Application Guide — Kotoku PayMaster

Section 01

What is Kotoku PayMaster?

Kotoku PayMaster is a cloud-based payroll and HR management platform built specifically for businesses operating in Sierra Leone. It handles the full payroll lifecycle — from onboarding staff and setting salary structures, to calculating taxes, generating payslips, and distributing them by email — all while staying compliant with Sierra Leone's statutory requirements including PAYE, NASSIT, and Withholding Tax.

The platform consists of two separate web applications:

Admin Portal — for company administrators, payroll teams, and HR managers to run and manage all operations.
Staff Portal — a self-service portal where individual employees can view their payslips, check leave balances, submit leave requests, and upload documents.

Both portals are accessible from any modern web browser with no software installation required.

Section 02

Key Features at a Glance

Payroll

Automatic PAYE (progressive tax brackets, Sierra Leone NRA rates)
Automatic Withholding Tax (WHT) for contract staff
Automatic NASSIT contributions (5% employee / 10% employer)
Pro-rated payroll using basic pay and allowance ratios independently
Period-specific one-time allowances (bonuses, festival payments, 13th month)
Bulk payroll updates via CSV import
Single-click atomic payroll finalization
Fully immutable payroll records once approved

Staff Management

Staff profiles with personal info, designations, and remuneration history
Bank account management with primary account designation and IBAN support
Document storage (IDs, contracts, tax documents, certificates, photos)
Staff import and bulk editing via CSV
Contract staff vs permanent employee classification
Per-staff Withholding Tax rate override

Leave Management

Configurable leave policies (annual, sick, maternity, and custom types)
Three accrual methods: yearly, monthly, and manual
Leave calendar for visual scheduling and conflict detection
Balance tracking with carry-forward support
Leave request workflow with approval and rejection
Staff self-service leave submission from the Staff Portal

Reporting

7 report types: Summary, Allowances, Deductions, PAYE, WHT, NASSIT, General Ledger
Date-range filtering across payroll periods
Single-period drill-down to per-staff detail
CSV export for all reports

Payslips

Professional PDF payslips generated automatically on payroll finalization
Company logo printed on every payslip and payroll report
Payslip email distribution with full delivery tracking
Staff portal access for employees to download their own payslips at any time

Security & Access Control

Five role-based access levels (Admin, Payroll Manager, Payroll Officer, HR Manager, Viewer)
Row-level security enforced at the database layer on every table
Separate invite-based authentication for staff portal accounts
Audit logging for all sensitive operations
Plan-based feature gates — advanced features enabled based on subscription tier

Section 03

Who Is It For?

Kotoku PayMaster serves every member of your payroll and HR team, from the company owner to individual staff members.

User	How they use Kotoku PayMaster
Company Owner / Administrator	Full system access: manage users, configure company settings and payroll rules, run or approve payroll, view all reports
Payroll Manager	Create, edit, submit, and approve/finalize payroll; view all reports
Payroll Officer	Prepare and submit payroll for approval; cannot approve or finalize
HR Manager	Manage staff records, designations, bank accounts, documents, and leave; read-only payroll access
Viewer	Read-only access across all areas — suitable for auditors or senior management
Staff Member (Employee)	Access the Staff Portal to view payslips, check leave balances, submit leave requests, and upload documents

Section 04

The Two Portals

Admin Portal

The Admin Portal is the operational back-end of the business. It is used by your payroll and HR team to:

Manage and onboard staff
Set salary structures and allowances
Run, review, and approve monthly payroll
Manage leave policies and review leave requests
Access all payroll and statutory reports
Send payslips by email
Manage user accounts and roles

Access: via company-provided admin account credentials at adminportal.ktkpm.com.

Staff Portal

The Staff Portal is a clean, simple interface for your employees. Staff access it with a separate invite-based account — an invitation email is sent by your HR or admin team.

Through the Staff Portal, employees can:

View and download their payslips (all historical periods)
Check current leave balances across all leave types
Submit new leave requests and attach supporting documents
Cancel pending leave requests
Upload personal documents (IDs, certificates, contracts)
View their personal profile, job title, and employment details

Separation of data: The Staff Portal is entirely separate from the Admin Portal — staff cannot view any other employee's data or any company-wide information. All access is enforced at the database level.

