General

Use this tab to set up the general parameters for the payroll code.

Payment/Deduction

Type a unique name for the payroll code. You can enter a maximum of five characters.

When you have to specify a payroll code in other windows in the Payroll module, a drop-down list is available to aid selection. The payroll codes usually appear in alphanumeric sequence in the list. However, some windows, namely the payroll entry by employee, can be set up to display the list in an order defined using display sequences (see Payroll Categories for more details).

Some implementations have consisted of structured numeric codes with adequate gaps to allow for the future introduction of new codes. Others have used defaulted abbreviations of the description, such as SAL for monthly salary or BP for basic pay.

Therefore, if the presentation of these codes is an issue to you, then consideration should be given to the coding structure used or the display sequence applied.

Description

Type a description for the payroll code. This description is used as default text when payroll entries are entered — for example, Salary or Basic Pay.

Type of Code

Select the type of code from the drop-down list. Select one of the following:

Automatic

This type requires the definition of a formula, usually in conjunction with the employee’s salary, which is used at the start of the payroll calculation process to revise the value of each specific transaction. These rules can be simple arithmetic, such as dividing by twelve to establish the monthly payment from an annual salary or by reference to an associated table to establish a pay period deduction — for example, to cater for union deductions.

Rate

Although predominantly to accommodate hourly rates of pay, the system refers to UNITS as we could equally be referring to days, weeks or even miles. The rate may also be derived from the annual salary, in conjunction with the terms of employment, or from a series of pre-defined defaults.

Value

This is the simplest form of transaction type, because only a value is required and this can only be defined from one of a number of pre-provided settings accessed in a fixed sequence of preference.

System

These are pre-supplied payroll codes that cannot be deleted or added to. However, they can be modified to primarily control general ledger interface rules and control accounts and other control rates, such as reclaim percentages for SMP, SPP and SAP.

Item Group

A number of enquiries and reports exist to allow transaction details, both in the current pay period and the historical database, to be sorted, grouped and summarized by the payroll code to provide analysis of the type of payment or deduction across a specified time span.

Similarly, queries and screen grids can be modified to group by the payroll code to provide the same facilities.

Sometimes, however, it is useful to group particular payroll codes together to provide similar analysis, but of groups of payroll codes rather than by each code. For example, a code for “Statutory Payments” can be allocated against SSP, SMP, tax credits and so on, and subsequently used as an enquiry or reporting element, which can be sorted, grouped and summarized.

This is an optional analysis feature only and provides no functional contribution to the application. The elements available in the drop-down list are those you create by using Payroll > Module Setup > Item Group.

Payment/Deduction

Select an entry from the drop-down list.

This indicator determines whether the transaction is a payment or a deduction. The system does not allow negative values to be entered. Therefore, this parameter dictates how the values are accumulated and also how they are presented on reports and enquiries.

This is complemented by another parameter that determines how the payment or deduction is displayed. This is defaulted by the Payment/Deduction type but may be reversed so that payments are effectively shown as negative deductions and vice-versa.

Payslip Description

Type the payslip description.

If transactions are to be summarized for presentation on payslips, a generic description is required to replace the detailed transaction lines. This is when this alternative description is used. The choice of payslip format dictates if this field is required.

The default for this field is the description you enter in Description.

For information about the details you enter on the Controls tab, click here.