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Fiscal year rollover

 

As the start of a new fiscal year approaches, you will need to set up the new fiscal year in advance. This process of building new pay schedules, copying data from the previous year, and updating anything that has changed is called yearly rollover.

The business office can begin the rollover as early as May; therefore, the instructions below are broken down into items you should roll over before July 1st and the remaining items either can or must wait until July 1st.

You can download a printable checklist of each item in the rollover process at the bottom of this article.

Items to complete before July 1st:

  1. Create new fiscal year
  2. Create pay periods
  3. Create pay period groups
  4. Roll over employee positions
  5. Roll over employee payroll items
  6. Fix invalid rolled over pay periods
  7. Update salaries for 12-month employees
  8. Create work calendars
  9. Roll over payroll item templates
  10. Update payroll items

Items that may be completed after July 1st:

  1. Roll over and update time off
  2. Review and update existing options
  3. Roll over purchase orders
  4. Roll over uncleared payments/deposits
  5. Create closing entries
  6. Roll over ending balances
  7. Close the previous fiscal year
  8. Update external year-to-date totals

Below, you will find details and instructions about each item mentioned above.

1. Create Fiscal Year

To create a new fiscal year:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. Create
  3. Choose the appropriate fiscal year
  4. Save

2. Create Pay Periods

Pay period dates change each year, so they are not rolled over and must be created each year.

To create new pay periods:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > Pay Periods
  2. Select the new fiscal year
  3. Create Many Pay Periods
  4. Choose the most frequent pay period type. If you have semi-monthly and monthly pay periods, choose semi-monthly.
  5. If choosing semi-monthly or monthly pay periods, adjust the end date(s) of the working periods so the system can predict the pattern.
    • For example, if you have semi-monthly pay periods from the 1st to the 15th and the 16th to the end of the month, enter the end dates 15 and 31.
    • Remember that the pay period dates describe the days worked, not the date that the paycheck is received.
  6. Create
  7. Edit each pay period to update the pay period dates, if necessary. It is strongly recommended that you also change the description of each pay period to include the paycheck date.
  8. If additional pay periods are needed, use the Create button at the bottom of the page.

3. Create Pay Period Groups

Because pay periods groups are composed of pay periods, which have different dates every year, you must also create new pay period groups (PPGs) each year to define when each employee position can be paid. 

To create a pay period group:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > Pay Period Groups
  2. Create
  3. Enter a Description that makes it clear when this group should be used.
    • E.g. 24 Pays, Certified Staff, Hourly, 10-Month Pay
  4. Select each pay period that belongs to this group.
    • Remember that the number of pay periods affects the pay frequency used in calculating tax withholding.
  5. Save
  6. Repeat until all pay period groups are finished.

4. Roll Over Employee Positions

Because employees typically retain the same positions from year to year, start every year by copying over last year’s positions before you make any changes. During this process, you can skip any positions that will not be used again.

To roll over employee positions:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. Next to the previous year, click the down arrow and Rollover Positions.
  3. Match each of last year’s pay period groups to a pay period group in the new year.
  4. Use the top checkbox to check all positions. If any employees or positions are no longer active, you can uncheck them so they don’t appear in the new year.
  5. Save

5. Roll Over Employee Payroll Items

As with positions, payroll items largely stay the same from year to year, so copy them over.

To roll over employee payroll items:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. Next to the previous year, click the down arrow and Rollover Employee Payroll Items
  3. Match each of last year’s (sub-)pay period groups to a (sub-)pay period group in the new year
  4. Check the employee payroll items to roll over. Look carefully through the list. Some items may not be rolled over, including but not limited to:
    • Wages for substitute employees
    • Stipends
    • Old insurance items that are no longer used
    • Items that had been accidentally duplicated
  5. Save

You can use the column filters to quickly find specific payroll items or positions, as you look through the list and decide which payroll items to roll over.

Because of the large amount of data on this page, you may experience slow loading times. Please be patient as your browser waits for the changes to save.

6. Fix Invalid Roll Over Pay Period Groups

Payroll items that were assigned to a specific subset of pay periods (e.g. any item using “Custom Pay Periods” or an “Amount Series” algorithm) will need to be manually updated and assigned new pay periods. A common example would be pay issued as a stipend, such as for coaching. 

