Balance Updates and the Order of Pay Calendar Confirmation
When a check is processed for an employee, the system updates the various balance records (earnings, deductions, taxes, and so on). Balance records are stored by year, quarter, and balance period or month. For Canada, balance records are stored by year, wage loss plan, province, quarter, and balance period or month.
The system updates balances based on the check date of the pay calendar to which they are associated. The actual check date is not a factor.
This table lists dates used to illustrate balance updating:
| Period End Date | On-Cycle Check Date On Pay Calendar | Off-Cycle Check Date On Paychecks |
|---|---|---|
|
December 31, 2006 |
December 31, 2006 |
January 2, 2007 |
Based on the dates in the table:
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On-cycle pay confirmation updates balances for December 2006.
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Off-cycle pay confirmation tied to the December on-cycle calendar updates balances in December 2006, even though the employees' check date is in January 2007.
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If you tie the off-cycle to the first payroll calendar in 2005, Pay Confirmation updates the January 2005 balances.
After you have posted to a month, you cannot post to a previous month. For example, after you have posted an April balance, the system does not allow you to update a March balance of the same type. If you try to post to a previous month, the Pay Confirmation process stops with an error. This may occur for semimonthly and monthly pay groups.
Example - Semimonthly Pay Group
An employee is in a semimonthly pay group for the first three weeks of the month. He is then transferred to a monthly pay group. He has a paysheet for the semimonthly pay group for the third week of the month and a monthly paysheet for the fourth week of the month. The semimonthly pay group has a pay end date of March 31 and a check date of April 5, and therefore a balance Period of 4 on the pay calendar. The monthly pay group has a pay end date of March 31 and a check date of March 31, and therefore a balance Period of 3 on the pay calendar.
If the semimonthly pay group is confirmed before the monthly pay group, the April balance record is created before the March balance is updated. As a result, when you try to confirm the monthly pay group, the Pay Confirmation process stops with an error.
To prevent the problem, you must confirm the monthly pay group first, because the check date is in March.
Example - Monthly Pay Group
An employee is in the monthly pay group for the month of March. This payroll has a pay end date and check date of March 31. Effective April 1, the employee is transferred to the semimonthly pay group. Before you confirm the March 31 monthly payroll, you confirm an off-cycle check that is attached to the April semimonthly payroll for this employee. This off-cycle check creates an April balance record; when you try to confirm the March monthly payroll, the Pay Confirmation process stops with an error.
To avoid this error, Pay Confirmation calendars in order, by month of the check date.