systems

Effective Date: 07/01/05

Reconciliation of Payroll

Policy Statement

It is the policy of the State of North Carolina that proper reconciliations will be performed at appropriate times.

Authoritative References

G.S. 143B-426.39 Powers and Duties of the State Controller

Explanation of Policy

Regular reconciliation is a key internal control for the payroll function and must be performed by the Central Payroll Division and all agency payroll offices. Reconciliation procedures are provided by the Central Payroll Division and are subject to review by the OSC and the Office of the State Auditor.

A series of controls provide assurance that errors are properly identified and that payroll costs are correctly calculated. During the payroll keying period, reports are created to provide error and warning indicators. Verification of payroll totals occurs when the payroll processing period ends. Final payroll reports provide information related to deductions and employee payment exceptions.

 

Control and Current Pay Warning Reports

The Central Payroll System generates control and warning reports three consecutive work days prior to the final keying date for the mid-month and monthly payrolls. These reports contain a series of warnings and are used to identify and correct payroll errors. The control reports are available through Systemware, which is the State's current report management application.  The most common payroll processing errors include:

  • Salary not correctly updated
  • Gross pay computed incorrectly by using the wrong number of days or salary rate
  • Split pay not computed correctly
  • Wrong number of days keyed
  • Employee is inactive on payroll system but is due longevity or premium pay

The reports generated during the mid-month and monthly payroll keying periods are available at:

http://www.ncosc.net/sigdocs/sig_docs/payroll/index.html

These reports list, for each employee, various errors and warnings and include information about payroll cycles, time worked, pay rates, current pay, etc. Agency payroll staff must research and resolve any warnings or errors generated on the reports prior to the close of the payroll processing date.

 

Control Totals

Payrolls are processed four times each month. When the period for keying a payroll into the Central Payroll System is closed, the agency Payroll Office is responsible for completing Form OSCPX 10, Payroll Control Totals. The completed form is to be submitted for each payroll processing run. The header must include the payroll agency name and payroll date.  The payroll Cycle Types must have the following fields completed: payroll number, gross pay and deductions.

The grand total for the Monthly Cycle Type (A) includes the following:

  • Monthly (Cycle Type A)
  • Bonus (Cycle Type I)
  • Premium (Cycle Type M)
  • Longevity (Cycle Type O)

The deadline for submitting the control totals to the Central Payroll Division are listed on the Payroll Time Schedule.  Form OSCPX 10 (Payroll Control Totals) is available at:

http://www.ncosc.net/sigdocs/sig_docs/payroll/index.html

The Central Payroll Division verifies the agency control totals while processing the payroll. If any agency needs to revise the reported totals, then a new Form OSCPX 10, Payroll Control Totals, should be submitted with the word REVISED printed on the face of the document.

After each of the four payrolls are processed during the month, three reports are generated in Systemware that provide the total costs of the payroll. These reports are used by the agency to verify the control totals reported to the OSC. Any discrepancies in the control totals must be addressed immediately.  The three reports offer different levels of detail and are located in Systemware under the following report titles:

  • OSCPX CASH REQUISITION/ DETAIL 
  • OSCPX CASH REQUISITION/ FUND   
  • OSCPX CASH REQUISITION/ PAYROLL
 

Month End Reports

A series of reports are generated at month end to document deductions withheld and to provide information from which agency staff can process vendor payments. These reports are also located in Systemware at the web site indicated previously.    

Scope

This policy applies to all State entities.

Exceptions

There are no exceptions to this policy.

Glossary of Terms

There are no special terms for this policy.

Adopted: July 1, 2005 Version:  2005-0701.01