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Employer Distributions Account Charging

The charging of board paid benefits to the appropriate benefit accounts is very simple.  However, understanding how the system arrives at its final account of the charging process can often times be a stumper. Let's step through all the factors the system uses in the charging process. 

First, keep in mind Employer Distributions uses payroll history when generating its information so the payroll(s) you are wanting to be included will need to be posted in order for the report/submission file to be accurate.

1.  Was the original salary account's object code a certified object code, a classified object code, or other object code?

• • Certificated object codes:

    • 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, and 139

  • Non-Certificated object codes:

    • 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 169, 170, 171, 172, 179, and 190
  • Other Object codes:
    • 17x, 19x, or 2XX
  • If the Object Code does not match any of the above, the system will use the employee's first active pay account. 

Payroll Account = 024 2944 119 9917 000000 211 00 000

2.  Substitute the appropriate object code based on the Core>Payroll Item Configuration>Object Codes.  In this example, the original salary account's object code was 119, or certified.  

Payroll Account = 024 2944 119 9917 000000 211 00 000 now becomes 024 2944 249 9917 000000 221 00 000

3.  Should all account dimensions be carried forward?  To check, go to System>Configuration>Account Mapping Configuration.

Payroll Account = 024 2944 249 9917 000000 221 00 000 now becomes 024 2944 249 9917 000000 000 00 000

4.  Is the account mapped to another account for charging?  To check, go to Utilities>Account Mapping.  Remember, once an account matches an account listed on the Original Account (left side), it is mapped to the Mapped Account (right side).  

Payroll Account = 024 2944 249 9917 000000 000 00 000 now becomes 001 2944 249 0000 000000 000 00 000

Don't Forget About the 'Use Only Employer Distribution' Checkbox!

When running Employer Distribution Report and/or Employer Distribution Submission, there is a checkbox called 'Use Only Employer Distribution Accounts.'  By default this checkbox is marked.  When the system looks back at the payroll history to capture the salary accounts charged, how the 'Use Only Employer Distribution Accounts' checkbox is used in conjunction with how the 'Employer Distribution' checkbox was flagged on the Pay Account.  

• • If the 'Use Only Employer Distribution' checkbox is marked, Employer Distribution will only use those Pay Accounts with the 'Employer Distribution' checkbox marked.
  • If the 'Use Only Employer Distribution' checkbox is not marked, Employer Distribution will use all Pay Accounts regardless if the 'Employer Distribution' checkbox is marked or not marked.  Think of this option an as override option.  

Other Important Factors to Consider:

With the start of the fiscal year, now is the perfect time to review the accounts your board paid benefits are being charged to.  Remember, wildcards (*), can be used in Account Mapping to eliminate the need for each individual account to be entered on a separate line.  Wildcards can be considered for grant accounts (to eliminate the need to update Account Mapping year after year) as well as the ability to charge 'all' benefits in a single line (medicare, health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, etc.).   

Remember to always start with the Reports>Employer Distributions option. The report can be run as many times as necessary until it's accurate. 

Always run the Reports>Employer Distribution Reports and the USAS Integration>Employer Distribution Submission with the exact same options.

Making Temporary Budgets Permanents in USAS   

If you adopted your Temporary Appropriations on or before July 1st, you may now be getting ready to finalize the budget by adopting your permanent appropriations. In order to determine if these appropriations were actually applied in the USAS application as temporaries or permanents, let's first download the report definitions from the Public USAS Reports Library to help us. 

• Budget Transactions Initial Estimates.rpd-json
• Revenue Transactions - Initial Estimate.rpd-json

After downloading these report definitions and importing them into the USAS Report Manager grid, you can generate these reports to view the changes made to the account's initial estimates when the proposed amounts were applied in USAS.   By viewing the report's ‘TYPE’ column, you can determine the type of transaction that was applied.  The report will show whether these amounts were applied as initial temporary (full year or not full year) or the permanent transaction types.   

Let's look at the options when applying the proposed amounts in USAS as well as how the above report definitions can help determine the applied budget/revenue transaction types.   

• If you selected the transaction type of Temporary when you applied your proposed amounts (left image above), the amounts applied became your (temporary) Initial budgets for the fiscal year chosen and will be labeled TempInitial on the Budget Transactions Initial Estimates report (right image above).  
• If the Update the GAAP Original Estimate Amounts is left checked (by default), it will apply the current expendable/receivable amounts [Initial amounts + (CO Enc) +/- Adjustments] to your GAAP Original Budget figures on the account.  They will be labeled as GAAPInitial on the Budget Transactions Initial Estimates report.  If you do not want your GAAP amounts updated, the box can be unchecked. 
• If Full Year was left checked, this indicates the temporary amounts hold true for the entire year.  If your temporary amounts are going to change during the year, you can uncheck the full year box before applying. 
• The Replaced column indicates whether or not the temporary amounts were replaced with a permanent amount.  

Now that the Type of transaction has been determined, if no changes to the Temporary amounts are needed, it is up to the user to decide if they want to apply these amounts as Permanent amounts in the application.  The Initial amounts will not change on the account, but can show on certain reports that include the TYPE like the report above. 

• If applying Permanent amounts, the transaction type of Permanent should be chosen and the temporary amounts on the accounts will be overwritten.
• The Replaced box is checked next to the temporary amount (TempInitial) signaling that the temporary amount has been replaced with a Permanent (Initial) amount. 
• When you select the transaction type of Permanent, the Update the GAAP Original Estimate Amounts is checked by default and cannot be changed, enforcing the current expendable/receivable amount will be applied to your GAAP Original Budget on the account.   If the checkmark was set on the Update the GAAP Original amounts during your temporary posting, when applying permanents, the GAAP 'original budget' on the account remains unchanged; however, the GAAP 'revised budget' amount reflects the permanent figure when using the GAAP Extract option in USAS. 

You may wonder what happens if there are adjustments already posted to the accounts before you apply your Permanent amounts? Whether these adjustments were posted under the Core<Accounts or the Proposed Amounts grid with the transaction type of Adjustment, adjustments do not affect the initial figures.  (NOTE: Adjustments are not included on the Budget Transactions Initial Estimates report). Adjustment amounts update additions/deductions on the account which, in turn, updates the FYTD expendable/receivable amounts.   When applying Adjustments via the Proposed Grid, you must select the effective date for these adjustments and the Update the GAAP Original Estimate Amounts is unchecked by default. If the GAAP amounts should be overwritten on the accounts with the new expendable/receivable amount, check the box.  The GAAP Original Budget will stay the same but the GAAP revised budget on the GAAP extract option in USAS will reflect the adjustment. 

Therefore, using the above example, the Temporary Initial and GAAP Initial was $10,000 for the full year, replaced with the Permanent amount of $12,000, and included an adjustment of $500 which leaves $12,500 as the expendable amount on the account.  (Current Expendable Amount = Initial $12,000 + $500 positive adjustment)