Getting the hours to your accountant without retyping them
At the end of the month MetronHR creates a payroll file for DATEV LODAS or DATEV Lohn und Gehalt: hours, premium hours, vacation and sick days per person, with your accountant's wage types. The accountant imports it into their payroll software. Without DATEV the same figures go out as an Excel summary.
- DATEV payroll export for LODAS and Lohn und Gehalt, in both plans
- Your own accountant's wage types, entered once and remembered
- The month can be locked, so that nothing moves afterwards
Last checked on 24 October 2026
Lena H.
Tobias K.
Aylin D.
Mehmet Y.
Sophie B.
Mara W.Leave, 3 daysAylin Demir · 28–30 OctTraining, 1 dayTobias Krüger · 22 Oct
Leave, 3 daysNadia Schulz · 22–24 DecReview
Month endSeptember · Krämer payroll officeDone- Made in GermanyDeveloped and hosted in Germany
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What the practice receives
A text file per month in the DATEV import format, for LODAS or for Lohn und Gehalt. For each person it holds the values you choose at the first export: hours worked, overtime of the month, night, Sunday and holiday hours, vacation days and sick days, each under the wage type your accountant specifies.
You enter the consultant number, client number and wage types once at the first export; after that one click per month is enough. If your payroll office works without DATEV, it gets the finished Excel summary per person with target, actual, balance, premium hours and absences.
What saves the practice time
Not the handover itself, but what happens before it. The values are calculated before the file comes about: target hours from the stored working time model, recorded hours, balance, breaks deducted under the ArbZG. Nobody adds up slips of paper, and nobody types a figure twice.
The premium hours are shown separately, by night, Sunday and public holiday within the meaning of § 3b EStG, using the public holiday calendar of the relevant state. That separation is exactly the part a practice otherwise has to read out of timesheets.
And the figures stand still: the month is locked, corrections after that run as a change request and stay visible. A practice taking figures out of somebody else's system asks about that first.
The way to payroll
| Step | Who | With what |
|---|---|---|
| Close the month | Operation | lock the month; corrections then run as a request |
| Create the payroll file | Operation | DATEV payroll export under Reports, one click per month |
| Hand the file over | Operation | email or the practice's client portal |
| Import the file | The practice | Import into LODAS or Lohn und Gehalt instead of retyping |
Close the month
- Who
- Operation
- With what
- lock the month; corrections then run as a request
Create the payroll file
- Who
- Operation
- With what
- DATEV payroll export under Reports, one click per month
Hand the file over
- Who
- Operation
- With what
- email or the practice's client portal
Import the file
- Who
- The practice
- With what
- Import into LODAS or Lohn und Gehalt instead of retyping
Why the month end is locked
Once the file is with the practice, nothing in the figures may change quietly. MetronHR has eleven lock options for that, from "not at all" through "after seven days" to a fixed cut-off date, plus a separate editing deadline.
After the lock, corrections run as a change request: somebody files it, somebody decides it, and both stay visible. That is exactly the question an accountant asks before taking figures out of somebody else's system.
Related
Where to go from here, and what waits for you there.
DATEV payroll export
Which values are in the file and how the first export works.
ViewThe DATEV payroll file, field by field
The format for the accountant, with sample files to download.
ViewReports and exports
Which reports there are and in what format.
ViewSeparating client time from working time
The guide to it, with roles that hold up against professional confidentiality.
ViewTime tracking in a professional practice
If you run a practice yourself rather than instructing one.
ViewThe GoBD and time tracking
What has to stay traceable in the records.
ViewHanding the hours to the accountant
How it works step by step, with the period, the filters and the formats.
View
Frequent questions
What we are asked most often about For your accountant.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Send us a messageWhat format does the file come in?
For DATEV as a text file in the import format of LODAS or of Lohn und Gehalt; for Lohn und Gehalt the matching format description comes with it. Without DATEV as an Excel file (.xlsx) or as CSV. Everything can be passed on by email or through the accountant's client portal.
What does my accountant need from me for the DATEV payroll export?
The consultant number and client number, the wage types for the values you want to hand over, and each person's DATEV personnel number. If a personnel number is missing, MetronHR asks for it during the export. Everything is remembered, and the next month is one click.
What is in the monthly overview?
Per person: target hours from the working time model, hours actually recorded, the balance, night, Sunday and public holiday hours, holiday days and sick days. The file is an Excel sheet and can be passed on unchanged.
Can the accountant look in directly?
There is no separate login for the practice. The handover runs through the file. That is a deliberate decision: an extra login for a third party brings questions about roles, visibility and data processing that outweigh the benefit here.
How do I stop figures changing afterwards?
Through the lock on the closed period. After that, corrections are only possible through a change request, which is decided and recorded. On the Professional plan the change history of the time entries comes on top, showing the person and the time of every change.
Does MetronHR work out the premiums?
The hours falling at night, on Sundays and on public holidays are identified and shown in the overview. The premium rates can be stored and are displayed. Calculating the premium amount itself belongs to payroll and stays with the practice.
Hand the next month end over as a file.
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