Keka payroll integration with third-party systems

Looking to connect Keka Payroll with platforms like QuickBooks? This guide shows you how to integrate seamlessly using Keka’s REST APIs. Whether you want Keka to handle payroll calculations or just need to sync employee and salary data, you’ll find everything here- API details, step-by-step workflows, and real-life examples to help you get started quickly and confidently.

Keka offers a comprehensive set of REST APIs for:

• Retrieving employee data and financial details

• Accessing salary structures and finalized pay registers

• Managing ad-hoc payments and salary revisions

• Enabling third-party salary disbursement while retaining Keka’s payroll engine

Scope of Keka payroll API

• Retrieve employee details and financial data

• Access salary structures and employee salary information

• Pull finalized pay registers after payroll processing

• Manage salary revisions and ad-hoc payments via API

• Enable end-to-end payroll integrations with external disbursement tools

Case study: TruInc + QuickBooks

Customer: TruInc

Platform: QuickBooks
Industry: Accounting and financial software

Objective

TruInc aimed to integrate Keka with QuickBooks for payroll calculation and disbursement. Keka’s robust engine managed tax and salary computations, while QuickBooks handled disbursements and financial reporting.

Case 1: Payroll run in Keka; salary disbursed via QuickBooks

Scope of integration

Data pulled from Keka:

• Employee master data

• Financial details (bank, PAN)

• Salary components and structures

• Finalized monthly pay registers

Functionality:

• Payroll calculations done in Keka

• Salary disbursed via QuickBooks using finalized register

• Integration uses mainly GET APIs

Outcome achieved

• Centralized payroll processing

• Accurate and fast payouts

• Reduced manual effort and errors

Technical process flow

1. Employee Data:

   • Use Get All Employees API 

   • Source: Employees
     
     
     

2. Financial Info:

   • Use Get All Financial Details of Employees

3. Salary Details:

   • Get All Structures, Get Employee Salaries

4. Pay Register:

   • Step 1: Get Pay Groups

   • Step 2: Get Pay Cycles

   • Step 3: Get Final Pay Register

5. Disbursement:

   • QuickBooks consumes final register for salary payouts

6. Ad-hoc Payments:

   • Use Add Ad-hoc Transaction API from QuickBooks to Keka

7. FNF:

   • FNF info included in pay register via Get Employee FnF Details API

Case 2: Full payroll managed in QuickBooks

Scope of integration

Data pulled from Keka:

• Employee and financial details

• Salary structures and components

• LOP (Loss of Pay) data via leave requests

Data pushed to Keka:

• Salary assignments and revisions

• Ad-hoc payments (bonuses/incentives)

Functionality:

• Full payroll (tax, salary, deductions) handled in QuickBooks

• Keka used as system of record; payroll remains unprocessed on Keka

Outcome achieved

• External control over tax and salary computations

• Consistency in data mapping

• Flexible, independent payroll execution

Technical process flow

Data pulled from Keka

• Employee data:
  Use the Get All Employees API to retrieve employee records.

• Financial details:
  Use the Get All Financial Details of Employees API for bank and PAN details.

• Salary components:
  Use the Get Salary Components Added on Keka API to get all defined salary components.

• Employee salary details:
  Use relevant APIs to fetch salary assignments and structures for all employees.

• LOP (Loss of Pay) details:
  Use the Get All Leave Requests API and filter for LOP leave types in your script.

Managing ad-hoc payments

• There is no API available to pull ad-hoc payments from Keka.

• If ad-hoc payments are created in Keka and later need to be updated via API, use the Add Ad-hoc Transaction API.

• If ad-hoc payments originate from QuickBooks, they can also be pushed to Keka using the same API.

Salary info sync

• Option 1 (Pull from Keka):
  Use the Get All Salaries of Employees API to import salary data into QuickBooks.

• Option 2 (Push to Keka):
  Use the Add Employee Salary API to send salary details from QuickBooks to Keka.
  Salary updates or revisions are handled using the POST version of the Add Employee Salary API.

Salary structure mapping

• Salary structures in Keka were matched 1:1 with those in QuickBooks.

• Tax calculations were done manually in QuickBooks using the structure and component data pulled from Keka.

• All components defined in Keka were recreated in QuickBooks to ensure alignment.

Payroll processing and disbursement

• QuickBooks handled the entire payroll run and disbursement process.

• Keka was used for maintaining salary records and pulling structure and LOP data.

• Taxes were computed manually in QuickBooks based on Keka's component values.

Final settlement (FNF)

• QuickBooks completed the entire FNF process on its end.

• On Keka, the employee exit was managed manually by initiating the exit process.

• To fetch FNF records from Keka, use the Get All Employee FnF Details API.

• After payroll processing in QuickBooks, the final pay register can be imported into Keka for record-keeping.

Challenges & solutions

Component-wise pay register summary

Challenge: Customer required a component-wise salary breakdown.
Solution: Keka team provided a script using API data to generate summary.

Tax declarations and computation

Challenge: QuickBooks had limited tax handling.
Solution: Tax declarations managed in Keka; computation executed manually in QuickBooks.

LOP reversal

Challenge: No API available for LOP reversal.
Solution: Used Get Leave Requests to filter LOPs and manage within QuickBooks.

Conclusion

Keka’s payroll APIs provide the flexibility needed for seamless integration with platforms like QuickBooks. While Keka supports API access and documentation, the implementation is the client’s responsibility.

API Documentation: developers.keka.com

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