Section 05

Getting Started

Creating Your Account

New companies register directly through the Admin Portal sign-up page.

1

Go to the sign-up page

Navigate to adminportal.ktkpm.com/signup and click Create an account.

2

Enter your details

Full name, email address, and a password of at least 8 characters.

3

Confirm your email

A verification link is sent to your address. Click it to activate your account, then you are redirected to the Onboarding Wizard.

Onboarding Wizard

The wizard runs once after account creation and guides you through creating your company record in four steps.

1

Welcome

Overview of what the wizard will do. Click Get Started.

2

Your Company

Enter company name (required), contact email, phone, and registered address. All optional fields can be updated later in Settings → Company Settings.

3

Review

A summary of your entered details. Click Create Company to finalise or Edit to go back.

4

All Set!

Your company has been created. A suggested next steps panel guides you to Staff, Payroll Settings, and user invites. Click Go to Dashboard.

First-Time Setup (After Onboarding)

1

Review Payroll Settings

Go to Settings → Payroll Settings to customise allowance names, NASSIT rates, default WHT rate, and overtime multiplier.

2

Configure Leave Policies

Set up your company's leave policies under Leave → Policies before adding staff — policies define leave types, days, and accrual methods.

3

Add Staff

Navigate to Staff to add your team individually or import multiple staff members at once using the CSV import tool.

4

Invite Staff to the Staff Portal

From any staff member's profile, an admin or HR manager can send an invitation email that gives the employee access to the Staff Portal. Requires Business Starter plan or above.

5

Run Your First Payroll

Navigate to Payroll → New Period and follow the payroll workflow. See Section 07 for a full walkthrough.

Section 06

Staff Management

Adding a Staff Member

The minimum information needed to create a staff record:

Staff number (unique within your company)
First name and last name
Start date
Staff type: Employee (permanent) or Contract Staff
A current Designation (job title and department)
A current Remuneration (salary structure)

Why does staff type matter? Employees are subject to PAYE tax and NASSIT contributions. Contract staff are subject to Withholding Tax (WHT) only — they are NASSIT-exempt. The correct tax is applied automatically.

Designations

A designation records the staff member's job title, department, unit, and level. When a designation changes (promotion, transfer), a new designation is added with an effective start date — the previous one is closed automatically. The full history is preserved.

Remuneration

Pay Mode	Used for
Basic Pay	Fixed monthly salary. Supports up to 3 personal allowances (customisable names in Settings).
Unit Rate	Piece-rate or hourly workers. Total pay = unit rate × quantity.

When a salary changes, a new remuneration record is added — maintaining a complete salary history with effective dates.

Payroll Status vs Employment Status

Employment Status (Active, Inactive, On Leave, Terminated) reflects the staff member's HR state. Payroll Status is a separate on/off toggle that controls whether someone is included in payroll runs. Both must be favourable for a staff member to appear in a payroll run.

Common cause of missing staff: A staff member won't appear in payroll if their Payroll Status is disabled, their Employment Status is not Active, or they have no current Remuneration configured. The Create Payroll dialog shows a pre-flight warning for all affected staff.

Archiving Staff

When a staff member leaves, use the Archive Staff action. This sets their status to terminated, removes them from payroll, closes their current designation and remuneration, and preserves all historical records for audit purposes.

Section 07

Payroll Processing

The Payroll Workflow

Draft → Review → Approved → Paid (Locked)

Stage	What it means
Draft	Payroll is being calculated and edited. Changes are allowed.
Review	Submitted for managerial review. Only Payroll Manager or Admin can approve.
Approved	Approved but not yet finalized — a transitional state.
Paid / Locked	Finalized and immutable. Records have been committed to the permanent ledger.

Only one Draft period can exist at a time. Creating a new payroll period automatically clears any previous draft.

