Your guide to paying your employees' superannuation using the Beam integration
Using foundU's free integrated clearinghouse, Beam, can streamline and speed up your superannuation payments. You can configure Beam for each entity in your platform and easily process payments for all or select entities in just a few simple steps.
If you haven't yet registered to use Beam, check out our Beam - Superannuation integration guide for all the details on how to do this!
In this article, we will cover:
- How to pay your employee's super once you've set up Beam
- The Beam notifications you can receive on your platform
- Common employee super scenarios, errors and warnings
For more information about paying superannuation, including reports and FAQs, check out our main guide here.
Before paying superannuation for the first time, it is important to review the setup and settings on your platform. In your superannuation settings, you can review and set details such as:
- Accrual method for reporting
- Payment frequency
- Enable the option for your employees to set up super salary sacrifice
There are 2 ways you can navigate to your settings to review these details, that is either by:
- Navigating from the main menu > Payroll Settings > Superannuation, or by
- Navigating to Payroll > Superannuation and selecting the settings cog.
You can learn more about the superannuation setup and settings in our dedicated main guide here.
Once you have registered your business entity with Beam, paying superannuation is easy, and all your employees' super notifications will be sent directly to your platform!
Please note: If transitioning to Beam, please ensure that any batches that you do not want to pay through Beam have been processed before registering with Beam.
To pay your employees' super via Beam:
- In the quick menu, navigate to Payroll > Superannuation.
- Select Review on the batch you wish to process. Next, select the Beam option from the floating action bar at the bottom of the page.
Please note: After selecting Beam, if your Beam account is not set up, you'll be prompted to do so, starting with selecting an entity. Ensure to enter a refund account; otherwise, you'll be prompted to finish reviewing your superannuation settings first.
- You'll then be prompted to choose a payment method, e.g., direct debit, EFT, or BPAY.
Please note: If using EFT or BPAY as your payment method, ensure you use the batch payment details exactly as provided. Each payment will have a unique reference number, different from the next payment. This is how Beam can link the payment to the relevant batch. For your convenience, there is a copy button next to each detail. - The batch will move into the Processed tab. In the Status column, you will see:
- Awaiting Payment - Payment is waiting to be sent. Use the Pay details for EFT and BPAY payment methods.
- Awaiting Clearance - This will display once the payment has been made, but needs to be cleared through Beam.
-
Paid via Beam - Payment has been accepted via Beam.
When using Beam to pay your employees' super, you will also receive communications from your platform regarding Beam activity. You can easily manage these communications and their content from your main menu > Communication > Communication Content page.
Learn more about how you can customise the content of these notifications in our dedicated guide, here!
Below, we will outline the available templates on that page; you can use the search bar to find them within your platform.
- Batch sent to Beam for processing
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 156 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email |
Message sent when a batch is sent to Beam using the Superannuation feature. Message includes details of how the payment was made, and additional ways the payment can be made if the payment defaults. |
- Batch sent to Beam was cancelled
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 157 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email | Message sent when a batch sent to Beam was cancelled either automatically or manually. |
- Batch sent to Beam returned a warning or error
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 158 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email |
Message sent when a batch sent to Beam returns a warning or error. Message includes additional details surrounding the warning or error. |
- Superfund member ID updated by Beam
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 159 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email | Message sent when a batch sent to Beam returns a member ID for a new employee using your businesses default fund. |
- Superannuation refund received from Beam
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 160 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email |
Message sent when a submitted batch receives a refund from Beam. Message includes details on the refund amount, and reason. |
- Superannuation Batch sent to Beam returned a status update
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 161 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email |
Message sent when a batch succesfully sent to Beam returns a status update. Message includes additional details to support the status update. |
- Superannuation Batch - Direct debit dishonour
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 162 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email | Message sent when a batch sent to Beam using Direct Debit fails due to a dishonour response. |
- Superannuation Batch due for payment reminder
| ID | Recipient | Default content |
|---|---|---|
| 163 | Dynamic/ System Accounts Email |
Message sent when a batch has not been processed 10 and 3 days prior to being paid. Message includes payment due date. |
When paying your employees' superannuation through Beam, foundU has many built-in checks to ensure your data flows smoothly, and you will receive communication from the platform if there are any errors.
If you're processing Beam for the first time, you may experience some initial errors. The following outlines common scenarios that may arise and how to resolve them quickly and easily.
Employee's Details Don't Match
If you receive a notification that an employee's superannuation batch has been returned due to mismatched details, it is likely because incorrect personal or tax file details were entered on their profile.
The details used to verify an employee's super fund are determined at the individual fund level. For this reason, we recommend that you direct your employee to confirm their details with their fund provider and then update the required information in their Employee App.
Hot tip: Your employees can manage and update their own details, saving your managers time by removing these extra tasks! For security purposes, the only detail your managers might need to update on an employee's behalf is the employee's login email address.
Invalid Super Fund Details
The most common cause of error is when employees enter an incorrect super fund USI. This could be due to the company changing its USI details. This can happen when super companies merge or go out of business.
In this scenario, your employee would be notified by their super fund of these changes before they occur.
Hot tip: foundU houses a full list of active superannuation funds that is regularly checked and updated. If any funds have been merged or made inactive, they will be removed from the list or updated to reflect the correct USI details.
There are 2 ways you can update the employee's super fund details:
-
Employee profile > Financial - Admin users can update the employee's super fund details directly from the employee's profile. When updated by an admin user, the employee will receive an email communication notifying them of this change.
Permission Reminder: You will need to have 'Manage Employee Financial Details' enabled in your user access to be able to make these updates. - Employee App - Employees can easily manage and update their financial details through their Employee App. This is the preferred method to ensure that employees are aware of and responsible for any financial changes and updates.
Employer or Batch Error
If you receive a notification that your super batch returned with an error due to your entity details, you may need to update them.
After submitting a batch, if you're missing details in your business details setup (entity), or there's an issue within your batch, it will be returned to pending on your Superannuation page, with an error displayed.
To update your entity details with Beam:
- Navigate to Payroll Settings > Superannuation, and scroll down to the Beam section
- Find your entity, and select Update > Update organisation details. This will take you externally to Beam, where you can update your details.
- Once updated, you will be directed back to your foundU platform, where you can resubmit your super batch.