To update the pay periods:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > Fix Invalid Roll Over Pay Period Groups
  2. Edit each row
  3. Select to either use the same pay period group as the position, or pick custom pay periods (and amounts, if applicable)
  4. Save
  5. Repeat until there are no more invalid items.

If the schedule for these payroll items has not been set yet, you can skip this step and return to it later.

7. Update Salaries for 12-month Employees

Use the Give Raises page to update the salary/hourly rate for any employees receiving a raise starting on July 1. Raises can be entered directly as new wages, or as a percentage increase. Use the column filters to quickly apply the same settings to specific groups of employees.

Wages paid out using the Amount Series algorithm (i.e. stipends, some other irregular wages) are probably on the Fix Invalid Roll Over Pay Period Groups, or they can be updated on the Employee - Single View page, in the Payroll tab.

Employees whose pay increases at the beginning of the school year should be updated later, after their final paycheck under the current contract.

8. Create Work Calendars

Each fiscal year will require new work calendars to indicate the work days for each position. 

Use the instructions in the work calendars article to create work calendars for the 2020-21 fiscal year, modify the dates, and assign a work calendar to every position.

At a minimum, each district probably needs a year-long calendar (for employees like the superintendent and bookkeeper who work the entire fiscal year) and a school-year calendar (for employees like teachers and the aides who only work while school is in session).

Remember that the work calendar lists days worked, not days paid, so a teacher should be on a school-year calendar even if they get paid over the summer. The number of days are used in recording absences and in calculating docked pay.

9. Roll Over Payroll Item Templates

Because payroll item templates are linked to specific pay period groups, they must also be rolled over each year.

To roll over payroll item templates:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > Payroll Item Templates
  2. Rollover Templates to Next Year
  3. Match each of last year’s pay period groups to a pay period group in the new year, and do the same for sub-pay period groups if applicable.
  4. Check the templates to roll over
  5. Save

10. Update Payroll Items

If any payroll items have changed (e.g. new insurance rates, employees changing insurance plans), the appropriate changes should be made before beginning payroll. Changes to individual employees 

As an example, if Dental Insurance rates change:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > District Payroll Items
  2. Edit the Dental Insurance payroll item
  3. Change the amount
  4. Save & Mass Edit Employee Payroll Items
  5. Select the correct Fiscal Year in the top right corner 
  6. In the Algorithm field, enter a new amount and check the box to indicate that this change should be pushed down.
  7. Check all employees, payroll item templates, and draft payroll runs that should be updated with the above amount.
  8. Save

If employees have different Dental Insurance amounts, you can use the Mass Edit Employee Payroll Items button at the bottom of the page to re-do the mass edit with a different amount, selecting different employees.

11. Roll Over and Update Time Off

Employee time off balances must be rolled over with each fiscal year. Once time off balances have been rolled over, new attendance entries in the current year won’t affect the amount that was already rolled over. To avoid possible mistakes, it is recommended that you wait to rollover time off balances until you know no more attendance entries for the current year need to be entered. You will need to roll these over before the first payroll of the new year. 

The Human Resources > Time Off Options page should be updated with Maximum Time Off Carry Over amounts if applicable.

To roll over time off:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Time Off Balances
  2. Select the previous fiscal year
  3. Rollover Time Off Balances
  4. Confirm that the Current Fiscal Year and Next Fiscal Year are correct.
  5. Review the data to see if any changes are being made.
  6. Save

After rolling over balances, you may need to add newly earned time off for the next contract.

To mass add time off balances:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Time Off Balances
  2. Select the new fiscal year
  3. Mass Edit Time Off
  4. Select a Date, to indicate when this time off should officially be considered earned (likely the first day of the contract).
  5. In the Adjust Amount column for each time off type, enter the amount of days/hours to add to the current balance.
  6. Save

12. Review and Update Existing Options

It is best practice to keep your data updated throughout the year, but the beginning of the fiscal year presents a good opportunity to review your current settings, update permissions for Financial User, mark old data as inactive, etc.

You may want to deactivate old, unused items on these pages:

  • Accounts Payable > Vendors
  • Accounts Payable > Saved AP Items
  • Accounts Receivable > Customers and Revenue Providers
  • Accounts Receivable > Saved Receipt Line Items
  • Payroll > District Payroll Items
  • Setup > Users
  • Setup > Chart of Accounts

You may also wish to review and update employee portal approval chains at Setup > Approval Processes, and update substitute pay rates at Human Resources > Substitute Pay Rates.

13. Roll Over Purchase Orders

If purchase orders (POs) are recorded in SchoolInsight Financials, you may find that some were created but not paid right away. You can roll over any draft or issued (but not invoiced) POs in order to issue payment in the next fiscal year.

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. Click the down arrow next to the current fiscal year
  3. Rollover Purchase Orders
  4. Use the checkboxes to roll over any purchase orders that won’t be paid until the next fiscal year
  5. Save

14. Roll Over Uncleared Payments/Deposits

Uncleared transactions from the previous fiscal year must be rolled over so that they can be reconciled in the next fiscal year. This process does not create any journal entries. The rolled over transactions will be visible at Financials Main > General Ledger > Uncleared Payments/Deposits and in future financial institution statements.

To roll over uncleared checks:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. Next to the previous year, click the down arrow and Rollover Uncleared Payments/Deposits
  3. Each bank account will be listed, with all uncleared checks. If necessary, unselect the checks that should not be rolled over.
  4. Save

15. Create Closing Entries

After all transactions for the current year have been recorded, all revenue and expense accounts from each fund must be closed into the fund balance account and rolled over to the next fiscal year. These revenue and expense accounts are closed into the fund balance by creating closing entries.

To create closing entries:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. Click the down arrow next to the previous fiscal year
  3. Create Closing Entries
    • Date: Date the entry should hit the general journal (usually the last day of the fiscal year).
    • Funds: Expense and revenue from all funds need to be closed into the fund balance account. All funds are automatically prepopulated. If you need to use a particular balancing account for only certain funds you can unselect a fund by clicking X next to it.
    • Balancing Account: Choose the fund balance account that revenues and expenditures should be closed into.
    • Remove Responsibility Center from Accounts: If the fund balance account should not include the RC in the closing entry, then leave this box checked. If you are unsure, check your school’s policy or how it was done in your previous system.
  4. Preview
  5. Save
  6. Repeat if more funds need to be closed

Once you save, revenue, expense and fund balance accounts will be posted to the general journal for the selected date.

16. Roll Over Ending Balances

Once the month of June has been completely reconciled and balanced, roll over the June ending balance so that it becomes the next year’s starting balance. The rollover process will create journal transactions with the workflow “Starting Balance.”

To roll over ending balances:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. Next to the previous year, click the down arrow and Rollover Ending Balances
  3. The difference between assets and liabilities will be posted to a fund balance account. In Illinois, we assume you will use function 730; in MO we assume you will use object 3111. If your district requires responsibility centers/locations on fund balance accounts, select the appropriate dimension.
  4. Save

17. Close Previous Fiscal Year

If you close each month as it is completed, finish off the rollover process by closing the previous fiscal year.

To close a fiscal year:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Setup > Fiscal Years/Months
  2. If you haven’t already, close all previous months
  3. Edit the previous fiscal year
  4. Change the Status to Closed
  5. Save

18. Update External YTD Totals [first year only]

The first year that you are using SchoolInsight Financials, half the fiscal year’s payrolls will have been run in another system. To make sure the Year-To-Date (YTD) column on employee paychecks is correct, find the YTD totals from the last paycheck run in your previous financials system, and enter it into the new system.

External payroll data must be entered before the first payroll is created in order to show up on the first paycheck.

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > External YTD Payroll Totals
  2. Choose the current calendar year in the upper right corner
  3. Click on an employee’s name
  4. Enter the amounts from the YTD column on their last paycheck 
  5. Save
  6. Repeat for each employee who has been paid in this calendar year and will continue to receive paychecks in the future.

In addition, you should enter YTD transaction amounts for 1099-eligible vendors. This must be completed before you submit 1099s at the end of the calendar year.

  1. Go to Financials Main > Accounts Payable > Vendors
  2. Click the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner
  3. Mass Enter 1099 Data
  4. Make sure you are using the correct calendar year
  5. Check “Eligible for 1099” next to applicable vendors
  6. Enter the totals of transactions in the current calendar year from before you started using SchoolInsight Financials.
  7. Save Changes