Step 1: Create a Payroll Period

Navigate to Payroll → New Period. Fields include: period name, end date, days in period, Basic Pay Ratio, Allowances Ratio, up to 3 Period Allowances, and an optional internal memo.

Before you submit, the dialog automatically checks for active staff who will be excluded from the run. An amber warning panel lists each affected staff member by name and reason.

Understanding Ratios

Scenario	Ratio to use
Full month	1.0
Employee started 16th of a 31-day month (worked 16 days)	16 ÷ 31 ≈ 0.5161
5 days unpaid leave in a 31-day month (worked 26 days)	26 ÷ 31 ≈ 0.8387
Half-month payment	0.5

Period Allowances are one-time flat amounts added to every staff member's gross for one period only. They are not affected by any ratio — the full amount is always added. Up to 3 can be named per period.

Step 2: Review and Edit the Payroll Spreadsheet

The payroll is displayed as an editable spreadsheet. For each staff member you can manually adjust: overtime, bonus, leave allowance, backlog pay, other additions, loans, advances, pension, and other deductions. All taxes and net pay recalculate automatically.

Bulk CSV: Export the spreadsheet, make changes in Excel or Google Sheets, then re-import the file. The system applies all changes at once.

Step 3: Submit for Review

Click Submit for Review to change the period status to review.

Step 4: Approve and Finalize

An Admin or Payroll Manager clicks Approve & Finalize. This executes a single atomic database transaction that copies all entries to the permanent payroll record, locks the period, and records the approver's name and timestamp.

Once finalized, payroll records are immutable. If a correction is needed, apply it as an adjustment in the following payroll period.

Calculation Formula

— Basic-pay staff —
Adjusted Basic      = basic_pay × basic_pay_ratio

— Unit-rate staff (pay_mode = 'unit_rate') —
Adjusted Basic      = unit_rate × unit_quantity  (no ratio applied)

— All staff —
Adjusted Allowances = (allowance_1 + allowance_2 + allowance_3 + general_allowances) × allowances_ratio
Period Allowances   = period_allowance_1 + period_allowance_2 + period_allowance_3  (no ratio)
Gross Pay           = Adjusted Basic + Adjusted Allowances + Period Allowances
                      + overtime + bonus + leave_allowance + backlog + other_additions

Employees:   Tax = PAYE (progressive); NASSIT = gross × 5%
Contractors: Tax = WHT (flat rate);    NASSIT = 0 (exempt)

Net Pay = Gross Pay − Tax − NASSIT − pension − loans − advances − other_deductions

Section 08

Tax & Statutory Compliance

PAYE — Permanent Employees

PAYE is a progressive income tax applied to permanent employees. Kotoku PayMaster automatically calculates it using Sierra Leone's current NRA brackets:

Taxable Income (Old Le)	Rate	Notes
0 – 600	15%
600 – 1,200	20%	Le 90 fixed + 20% on excess over 600
1,200 – 1,800	25%	Le 210 fixed + 25% on excess over 1,200
Above 1,800	30%	Le 360 fixed + 30% on excess over 1,800

These brackets correspond to SLE 0 – 600,000; SLE 600,000 – 1,200,000; etc. (1 Old Le = 1,000 New Leone / SLE)

Withholding Tax (WHT) — Contract Staff

Contract staff are subject to a flat Withholding Tax rate instead of PAYE. The default rate is 5.5% applied to gross income. This rate can be changed company-wide in Settings → Payroll Settings, or overridden per individual on the staff member's profile. Contract staff are exempt from NASSIT.

NASSIT Contributions

Party	Rate	Notes
Employee	5% of gross	Deducted from the employee's net pay
Employer	10% of gross	Employer cost — shown on reports but not deducted from net pay

Tax Snapshot Rule

When payroll is calculated, tax amounts are permanently recorded against each payroll row. If a staff member's type changes after a period is calculated, historical tax figures are unaffected. Reports always reflect the tax that was calculated at the time.

Section 09

Leave Management

Leave Policies

Before leave can be tracked, configure policies in Leave → Policies.

