BFS Community,
As a result of the UCPath implementation, there will be changes affecting the general ledger.
The last PPS pay journal transmitted to the general ledger will be for the bi-weekly pay period ending March 9th. All subsequent pay journals will be coming from UCPath. We've listed the changes we've identified so far, along with recommended actions for you to take below.
Changes affecting the general ledger
PPS / PET Retirement
Corrections for pay periods preceding UCPath implementation will need to be processed in the Payroll and Personnel System (PPS). PPS will be retiring after September 2019, so please make sure to process your Payroll Expenditure Transfers (PETs) by then. Corrections for transactions originating in UCPath need to be processed in UCPath, through Direct Retros.
Payroll Journal Posting Frequency
Payroll journal posting frequency is changing from once per month to multiple times a month. You will see a journal entry posting to the general ledger after every bi-weekly payroll, once for monthly payroll, multiple times a week for Direct Retros and once a month for PPS PETs.
New Accounts
Salary accounts will be changing in UCPath and there will be only two salary accounts:
- Account 50200 - Academic Salaries and Wages
- Account 51200 - Staff Salaries and Wages
Old accounts are still used for processing of PETs in PPS.
Please note that you do not need to input an account number in the funding chartstring in UCPath as account codes will be derived in the Funding Entry, Position Funding and Direct Retro pages.
CBR / GAEL / UCRP Interest
CBR / GAEL / UCRP interest will be calculated in UCPath and posted as part of the payroll journal coming from UCPath. PETs still being processed in PPS will have Composite Benefit Rates (CBR) assessed as per current process in BFS (i.e. a BENxxx journal will be produced). No system adjustments will be made for the General, Automobile, and Employment Liability rate (GAEL) or UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) interest assessments on PETs in PPS, in keeping with the current practice.
Due to UCPath configuration issues, GAEL is incorrectly assessing a small population of federal funds and UCRP interest is incorrectly assessed on federal flow through funds. Corrections for both of these errors will be handled by the Controller's Office, unless directed otherwise.
PC Chartfields
Unlike today, PC chartfield values will be required on Contract and Grant (C&G) related position funding entries in UCPath, and Chart of Account (COA) validation will be enforced. Follow this link to determine PC chartfields for a base chartstring (account-fund-DeptID-prog-CF1-CF2): coa.berkeley.edu. (Select the "Chart of accounts validation lookup" menu option in the top right of the webpage).
Suspense Chartstrings
There are three types of errors in UCPath that will cause transactions to go to a suspense chartstring, which is a salary account associated with the employee, fund 69995, a Division level DeptID code and the CF1 value noted below:
- CF1 = 900000: When a position is created but the position funding is not set up.
- CF1 = 900001: When the payroll processing date is past the Funding End Date for the Earnings Distribution. This will generally apply to contracts and grants funds.
- CF1 = 900002: When the provided chartstring was valid at the time of initial entry input, but becomes invalid before payroll processing.
The default suspense chartstring is located on the Funding Entry Page in UCPath. Please make sure not to change the default chartstring.
Please note that the current BFS Payroll Suspense module will still be available to clear out errors coming from PPS but will not be used to clear out suspended items from UCPath. UCPath suspended chartstrings will need to be monitored and cleared through the Direct Retro process on a regular basis, and Position Funding will need to be updated as well. Payroll activity with CF1 = 900000 should be reviewed and resolved in UCPath as soon as possible as these transactions indicate that positions were created without funding distributions.
High Risk Direct Retros
The approval process will be similar to the current process for late payroll cost transfers, but will be done through UCPath workflow instead of a Contract and Grants Accounting (CGA) email. Justification and Principal Investigator (PI) / CGA approval will still be required for the transaction. Please make sure to complete the questionnaire online and attach PI approval as you are processing a high risk Direct Retro in UCPath.
Bi-Weekly Accruals
Salary will be accrued on a monthly basis for bi-weekly periods that straddle two accounting periods. The accruals will be posted to payroll chartstrings with specific bi-weekly accrual expense and liability account codes (51300 - Bi-weekly Gross Salary Accrual and 22001 - Bi-weekly Accrued Salary & Benefits). Accruals will post with the bi-weekly pay that precedes month end, on a separate journal, and reversals will post with the subsequent bi-weekly payroll cycle, also on a separate journal. Please note that these accruals and reversals will be billable transactions on C&G awards, however should not have an impact (i.e. result in net zero) due to the timing of invoicing.
If you have UCPath questions related to the general ledger, please feel free to contact us at controllers_ucpath@berkeley.edu.
Controller's Office
Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance