Before finalizing payroll, it is important to review the data in the payroll register to catch mistakes before affecting the general journal; some mistakes can be difficult or even impossible to correct. Every district will have its own operating procedure for verification, but this article provides some recommendations, broken down into several steps:
Data Entry
Register Review
Time Off/Substitutes
Formatted Reports
Saved Reports
Once you’re confident that the data in the payroll run is correct, you can mark the payroll run approved and continue the finalization process.
Data Entry
The number of changes that could occur between one payroll and the next is nearly infinite, but here are some common questions you might want to ask yourself:
- Have all hours been entered?
- Have all days off and substitutes been entered?
- Did anyone’s insurance deductions/benefits change?
- Did anyone submit a new W-4?
Register Review
In your first run-through of the payroll, it’s a good idea to review every tab for unexpected data. One thing to watch out for is $0.00 cells, which can be an indication of a problem. Often, a simple amount is set incorrectly, or wages have incorrect subtotals. Of course, $0.00 might be expected in situations; for example, an employee who earns little wages in this pay period may not have any federal income tax deducted, or some employees might receive negative net pay.
The Summary tab of the register also provides an overview of each employee’s gross pay and net pay, along with totals for each calculation step.
Time Off/Substitutes
After importing time off and substitutes, check the Human Resources > Employee Attendance/Time Off/Substitutes page to verify that all records for the time frame have been processed. Each time off/substitute should have a date in the Payroll Run column, and watch out for lines that are “Partially Processed.” Partially processed are sometimes acceptable, because substitutes and regular employees might have different pay period schedules but can also be an indication of a problem.
Several settings must be configured properly for time off entries to import. If some entries do not seem to be importing, read Troubleshooting time off import for guidance.
Formatted Reports
On the Payroll > Payroll Runs page, click the down arrow next to the payroll run to reveal several already-built reports to condense data and compare totals. Each district will have their own preferences for which reports to run as there are many reports to choose from, a few of which are described below:
- The Payroll Details Report organizes the transactions by expense/liability account, breaking down which employees/payroll items contribute to each account.
- The Payroll Details by Employee Report displays similar data, but is sorted by employee.
- The Payroll Summary Report displays the dollar amount associated with each payroll item and employee. Payroll items are ordered by calculation step to provide subtotals for Gross Pay, Taxable Pay, and Net Pay. The last page displays totals for each payroll item across all employees.
Saved Reports
The reports found at Financials Main > General Ledger > Saved Reports are customizable, so you can view a wide variety of data, organized in a manner that suits you. The two types of reports most likely to help in payroll troubleshooting are Payroll Items and Payroll Item Subtotals.
Payroll Items reports display every payroll item in a separate row. Add columns to learn about each item’s vendor, credit and debit accounts, effects on subtotals, whether it is tied to a certified or non-certified position, etc. Group data to get subtotals.
Another useful report is the default Liabilities by Vendor saved report, which will show you how much the district will owe to each vendor based on the selected payroll(s). You can compare the numbers to previous months to see if they match.
Payroll Item Subtotals reports have a row for every employee on each payroll run; columns represent various subtotals. For example, you can use this report to check that all certified employees have zero FICA Earnings, or that Medicare (employee) and Medicare (employer) withholdings are equal, or to get the total of all Section 125 deductions.
For more details about customizing reports see Saved Reports.