Field	Description
Leave Name	e.g., Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Maternity Leave
Leave Code	Short code e.g., AL, SL, ML (optional)
Accrual Method	Yearly, Monthly, or Manual — see below
Days Per Year	Total entitlement days per year
Carry Forward	Whether unused days roll into the next year
Max Carry Forward Days	Cap on how many days can roll over
Requires Approval	Whether leave requests need HR sign-off
Requires Documentation	Whether a supporting document is required

Accrual Methods

Method	How it works
Yearly	The full entitlement (e.g., 21 days) is granted at the start of the year
Monthly	Days accrue proportionally each month (e.g., 1.75/month for 21 days/year). Prorated for staff hired mid-year.
Manual	Days are allocated directly by HR — no automatic accrual. Useful for discretionary leave types.

Leave Request Workflow

Leave balance updates in real time as requests move through the workflow:

Pending: Days are held as "pending" — deducted from the available balance immediately
Approved: Days move to "used"
Rejected / Cancelled: Days are returned to the available balance

Leave Calendar

The Leave → Calendar view shows all approved and pending leave requests across all staff, making it easy to identify scheduling conflicts.

Section 10

Reports & Exports

Navigate to Reports to access all payroll analytics. Reports can be filtered by date range and are grouped by payroll period.

Report	What it shows
Summary	Total gross, net, deductions, and staff count per period
Allowances	Breakdown of all allowances (personal, general, period) per staff
Deductions	Breakdown of all deductions (taxes, NASSIT, loans, advances) per staff
PAYE	PAYE tax totals per period, with per-staff detail
WHT	Withholding tax totals per period, with per-staff detail
NASSIT	Employee and employer NASSIT contributions, broken down by period
General Ledger (GL)	Double-entry debit/credit view of payroll journal entries with per-period column totals

Drill-Down & CSV Export

Clicking on any payroll period in any report opens a full per-staff view for that period. Every report and every drill-down view has a Download CSV button, producing a spreadsheet-ready export for your accounting software, auditors, or NRA submissions.

Section 11

Payslip Distribution

Generating Payslips

Payslips are automatically generated as PDFs when a payroll period is finalized. Each payslip includes:

Company logo and company name
Staff name, staff number, job title, and department
Detailed earnings breakdown (basic pay or unit rate × quantity, all allowances, overtime, bonuses)
Detailed deductions (PAYE/WHT, NASSIT, loans, advances)
Net pay, payment period, and payment date
"Powered by Kotoku PayMaster" signature

Sending Payslips by Email

From the finalized payroll period, click Distribute Payslips. After each run, a summary report shows:

How many payslips were sent successfully
Which staff have no email address
Which email addresses were invalid
Any individual send failures

Multiple distribution runs are supported for the same period. All historical runs are tracked with the date, who initiated the run, and the full delivery log.

Staff Portal Access

Staff can access their payslips directly through the Staff Portal at any time — they do not need to wait for an email. All historical payslip PDFs are available for download.

Section 12

Staff Portal — Employee Self-Service

Getting Access

Access to the Staff Portal is invite-based. Your HR administrator or company admin will send you an invitation email from the system. Click the link in the email to set your password and log in at staffportal.ktkpm.com.

The Staff Portal is entirely separate from the Admin Portal. Your login and password for the Staff Portal cannot be used to access the Admin Portal.

Dashboard

On logging in, you see a personal dashboard with your latest payslip summary (gross pay, net pay for the most recent period), current leave balances, and quick links to each section of the portal.

Payslips

The Payslips section lists all your payroll periods in reverse chronological order. For each period you can view a summary of earnings and deductions, and download your payslip as a PDF.

Leave

Tab	Purpose
Balances	Current entitlement, days used, pending, and remaining for each leave type
Request Leave	Submit a new leave request by selecting type, date range, and optionally attaching a document
History	All past and current leave requests with status and HR review notes. Cancel pending requests here.

Documents & Profile

Upload personal documents (updated ID, medical certificates, signed contracts) or view documents uploaded to your profile by HR. The Profile section shows your personal information, current job designation, and employment details on file (read-only — contact HR to request changes).

