Leave Accural Error

Can someone please enlighten me on how this happens, and how to have faith that the accruals are in fact, correct?! This only comes to light when an employee takes leave, and I have to tell them they have none available to which they know, they haven't used all their leave.. How do I fix this and stop it from happening again?

Screenshot 2022-02-25 Leave Accrual Error.png

Comments

Acctd4

I believe the specific cause(s?) have been tricky to pinpoint because this issue only occurs for some users - I personally haven't experienced this happening in any of my client files for example.

Have you got the employee leave Accrual period set to Every pay ? I only ever set leave up for Every hour as this ensures continued accuracy, even when hours fluctuate. From memory, each case of this that I've seen, happens to be using the Every pay option for leave accrual.
I also never use the Minutes Time Format, only ever Decimal - It tends to be far simpler to work with, particularly as all the formula calculation guides tend to be in decimals also. (What are your standard work hours per fortnight as your accruals look like they could possibly be a bit out anyway ?)
Another possible factor is any manual adjustments made to the "Hours available ..." quantity amount around that time

Wendy_10863093

Appreciate your reply and offer to help, thank you! This is actually my second time ever that I've seen this happen, two different clients..

Leave accruals are set for Every Pay, as per the accountants request.

Hours are set to hours & minutes as that's how the timesheets get sent through - yes old school. I don't want to confuse the manager by requesting decimals. The staff are used to seeing them as hours/minutes.

Fortnightly hours are 64, and they are entitled to 5 weeks annual leave.

No, No adjustments have been made.

Surely it has to be a glitch as this system has had these settings for YEARS..

Thank you,

Wendy

Acctd4

Why is the accountant requesting that the leave accruals are set to Every Pay ???? This creates inaccuracies as if an employee changes their hours eg works more/less, using this method means the leave accruals will NOT be correct.

FYI For 5 weeks AL based on 64 hours worked p/fn, my calculation of the the accrual (in hours:mins) is 5:46 😬

Wendy_10863093

Thanks, I will look into the accruals, but I'm more looking for answers as to why the system has thrown it all out of whack, and what I can do about that?

It doesn't give you very much confidence that the system can just make hours disappear??

Do I just add them manually to the available hours? What answers can I give the employee as to why the system has done this?

Wendy

Zappy

If I were you I would be checking the backup prior to the error and the backup immediately after. Compare it to the current file. Okay then

Acctd4

As per my previous comments, it could be any number of things that have caused it. Like I said, I haven’t had this happen when configured as stated above so maybe try changing to that ?

Presumably, you’ve already run the Verify Data & then run the Rebuild Data three times to check for any obvious corruptions?

Zappy

Indeed Shaz as stated in my previous post on the topic, the smartest way to accomplish the correct figure is to accrue on the basis of 7.6923% of ordinary hours. Half that for personal leave. A set rate will inevitably cause problems. The accountant is obviously clueless. And why is he commenting on leave entitlements at all? Its not his job.

Wendy_10863093

Thanks, I have updated the leave accruals to calculate per hour and changed to decimals. I will have to do an audit on the leave liabilities to check totals, and if needed, update the file with the correct entitlements. So updating these as per the "hours available as of..." is the only way to do this?

So you are both in agreeance, that the system error has occurred because of the settings I had? There's nothing else I can do to stop this happening again?

With regard to the accountant - SHE was helping me update the file from a previously error ridden file, and with so many employees on different hours, and entitlements, we felt this was the best fit at the time.. I feel if this is a KNOWN error with the program, maybe that could be noted somewhere, as it's quite discerning to see such a error effecting someone's leave entitlements.

Zappy

Wendy the most important thing you need to know is you need to have this as part of your routine checking procedures. As for the alleged accountant I tend to avoid them like the plague when it comes to software. They very rarely have an intelligent contribution to make.

Acctd4

Adding on to what Zappy has said ...Unfortunately, accountants are generally NOT specialists in the software & their payroll knowledge also tends to be minimal (& often just completely incorrect 🙄 as demonstrated in this case!)

Did you run the Verify Data & then run the Rebuild Data three times as previously suggested ?

As I've said, the definitive cause is speculative. I can only relay my experience with it & because this issue doesn't occur often or for everyone & seems to be random, it could possibly be more user/setup-related than an error within the program itself, otherwise it would happen regularly & for all users.

💡 One last suggestion ... Please check the "Pay Period" on that 29/04/21 Paycheque. Just last week I had someone come to me who was at their wit's end because leave wasn't accruing for new employees or for another who started earlier this FY. They had done everything & even had Reckon Tech Support remote in to the file but the issue remained.

Upon investigating the file thoroughly, I identified the Pay Period date year had inadvertently been changed, from "xx/xx/21" to "xx/xx/20". As a result, any employees who commenced from that 2020 date weren't accruing leave as it was (correctly) set to accrue - in their employee records - from their Hire Date !

Zappy

Adding to what Shaz has said my sister is an accountant of thirty plus years. She knows she knows nothing about payroll. I think some times our accountants get a touch of the megalos. They actually don't know everything

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