Update: this announcement was updated to reflect the UCPath Center's decision to extend the final salary cost transfer processing deadline from July 3 to July 7.
Department salary cost transfers users should start preparing now for fiscal year-end close. All salary cost transfers (Direct Retros) must be approved in UCPath by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 7, 2023, in order to be recorded in fiscal year 2022-23. The final salary cost transfer batch of the fiscal year will be executed by the UCPath Center after 5 p.m. on July 7. The Payroll Processing Calendar on the Controller’s Office website includes additional updates to salary cost transfer batch processing during fiscal year end.
Review the following reminders to help minimize delays in processing salary cost transfers in UCPath in preparation for year-end close.
Confirming Valid Chartstrings
When submitting a Direct Retro, UCPath will perform a chartstring validation on the “new data” chartstrings. Although “old data” chartstrings are not validated during the submission process, it is equally important that these chartstring are valid at the time of processing. If a Direct Retro is reversing expenses on an “old data” chartstring, that chartstring must also be valid at the time of posting to the General Ledger. If it is not valid, the reversing salary and benefits will post to the payroll suspense account.
- When performing a salary cost transfer check that sponsored projects are active by using the chartfield validator (opens in new window) in PeopleSoft (MyAccess login required).
- Contact your CGA Service Team to verify that sponsored projects will remain open during the entire salary cost transfer transaction processing period (submission, approval, batch processing, and posting to the General Ledger).
Using the Distribution of Payroll Expense (DPE) Report to Prepare Direct Retros
The Distribution of Payroll Expense (DPE) report is an important tool for reviewing payroll expenses in preparation for submitting a salary cost transfer. As a best practice, use DPE data to identify specific payroll expense transactions requiring salary cost transfer adjustments.
The UCPath Direct Retro online page does not always reflect all of the detailed debit and credit lines by earnings period or earnings date. You may only see a ‘net’ amount by earnings code and chartstring within UCPath Direct Retro pages. In addition, for each paycheck the UCPath Direct Retro page could display a combination of data across earnings periods, including:
- regular salary expenses for the current earnings period
- leave expenses (e.g., vacation, sick, holiday) and the corresponding offsetting lines for the prior earnings period which are reported in arrears for monthly employees
MyReports provides the option to run the DPE report by Accounting Period or Earning Period.
- Reports run by Accounting Period will show all payroll transactions that were posted in the selected data range. This is the default setting.
- Reports run by Earning Period will show all payroll transactions that were earned in the selected date range.
When reconciling effort percent by month, run the DPE report by Earning Period to view all transactions associated with an earnings end date, including leave transactions for the earnings period that may have posted in arrears in the next accounting period. Any adjustments required for a specific month should be based on the complete information by earnings end date provided in the DPE report.
Understanding Changes to Paid Leave Redistribution Details Beginning May 2023
Starting this month, financial administrators will see a change in the level of detail for the redistribution of paid leave transactions (e.g., vacation and sick leave) in UCPath and MyReports for monthly exempt employees. For each combination of chartstring, earnings code, and earnings period:
- The new process will summarize total hours for leave earnings codes by month end date (currently distribution lines are not aggregated, and a new distribution line is created for each day that a leave is taken).
- Distribution lines for vacation/leave offsets to Regular pay (REG and REG-like earnings codes) will also be summarized by month end date.
Salary Cost Transfer Initiators and Approvers will see these changes in Direct Retro pages for paychecks beginning with the May 31, 2023, pay end date. This change will significantly reduce the number of transactions rows when working with Old Data and New Data sections.
Please contact the Controller’s Office Solution Center if you need further assistance.