we found a smarter way FWRD, and it doesn’t involve a spreadsheet.

CloudPayroll + ZohoBooks: Finally a Working Link

Zoho Books doesn’t currently offer built-in payroll for Australian businesses. CloudPayroll, however, is a trusted local solution designed specifically to meet Australian compliance requirements — including ATO integration, SuperStream, Single Touch Payroll (STP), and detailed leave tracking.

What has changed is this: the new integration between CloudPayroll and Zoho Books finally closes the gap.

Instead of exporting reports or manually re-entering journals, you can now sync CloudPayroll directly with Zoho Books. Once configured, payroll journals are automatically created in Zoho Books, mapped to the right chart of accounts, tracked by employee costs, and reflected in your financials in real time.

Why This Matters

This integration isn’t just a technical fix, it means fewer errors, better audit trails, and more time saved for teams who’ve had to live with broken processes.

Here’s what it improves:

• STP compliance stays with CloudPayroll, but financial accuracy lands in Zoho Books. Right now, since Zoho Books is not STP compliant on its own for Australia, integrating CloudPayroll bridges that compliance gap.

• No more duplicate data entry, saving time and reducing risk.

• Better visibility for your accountant or bookkeeper, with accurate payroll costs reflected in your profit and loss statement.

• Support for business growth is especially important for teams adding new staff or managing casual workers.

At FWRD, this change is especially meaningful because we’ve seen clients delay moving to Zoho Books purely because of the payroll gap. It’s been a dealbreaker. Until now.

A Step FWRD — Even If It’s Quiet

Is this a major product release from Zoho? No. But it solves a real pain point that’s quietly affected countless Australian businesses trying to go all-in on Zoho.

It’s a great example of how local tools like CloudPayroll and global systems like Zoho can work together when the right connections are made.

Need Help Getting It Working?

As always, we’re here to make the setup simple.

If your business is already using Zoho Books and CloudPayroll (or considering it), we can help you map your chart of accounts, configure the sync, and make sure everything flows properly, so you can finally stop babysitting payroll journals.

Let’s be honest again, accounting software shouldn’t create more admin. It should just work the way it should work.