Section 13

User Roles & Permissions

The system has five roles. Each user is assigned one role per company. A user can hold different roles in different companies.

Role	Description
Admin	Full access — user management, settings, staff, payroll, leave, reports, distribution
Payroll Manager	Create, edit, submit, and approve/finalize payroll; read-only HR data
Payroll Officer	Create, edit, and submit payroll; cannot approve or finalize
HR Manager	Full staff and leave management; read-only payroll access
Viewer	Read-only access across all areas

What Each Role Can Do

Action	Admin	Payroll Mgr	Payroll Off.	HR Mgr	Viewer
Manage company users & roles	✓	—	—	—	—
Manage company settings	✓	—	—	—	—
Add / edit / archive staff	✓	—	—	✓	—
Edit designations & remuneration	✓	—	—	✓	—
Manage bank accounts	✓	—	—	✓	—
Upload / delete staff documents	✓	—	—	✓	—
Create & calculate payroll	✓	✓	✓	—	—
Edit payroll entries	✓	✓	✓	—	—
Submit payroll for approval	✓	✓	✓	—	—
Approve & finalize payroll	✓	✓	—	—	—
Send payslip distribution	✓	✓	—	—	—
Manage leave policies	✓	—	—	✓	—
Approve / reject leave requests	✓	—	—	✓	—
Adjust leave balances	✓	—	—	✓	—
View all data (read-only)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Segregation of duties: A Payroll Officer can prepare and submit payroll but cannot approve their own work. Only a Payroll Manager or Admin can approve and finalize — enforcing a four-eyes principle on all payroll payments.

Section 14

Frequently Asked Questions

Account & Sign Up

How do I create an account? +

Go to the Admin Portal sign-up page (/signup), enter your full name, email address, and a password of at least 8 characters. After confirming your email (if required), you are guided through a short onboarding wizard to create your company record.

Can I sign up myself, or does someone need to set up my account? +

New company accounts are self-service. Go to the sign-up page, create your account, and the onboarding wizard walks you through creating your company in a few minutes.

I didn't receive a confirmation email — what should I do? +

Check your spam or junk folder. If it is not there, return to the sign-up page and click "try again" to resend the confirmation link. Make sure you entered the correct email address.

Can I create multiple companies under one account? +

Yes. After completing the initial onboarding, you can create additional companies or be invited to existing ones. Switching between companies is seamless from the company selector in the portal.

General

Do I need to install anything? +

No. Kotoku PayMaster is fully cloud-based and runs in any modern web browser on any device — desktop, laptop, or tablet.

Is my data secure? +

Yes. All data is stored in a secure cloud database with row-level security, meaning each company can only ever see their own data. Every table has access policies enforced at the database level — not just in the user interface. All communication is encrypted in transit.

What currency does the system use? +

All amounts are stored and displayed in Sierra Leonean Leones (Le / SLE). The tax brackets follow the National Revenue Authority (NRA) schedules denominated in Old Leone, where 1 Old Le = 1,000 New Leone / SLE.

Payroll

What if an employee started mid-month? +

Use the Basic Pay Ratio when creating the payroll period. Divide the number of days worked by the total days in the period — e.g., 16/31 = 0.5161 — to pro-rate the basic salary. You can set a different ratio for allowances independently.

Why is a staff member missing from my payroll? +

Three conditions can cause an active staff member to be excluded from a payroll run:

Their Payroll Status is disabled (toggle on the Personal Info tab)
They have no current Remuneration configured
Their Employment Status is not Active (e.g., inactive, terminated)

The Create Payroll dialog shows a pre-flight warning listing any affected staff before you submit.

Can I add a bonus for one month only? +

Yes. Use Period Allowances when creating the period — up to 3 named one-time payments (e.g., "Performance Bonus", "13th Month"). These are added to every staff member's gross for that period only and are not affected by pro-ration ratios.

Can I pay individual staff members different bonuses? +

Yes. After payroll is calculated, you can edit any individual entry in the payroll spreadsheet using the bonus, other additions, or any other earnings field. Net pay is recalculated automatically.

