Reconciling Checks

Page Name	Definition Name	Usage
Check Reconciliation Page	RUNCTL_PAYINIT2	(USA, USF) Use this page to run the PAY015A process that reconciles the checks cleared at your financial institution.
Cheque Reconciliation Page	RUNCTL_PAYINIT	(CAN) Use this page to run the PAY015A process that reconciles the checks cleared at your financial institution.
Check Reconciliation Report Page	PRCSRUNCNTL	(USA, USF) Generate the PAY015B report that lists the entries in the temporary Check Reconciliation file.
Cheque Reconciliation Report Page	PRCSRUNCNTL	(CAN) Generate the PAY015B report that lists the entries in the temporary Check Reconciliation file.

Payroll for North America has two SQR programs that, together, enable you to reconcile checks. You can see which paychecks employees have cashed and which are outstanding. You're alerted to checks the bank cashed for an amount other than the amount that your records show.

To reconcile checks:

From your bank, get a file on magnetic media showing cashed payroll checks and copy it to C:\TEMP\BANKFILE.TRN.
Run the Check Reconciliation (PAY015A) process.
Run the Check Reconciliation Report (PAY015B).
Review the reports generated by the SQRs.

These steps are further explained in the following sections.

The Bank File

To use the check reconciliation feature, you must get a magnetic media file from your bank showing which payroll checks they've cashed.

Payroll for North America accepts Bank files in the following format:

Bank File	Number of positions
Transit#	9 positions
Account#	15 positions
Check#	15 positions; numeric
Net Pay	10 positions; numeric; implied decimal point

You can adapt the sample PeopleSoft SQR programs to accommodate a Bank file with a different format. The SQR must match the record layout of the Bank file.

Payroll for North America reads this Bank file and attempts to reconcile each check against the check information in your payroll database. In addition, the system verifies its own file of unprocessed manual checks to see if they've been entered into the system since the last time you ran the check reconciliation process.

The two check reconciliation SQR programs are called Check Reconciliation (PAY015A) and Check Reconciliation Report (PAY015B).

Identifying Checks with PAY015A

PAY015A identifies all system-produced and manual checks that are processed for a given pay run ID, attempting to match these checks with the Bank file. It writes entries for each cashed, reversed, or outstanding check into a temporary Check Reconciliation file on the database.

The system assumes that checks for which no match is found on the database are unprocessed manual checks, that is, cashed manual checks that haven't yet been entered into the system. The program places these in an Unprocessed Manual Checks file.

The Error Listing report that is produced by PAY015A shows checks with the wrong net amount, checks flagged as already having been cashed, and checks flagged as having been reversed.

The PAY015A process identifies:

All computer and manual checks, including check reversals, that the system processed during the current payroll periods for a given pay run ID.
All outstanding checks—all checks that are confirmed, are not reversing entries, and are not yet cashed.
All unprocessed manual checks.

It inserts one entry for each check type into the temporary Check Reconciliation file.

Note: (CAN) For Canadian reports, the three-digit bank ID is reported in the Bank Transit Number field.

Note: You must adjust the Process-Bank-File in PAY015A to match the record layout of the file from your bank. Your requirements could be different, and the SQR must be modified.

Producing Check Reconciliation Reports with PAY015B

After you run PAY015A, run PAY015B to produce a Check Reconciliation Report listing the entries in the Check Reconciliation file produced by PAY015A. The report provides totals for item count and net pay, and is divided into sections by the following types:

Issued Checks (Computer).
Checks Reconciled From Bank Checks File.
Outstanding Checks.
Unprocessed Manual Checks.
Reversed Checks.

Here's an example to illustrate the check reconciliation procedures.

Paycheck Files (PS_PAY_CHECK)

Suppose your last payroll run contained six checks, which are on the database in the Paycheck file:

Check #	Date	Amount	Remarks
1	December 31, 2004	100	Normal
2	December 31, 2004	150	Normal
3	December 31, 2004	175	Normal
4	December 31, 2004	200	Normal
5	December 31, 2004	250	Reversed
99	December 25, 2004	125	Manual

Checks 1-4 are normal on-cycle paychecks. Number 5 is a check that's been reversed. Check 99 is a manual check that you wrote earlier in the month and decided to process with your on-cycle end-of-month payroll. You've handed these checks (except #5) out to employees, some of whom have cashed them.

Bank File

You subsequently receive the Bank file from your bank listing cashed checks drawn against your payroll account:

Check #	Date	Amount
1	December 31, 2004	100 USD
2	December 31, 2004	150 USD
3	December 31, 2004	145 USD
101	December 31, 2004	200 USD

Unprocessed Manual Check File (PS_PAY_CHECK_DUE)

Meanwhile, your Unprocessed Manual Check file contains one item:

Check #	Date	Amount
99	December 15, 2004	125 USD

The last time you ran Check Reconciliation, check #99 was listed in the Bank file, but not in your Paycheck file. The program consequently put it into the Unprocessed Manual Check file.

Run the SQRs

With this information, you can run the SQRs.

Note: Procedures for running these programs might vary, depending on your database platform environment. If in doubt, ask your systems administrator for detailed instructions.

Error Report (from PAY015A)

PAY015A produces an Error Report flagging Check #3, because the amount is different:

Check #	Date	Amount
3	December 31, 2004	145 USD

Check Reconciliation Files (from PAY015B)

When you print the Check Reconciliation Report with PAY015B, you see that three checks have been cashed, one is outstanding, and one is a reversed check:

Check #	Date	Amount	Status
1	December 31, 2004	100 USD	Cashed
2	December 31, 2004	150 USD	Cashed
4	December 31, 2004	200 USD	Outstanding
5	December 31, 2004	250 USD	Reversed
99	December 15, 2004	125 USD	Cashed

Unprocessed Manual Check Files (PS_PAY_CHECK_DUE)

You end up with five reconciled checks, one error, and one check in the Unprocessed Manual Check file:

Check #	Date	Amount
101	December 15, 2004	200 USD

Here's a summary:

Checks #1 and #2 are put in the Check Reconciliation file, because their Bank file entries match their Paycheck file entries.

Check #3 doesn't match on the Bank file and Paycheck file; the amounts were different, so this check gets put on the Error Listing.

Check #4 in the Paycheck file isn't listed on the Bank file, so presumably the employee hasn't cashed it yet. It goes in the Check Reconciliation file as an outstanding check.

Check #5 is a reversed check that never made it to the bank; the system places it into the Check Reconciliation file as a reversed check.

Check #99, which had been sitting in the Unprocessed Manual Check file, is put in the Check Reconciliation file, because it matches Check #99 in the Paycheck file.

Check #101, the one check in the Bank file that isn't in the Paycheck file, gets put in the Unprocessed Manual Check file. When you enter it into Payroll for North America, it's reconciled against the Paycheck file.