Payroll & Personnel Management

Employer contributions to employee deductions – A new feature has been added to allow you to contribute money to an employee’s fund under a deduction code other than 401K.  When the deduction is on a check, the employer contribution is computed and credits the GL account specified in the new Employer Contributions window in the Deduction Code definition.

Please consider the following about this feature:

1. A new prompt has been added to the Deduction Code Update/Add window that lets you configure the employer contribution to a deduction.  Set Contribution = Y to display the Employer Contribution window when you press [ENTER].
2. Employer contributions can be limited to an annual dollar amount.
3. Employer contributions can be calculated in four ways:
1. Flat dollar amount – the employer contribution is limited to the dollar amount designated in the deduction code definition.
2. Annual limit divided by # of pay cycles for employee in a year – For example, Monthly = 12, Semi-monthly = 24, Bi-weekly = 26, or Weekly = 52.  Use the flat dollar amount type, but leave the amount blank and key in the annual limit.

• Note: an odd last contribution may be possible.

Example 1: Annual limit of $600 divided by 26 = $23.077.  Bi-weekly contribution is computed at $23.08.  $23.08 * 25 = $577; odd last contribution is $600 - $577 = $23;

Example 2: Annual limit of $100 divided by 12 = $8.333.  Monthly contribution is computed at $8.33.  $8.33 * 11 = $91.63; odd last contribution is $100 - $91.63 = $8.37.

1. Percent of the employee deductionamount – the employer contribution is equal to the product of the employee’s current deduction amount and the percent keyed into the amount field up to the annual limit.
2. Percent of gross pay – the employer contribution is equal to the product of employee’s gross pay and the percent keyed into the amount field up to the annual limit.
1. The employer contribution is only computed on pay cycles when the deduction is taken.
2. If the deduction is flagged to be taken on a pay cycle, the employer contribution will compute even if the employee amount is zero.
3. The employer contribution can be set to credit the cash in bank account in the Employer Contributions window.
4. A new line was added to the Distribution Code definition screen for the expense of the employer contribution.
5. The computed employer contribution can be seen in the F10=Tax Override window accessed from the Payroll Entry screen.
6. The employer contributions have been added to the Quarterly Tax Summary and Payment Totals reports right after the line for Employer Retirement.
7. The employer contribution has been added to the Employee Deduction Summary report.

Display direct deposit summary on the History Display – A summary of the amounts deposited directly into the employee’s account will display on the History Display screen with the other check details.  To see the History Display, take option 40=Employees from the Payroll and Personnel Management menu and take option 5=Display by an employee.  Take option 5=Display again by the check.

Direct deposit clearing account – A new preference has been added to the Payroll System Preferences Accounting setup that allows you to combine all of the direct deposit cash entries into one GL entry to facilitate bank statement reconciliation.  For example, when a direct deposit file for 75 employees is transmitted to your bank and the bank summarizes the transactions into one debit to your bank statement, you’ll want the same amount to show in your GL bank account rather than the 75 individual credits to cash.  When the payroll is posted using this preference, the direct deposit clearing account will receive a credit for each employee’s direct deposit amount and a debit to offset it.

The distribution report is changed slightly to accommodate this preference with a clearing account summary at the bottom.

To use this direct deposit clearing account, take option 50=Application Environment from the Payroll & Personnel Management menu and take option 1=Select by Payroll System Preferences and take option 2=Change by Federal Values & Account Setups.  Key in a general ledger account on the Clearing Account for Direct Deposits line.  If you don’t wish to use this preference, you can key in the key word BLANK.

Direct deposit for payroll deductions – New functionality has been added to Payroll & Personnel Management that lets you transmit direct deposit information about deduction codes withheld from employees’ checks.  For example, if your employees contribute to a health savings account, the money can be deducted from their pay when their check is created and transmitted to their HSA with direct deposit.  Any employer contribution to the deduction code (as explained in the prior entry in these release notes) will also be transmitted in the direct deposit batch.

Please consider the following about this feature:

1. You can add a deduction code to the direct deposit information on the employee master record.  Put the deduction code in the Ded* column.  To do this, an authorized user can take the following steps:
1. Take option 40=Employees from the Payroll & Personnel Management menu to display the Employee Master list screen.
2. Take option 2=Update Master by an employee and use function F10=Additional Data to display the Direct Deposit Data area.
3. Position to the Deposit Routing #* field and hit F4 to display the Multiple Direct Deposit Definitions window.
4. Key in the deduction code in the Ded* column along with the account and routing information and other required information.

1. On the Multiple Direct Deposit Definitions screen, the Percent column has been changed to the Type column.  Valid types are:
1. P = Percent
2. A = Amount
3. Blank = Deduction

Option to print employer contributions on check stub – An option to print the employer contribution has been added to the General System Setup window in Payroll System Preferences.  When this flag is set to Y, 401K and all other employer contributions will print on the check stub.  On the line after deduction code prints on the check stub, the words EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION will print indented, with the current and YTD amounts.

Option to print Direct Deposit Report on demand – An option to reprint the Direct Deposit Report has been added to the main reports menu.  To reprint a Direct Deposit Report, take the following steps:

1. Take option 40=Employees from the Payroll & Personnel Management menu and use function F7=Print to display the Select Reports menu. 
2. Take option 1=Select by Direct Deposit Report on the right, and press [ENTER] to display closed payroll batches. 
3. Take option 1=Select by the batch and press [ENTER] to print the report.

Prevent duplicate direct deposit transmissions – Once you respond affirmatively to the question of whether the direct deposit transmitted successfully, you will not be allowed to retransmit.  This is to prevent inadvertent or malicious retransmission of the direct deposit information to your bank.  In the case where the direct deposit file was not transmitted successfully and you tell the system that it was, the batch can be transmitted by ARKONA.  Please contact ARKONA Customer Support for help in this situation.

Direct deposit transmission log – The user ID, date, and time of direct deposit transmission is recorded and can be viewed from the Direct Deposit Batch Selection screen.  To see this screen, take the following steps:

1. Take option 35=Report to Outside Parties from the Payroll & Personnel Management menu and take option 1=Select by Direct Deposit Transmission.
2. Hit F4 on the Payroll Batch* field.

Tax report tax override warning – A new feature has been added to the tax reports that shows FICA, Medicare, FUTA, and SUTA taxes that have been overridden.  An ‘ * ‘ is placed next to the amount on the report that has been overridden and the employee name whose taxes has been overridden appears at the bottom of the report.

Extend employee class security to reports – The employee class security has been extended to payroll reports.  Employees that are at a higher security class than the user printing any payroll report will be left off of the report.  Option 7=Print will not work from the Employee Master screen in option 40=Employees when it is used on an employee with a higher security class than the person trying to print the report.  Security class authorization is set in the System Environment User Security for the Payroll application.  Note: Employee class 5 is considered a higher level of security than class 1 and a user must be authorized to a specific class to see those employees on the report.