Can payroll be undone after approval? +

No. Once payroll is approved and finalized, the records are permanently locked and cannot be edited or deleted. This protects the integrity of your statutory records. If a correction is needed, apply it as an adjustment in the following payroll period.

Why does the system have a "review" stage before approval? +

This enforces segregation of duties. A Payroll Officer can prepare the payroll but cannot approve their own work. A Payroll Manager or Admin must independently review and approve it — a standard internal control requirement.

Staff

What is the difference between an Employee and Contract Staff? +

Employees (permanent staff) are subject to PAYE tax and NASSIT contributions. Contract staff are subject to Withholding Tax (WHT) only — they are exempt from NASSIT. The correct tax treatment is applied automatically.

How do I record a salary change? +

In the staff member's Remuneration tab, add a new remuneration record with the updated salary and an effective start date. The previous record is closed automatically. Both records are preserved for history.

How do I handle a staff member leaving the company? +

Use the Archive Staff action on their profile. This terminates them, removes them from future payroll, and closes their current designation and remuneration — without deleting any of their history.

Leave

What leave types can I configure? +

You can create any leave types your company needs — annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, study leave, compassionate leave, and more. Each policy is fully configurable.

What happens to leave balances when a request is submitted? +

As soon as a request is submitted, the requested days are moved to "pending" and deducted from the available balance immediately. This prevents double-booking. If the request is rejected or cancelled, the days are returned.

Can leave days carry over to the next year? +

Yes, if the leave policy has carry-forward enabled. You can also set a maximum number of days that can carry over.

Payslips & Distribution

When are payslips generated? +

Payslips are generated automatically when a payroll period is approved and finalized.

Can I resend payslips? +

Yes. You can run distribution multiple times for the same period. All runs are logged with timestamps and delivery details.

Can staff access payslips without waiting for an email? +

Yes. Staff can log in to the Staff Portal and download their payslips at any time.

The Staff Portal

How does a staff member get access to the Staff Portal? +

An admin or HR manager sends an invite from the staff member's profile in the Admin Portal. The staff member receives an email with a link to set their password and activate their account.

Can a staff member see other employees' information? +

No. The Staff Portal is strictly personal — each staff member can only see their own payslips, leave balances, documents, and profile. All access is enforced at the database level, not just in the interface.

What document types can staff upload? +

JPEGs, PNGs, WebP images, and PDFs up to 10 MB in size. Uploaded documents go to their HR profile and are visible to the HR team.

Technical & Support

Does Kotoku PayMaster work on mobile? +

Both the Admin Portal and Staff Portal are responsive and work on tablets, phones, and desktops.

What browsers are supported? +

Any current version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

Who do I contact for support? +

Contact the Kotoku Support team at info@ktkpm.com. For urgent payroll issues, please include the company name and payroll period in question.

Section 15

Subscription Plans

Kotoku PayMaster is offered on a tiered subscription model. Your plan determines which features are enabled and the maximum number of staff and portal user accounts your company can hold.

Demo

Full evaluation access — all features except Staff Portal. Includes a trial expiry window.

50 staff 5 portal users

Starter

Core payroll and staff management. Email distribution, bulk PDF, branding, and Staff Portal not included.

15 staff 2 portal users

Business Starter

Full production plan with Staff Portal for employees. Most popular.

50 staff 5 portal users

Business Plus

Larger organisations. All features with higher limits.

150 staff 15 portal users

Enterprise

No limits. Full feature access. Contact us.

Unlimited staff Unlimited users

Plan-Gated Features

Feature	Demo	Starter	Bus. Starter	Bus. Plus	Enterprise
Core payroll processing	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Staff management & bulk import	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
All statutory reports & CSV export	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Email payslip distribution	✓	—	✓	✓	✓
Bulk PDF payslip export	✓	—	✓	✓	✓
Company logo / branding	✓	—	✓	✓	✓
Staff Portal (employee self-service)	—	—	✓	✓	✓

When a limit is reached, the relevant action button (Add Staff, Invite User) is disabled with a tooltip showing your current limit. Existing records are never removed — you cannot add more until you upgrade.