v16.11.0

## Features
* The "Employee Advance Summary" report now shows _Outstanding Amount_ instead of _Balance_ and adds an _Advance Account_ column. It also adds _Department_, _Branch_, and _Advance Account_ filters that let you choose more than one value, plus a _Group By_ filter to group results by employee, department, or branch with subtotals and a grand total. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4761)
* Adds support for regional payroll rules in **Salary Slip**, allowing region-specific deductions before the final pay amount is calculated. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4804)
* Adds a "Hiring Pipeline" board for **Job Applicant** with Open, Replied, Shortlisted, and Accepted columns, and a shortcut to it in the Recruitment sidebar. Adding a card from any column opens a new **Job Applicant** form with the matching _Status_ already filled in, and recruiters can rate applicants directly on the board using half-star ratings. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4814)

## Bug Fixes
* When you create a **Payment Entry** from **Employee Advance** in the same currency as the company, it no longer asks for the _Exchange Gain/Loss Account_. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4762)
* Adds permission checks when inserting a shift, so neighboring **Shift Assignment** records are only updated or deleted when the user has permission to change them. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4763)
* Uses the configured **Leave Period** to schedule half-yearly earned leave in **Leave Policy Assignment** instead of using the calendar year. Leave allocations now follow the dates defined for each leave period. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4766)
* When a company is set up, harmless warnings are cleared from the message log, while real errors are written down for later review. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4785)
* When a **Vehicle Log** is cancelled, its linked vehicle expense is removed from related **Expense Claim**s. Other expenses on the claim remain unchanged. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4807)
* Adds permission checks to some actions in **Interview**, **Leave Application**, and **Salary Structure** so only users with permission can use them. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4803)
* The "Income Tax Computation" report now includes _Taxable Earnings Till Date_ and _Tax Deducted Till Date_ from **Salary Structure Assignment** only when the assignment starts in the current pay period. This avoids older amounts being counted again in gross earnings. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4812)
* Salary deductions scheduled in **Additional Salary** no longer change the _Returned Amount_ on **Employee Advance** directly; instead, it is updated after payroll is submitted. A banner on **Employee Advance** shows how much is already scheduled for return through **Additional Salary** and links to the related entries, and new deductions are blocked when they go past the remaining advance amount. (https://github.com/frappe/hrms/pull/4815)

**Authors**: @akhtarmohsin, @iamkhanraheel, @barredterra, @deepeshgarg007, @krishna-254, @pratheep-bit, @asmitahase, @earona
**Reviewers**: @iamkhanraheel, @barredterra, @deepeshgarg007, @krishna-254, @asmitahase

<details>
<summary>AI content</summary>

 For these release notes, we used an LLM (OpenAI gpt-5.4-mini) to review and summarise the code changes, along with the associated issue and PR descriptions. It may contain typical errors and inaccuracies. You can read the prompt [here](https://github.com/barredterra/pretty_release_notes). 

Changes with the following labels were excluded:
- skip-release-notes

Changes with the following types were excluded:
- style
 - test
 - docs
 - ci
 - refactor
 - build
 - chore

</details>