How Accruals Update

Related Topics

Benefit Hours Accrual Codes

Organizational Setup for PTO/Attendance

Paying Paid Time Off

Overview

The accrual processing will follow the accrual policy and reset schedule (if any) and the payroll calendar's accumulator, period begin, and end dates. The actual updates occur during the initialization process when the payroll is processed, which is typically on the pay run date.

During Payroll's accrual processing, the system searches for all employees with an Employee Benefit Detail for a benefit that accrues hours:  the Accrue Hours indicator and the Hours Accrual Code have been selected for the Benefit Code.

Employee Link:  PTO Benefits are assigned on the Employee Benefits Detail and are paid during payroll time entry.

Processing Logic

Step

Description

Step 1

Accruals will only process if the pay calendar is set up as type SCHEDULED and the process accrual indicator is selected. In addition, only employees with an Employee Status code defined to accrue hours (ie. ACTIVE) are included for accrual updates.

Step 2

Employee benefit record current accrual balances are zeroed-out for employees in the Pay Group defined on the pay calendar.

Step 3

The employee benefit record is updated for:

  • Effective Date from Accr. Begin Date defined on accrual screen. This is also the date that service is determined by subtracting the pay period end date from this date.
  • Max Carry Over Hours updated from accrual screen.
  • Max Accrual Hours updated from accrual screen.

Step 4

Benefit Transfers are then processed. (See the following points.)

  • Transfer benefit code must exist on accrual screen and EE benefit record that transfers hours must be in effect (ie. Not terminated).
  • Transfers will process when the New Year Period is defined on the pay calendar and Transfer Year End is checked on the accrual screen; or when Transfer Date on is specified and the date defined is within the pay period; or when Anniv Transfer on is specified and the EE date is within the pay period.
  • The maximum amount of hours to transfer is determined by comparing the EE current available hours for the benefit to the Max Transfer Amount defined on the accrual screen or the Max C/O amount in the accrual schedule if the Use C/O Max is checked on the accrual screen. The lesser value of the EE available hours and maximum amount determined from the accrual screen is used.
  • The available balance on the EE benefit that transferred hours is then updated by subtracting the transferred hours and determining if the remaining available balance exceeds the Max Remaining Balance on the accrual screen. If so, then the available amount is reduced to the Max Remaining Balance on the accrual screen.
  • Benefit transfer records will be created by the accrual program if they do not previously exist.

Step 5

Accrual period Reset Hours are then processed. (See the following points.)

  • The reset is performed when the New Year Period is defined on the pay calendar and Reset Hours Year End is checked on the accrual screen; or when Reset Date on is specified and the date defined is within the pay period; or when Anniv. Reset on is specified and the EE date is within the pay period.
  • If a C/O Max is defined on the accrual schedule of the accrual screen then the lesser of the EE existing available hours and C/O Max amount will be written to the EE benefit record available hours. Otherwise, the EE available hours amount is updated with zero.
  • Regardless, the EE benefit record Total Hours Accrued is updated with zero so accruals can begin for the new period.

Step 6

Current employee benefit accruals are then processed. (See the following points.)

  • When Pay Period selected on accrual screen; or
  • When Monthly selected and New Month Period is checked on accrual screen and the pay calendar record New Month, New Quarter, or New Year is selected; or
  • When Monthly selected and Process Hours Accrual is checked on accrual screen and the pay calendar record Process Hours Accruals is selected (this method may require manual updating of the pay calendar records Process Hours Accruals indicator for correct accrual processing frequency); or
  • When Quarterly selected and New Quarter Period is checked on accrual screen and the pay calendar record New Quarter Period  is selected; or
  • When Quarterly selected and Process Hours Accrual is checked on accrual screen and the pay calendar record Process Hours Accruals is selected (this method may require manual updating of the pay calendar records Process Hours Accruals indicator for correct accrual processing frequency); or
  • When Annual selected and Year End Period is checked on accrual screen and the pay calendar record New Year Period is selected; or
  • When Annual selected and Process Hours Accrual is checked on accrual screen and the pay calendar record Process Hours Accruals is selected (this method may require manual updating of the pay calendar records Process Hours Accruals indicator for correct accrual processing frequency); or
  • When Anniv Annual on is specified and the EE date is within the pay period.
  • The current accrual amount is determined based on employee months of service (subtract the pay period end date from the EE date defined in the accrual screen Accr Begin Date). The employee benefit record Current Hours Accrued, Total Hours Accrued, and Available Hours are all updated by this process.
  • The Use Hours Paid should only be defined for hours accruals to be processed every pay period because the total hours worked is determined for the payroll - where the Benefit Eligible indicator is checked on the Earnings Val screen. When the employee works less than the minimum hours defined on the accrual screen then no accrual is processed. If the employee works hours between the minimum and maximum hours defined then the accrual is prorated. If the employee works the maximum or greater hours then the full accrual is given.
  • The Only EEs Paid indicator will accrue hours only for employees paid in the payroll (i.e. They have time records defined for the payroll).
  • All Pay Group EEs will accrue for all employees within the payroll group regardless if time records for the payroll exist or not.
  • Please note that the employee cannot accrue more hours than defined for the accrual policy. This means the employee benefit Total Hours Accrued amount is verified with the hours screen Total Max amount and adjusted if necessary.

Step 7

C/O Max is the available Max Amt processing. If this box is checked on the accrual screen then at no time can the employees available balance exceed the C/O Max amount defined on the accrual screen.

Step 8

The associated employee earning code record Begin Date is updated based on the accrual screen Eligible for Use in period. This is done by adding the days or months defined to the employee benefit record Effective Date value and written to the employee earning record.

In addition, the associated employee earning code record Available Hours amount is updated from the employee benefit record available balance.

Step 9

Update earning End Date with the most current associated employee benefit record to keep benefit and earning end processing dates in sync. This means if the employee has multiple VACATION benefit records and some of them have Termination Dates defined, only the most recent one (i.e. Most recent Effective Date defined) will be used for determining the end date for the earning record.

Processing is completed.

For PTO benefit plans, payroll processing calculates current accruals, pays employees for PTO hours charged, and updates accrual amounts on Employee Benefits Detail records (including Current Hours Accrued and Total Hours Accrued) and on associated Earnings Detail records.

Final payroll posting updates accruals. On the Benefits Detail, Max Accrual Hours and Max C/O Hours populate based on the hours-accrual policy. On the Employee Earnings Detail screen, the system updates the Available Hours, along with the Current, Month, Quarter, and Year to Date Processed Earnings and Hours, for the Earning Code, each time a Payroll goes through final processing and posting occurs. If no related Earnings records have been created, the system automatically generates them when the Employee has the benefit assigned on an Employee Benefits Detail record. When an Earnings Code paid to an employee has an Attendance Code, final payroll posting creates an Employee (Absence) Attendance Detail record for the employee's time-off.