Established AU payroll application

MicrOpay payroll: a familiar application, with depth to check

The short version

MicrOpay (Access MicrOpay Evo) is a long-established Australian payroll application from The Access Group, run on-premise or hosted by Access. It suits teams with stable pay conditions. No end of life has been announced as of October 2026; check award interpretation and NZ depth if your workforce is complex.

MicrOpay (Access MicrOpay Evo) has been part of Australian payroll for decades. It passed from the Commonwealth Bank to Softline in 2002, into Sage, and to The Access Group in 2021 as part of Access's purchase of Sage's Australian and Asian businesses. It runs as Windows software on the customer's servers, or hosted by Access as Access Payroll Online.

Access has kept MicrOpay current: STP Phase 2, a Payday Super release (9.5 SP1) with integrated super clearing, and an Evo layer adding dashboards, analytics and an AI Copilot. For organisations whose team knows MicrOpay well and whose pay conditions are stable, that continuity is a real strength.

The considerations sit with complexity. Access materials reference third-party award interpreters for complex rules, NZ Holidays Act depth was not verified in public sources, and workforce management is mainly delivered through integrations or other Access products. If you run many awards or EBAs, or have NZ employees, test MicrOpay against your actual scenarios.

Why do AU/NZ teams look at alternatives to MicrOpay?

  • Complex award and EBA rules may rely on a separate award interpreter rather than the payroll engine
  • NZ Holidays Act depth needs confirming directly for cross-Tasman organisations
  • Evo analytics and Copilot are not a dedicated pre-payslip anomaly check for AU/NZ awards
  • Workforce management sits in integrations or other Access products, not the payroll platform

Affinity: 40+ years of AU/NZ payroll – 500,000+ employees processed, ISO 27001 certified, single AU/NZ database.

Which providers can you compare MicrOpay against?

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More on Affinity →See every AU/NZ payroll comparison →

What's involved in moving off MicrOpay?

Moving off MicrOpay usually means replacing on-premise or Access-hosted software – and often the HR or self-service layer, such as ConnX, that sits on top of it.

  • Award and EBA rules – every pay condition MicrOpay currently handles, plus any that run through a separate award interpreter today
  • Super and Payday Super – how contributions, Qualifying Earnings and super clearing (including Beam, if you use it) will work from your first pay run on the new system
  • Deployment – whether you run MicrOpay on your own servers or hosted by Access, which changes how data is extracted
  • Year-to-date balances and STP – earnings, tax and super for the year to date, so STP continues without duplicate income statements
  • Parallel runs and timing – how many pay cycles to run side by side, and whether to switch mid-year or at 1 July

Build agreed before you commit, two parallel pay runs minimum, and most projects reach first go-live in 3–4 months (indicative) – how Affinity migration works →

Not sure where to start? Talk it through with the Affinity team – we'll look at your MicrOpay setup, awards and pay cycles and what a move would involve.

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Frequently asked questions

What is MicrOpay payroll?

MicrOpay, now branded Access MicrOpay Evo, is a long-established Australian payroll application owned by The Access Group. It runs as Windows software on your own servers or hosted by Access as Access Payroll Online, and covers STP Phase 2, Payday Super and integrated super clearing.

Does MicrOpay handle award interpretation?

Access states that MicrOpay covers industry awards. Access's own materials also reference importing data from third-party award interpreters, and its award-interpretation pages highlight other Access products. If your organisation runs many awards or EBAs with layered penalties and allowances, confirm exactly how MicrOpay would handle them.

Is MicrOpay being retired?

No end-of-life or end-of-sale announcement for MicrOpay was found as of October 2026. Access continues to release compliance updates and offers MicrOpay to new customers. One component – the Access Employee Service Portal (ESP) – reached end of support after 31 March 2025. Confirm the product roadmap directly with Access.

Does MicrOpay handle New Zealand payroll?

MicrOpay documents NZ payday filing and KiwiSaver support. Depth of Holidays Act handling was not verified in public sources, so confirm directly with Access.

Is MicrOpay cloud-based?

MicrOpay is Windows software that can run on your own servers or be hosted by Access as Access Payroll Online, where Access manages upgrades.

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