The generic payroll CSV

The generic CSV is the file for any payroll software, bureau or accountant Maliru has no named format for. Choose its layout, its columns and their order under Pay › Payroll provider, then Save columns. See setting up your payroll provider.

In Maliru

Layout:

• A row per person per line type — one row for each kind of pay a person has, such as their plain time, their overtime at 1.5 and their bonus. Two rates for one kind, such as a pay rise mid-period, stay two rows.
• A row per person, a column per pay item — one row per person, with a column for each pay item you mapped. Two kinds mapped to the same pay item add up in its column.

Columns, in the order you set them:

Column	What it holds
Payroll ID	The person's payroll ID
Name	Their name, for reading; never used to match
Classification	Employee
Line key	Maliru's stable name for the kind of pay, such as overtime:1.5
Pay item	The pay item you mapped it to
Description	The line's own description
Quantity, Unit	Hours, days, or a piece-work unit; the unit reads hour, day or your own, such as m
Rate	What one unit was paid, overtime multiplier included, to up to four decimal places
Amount	The money, to two decimal places
Period start, Period end, Pay date	As dates, such as 2026-09-20

Every column but Classification and Pay item is in the file until you take it out. Payroll ID and Name always stay, and so does Amount in the row-per-line layout. In the per-person layout, only the columns about the person (payroll ID, name, classification and dates) are kept, and a column per pay item follows.

How each line appears:

• Every line is signed: a correction that takes money back, and unpaid absence, are negative amounts.
• Absence days, such as sickness or parental leave, come with their days, no rate and an amount of 0.00, so your payroll software can work out any statutory pay. In the per-person layout, their column holds days.
• Company deductions and reimbursements are lines of their own, positive.
• Contractors are never in the file.

Pay items need mapping only if the file prints them: the per-person layout, or the Pay item column.

In your payroll software

Each product imports a CSV differently. Match on the payroll ID, not the name. Map each column to its field, check the totals against Maliru's control totals, and keep the mapping for next time. If your software can't take negative amounts, key corrections and unpaid absence by hand, or ask your bureau.

If an import fails, use Import didn't work? beside the download.