Setting up Accrual Accounts

Modified on Tue, Sep 17 at 10:08 PM

Accrual accounts help you keep time off and overtime organized. We can help you set up custom accrual accounts with rules on how time is accrued and at what rate. Examples are: Overtime, Vacation, Sick Time, PTO, Personal Time, Funeral Time, Military Time, Holiday, etc.

Accrual Account Settings

Go to Menu > Organization Setup > Accrual Accounts
Click Add Accrual Account
1. Enter Account Name. (e.g. Vacation)
2. Sort Order on Reports (e.g. 10, 20, 30, or 99).
3. Enter a number to use as the sort order for reports. This number must be between 0 and 1000, or can be set to -1 in order to hide this account on reports.
4. Show Balance on Reports.
5. When checked, accrual accounts of this type will appear when an employee views their balances on their time card, and the Pay Period Closing Report will show four columns: Begin, Earned, Used, and Balance. When this value is not checked, then the Pay Period Closing Report will only show one column indicating the hours earned in that period. This is usually appropriate for an Overtime type account.
6. Overtime Choice
7. For certain types of overtime categories employees can choose which account their overtime hours should count toward. If this box is checked then it is available for employees to choose. This option is only available for overtime categories that allow employees to make this choice.
8. Time Off Choice (check if you want employees to be able to use it to take time off)
9. Overtime Hours Multiplier (usually 1.0, except for Comp Time type accounts)
10. This specifies how many hours are credited to this account for every hour of overtime worked. Normally, if an employee works 1 hour of Overtime, only one hour is added to the Overtime accrual account. If this is a Comp Time account, then you may want to set it to 1.5, which means if an employee works 1 hour, they would earn 1.5 hours in their Comp Time accrual account.
11. Overflow Account
12. Normally when an account’s maximum accrual is reached, additional hours are dropped. If you specify an overflow account, then the hours are added to that account instead of being dropped.
13. If you select an overflow account, you can adjust the number of hours that overflow by setting the multiplier to something other than 1.
14. An example of this is if you have a limit of 80 hours balance for Comp Time. If the pay period closes with 90 hours (10 hours over the limit) in the Comp Time accrual account, the rule would force the hours to overflow into another account, such as Overtime. A multiplier of 0.666667 would take the 10 hours x 0.666667 = 6.67. This is the number of hours that will be added to the Overtime account.
15. In some agencies, another example is with Sick Time, where there is a limit, such as 960 hours. At the end of the year, any hours over that limit are paid out to the employee as straight time. In that case, you could set up a separate accrual account called Sick Time Pay, and select that as the Overflow Account, and use 1.0 as the Overtime Multiplier. If they had 10 extra hours at the end of the year, only 10 hours would overflow into the Sick Time Pay accrual account.
16. Click Save

Accrual Account Examples

Overtime

Typical accrual account set up for Overtime:

Vacation

Typical accrual account setup for Vacation:

Comp Time

For accounts like Comp Time, set the Overtime Hours Multiplier to 1.5, then click Save. Then Edit Comp Time again and it will give you more options to select an Overflow Account - select Overtime. Set the Overflow Multiplier to 0.66667 to undo the 1.5 multiplier.

You would also need to check Show Balance on Reports, check Time Off Choice, and check Overtime Choice.

This setup allows an employee to be compensated for overtime hours worked by adding them to the Comp Time account at 1.5 rate. Meaning if an employee works 10 extra hours, it will add 15 hours to their Comp Time accrual account. If a maximum balance rule is set, the extra hours will be paid out to the Overflow Account using the rate of 0.66667. Which means the 15 hours would turn back into 10 hours of overtime in the Overtime accrual account.

Sick Time

Year end payout

In some agencies, another example is with Sick Time, where there is a limit, such as 960 hours. At the end of the year, any hours over that limit are paid out to the employee as straight time. In that case, you could set up a separate accrual account called Sick Time Pay, and select that as the Overflow Account, and use 1.0 as the Overtime Multiplier. If they had 10 extra hours at the end of the year, only 10 hours would overflow into the Sick Time Pay accrual account.

No year end payout

If there is no year end sick time payout, then leave the Overflow Account blank.

Holiday Hours

Holidays are a bit more complex, and we are happy to help you set those up. In this section, we will just show how the Holiday Hours accrual account is set up. In another section, we will walk you through the Holiday settings.

If your agency just gives Holiday Hours for employees to use to take another day off (or the actual holiday off), then only one account is needed.

If your agency allows employees to earn holiday pay, then you would want to set up another accrual account titled Holiday Pay. Overtime Choice should not be checked.

Other account types

You are not limited in the number and types of accrual accounts that you set up. Typical ones include Personal Time, PTO, Funeral Time, Military Leave, FMLA, etc.

Set Up the Accrual Schedules

For each accrual account, click on the Accrual Schedules button
Click on Add New Schedule
1. Enter the Name (e.g. Patrol Vacation)
2. Accrual Frequency
  1. Each period - will add the hours at the end of each pay period
  2. First period of month - will add the hours on the first pay period of the month (where the last day of the pay period is on the 1st of the month or later)
  3. First Period of the Year - will add the hours at the end of the first pay period of the year
  4. On Employee anniversary - will add the hours based on their Begin Date (hire date)
  5. On specific dates - select which actual dates you want this to accrue (Jan 1, Jul 1, etc.)
3. Set the accrual rate based on Years of service
  1. Starting Out earn ____ /period (enter the amount of hours an employee earns each pay period or each year)
  2. Click Add Line
  3. At ___ years earn ___ /period (enter the year when this first rate changes, such as 0.5 years. Enter the amount their accrual raises to)
4. Set Limits
  1. Max
    1. The balance in an accrual account with this schedule should never exceed this amount. The rule is enforced at the end of each pay period. If the scheduled accrual amount would increase the balance over this maximum, then only the amount that sets the balance equal to the maximum is accrued.
  2. Calendar Year Max
    1. When the last pay period of the year closes, any accrual accounts with a balance exceeding the yearly carryover maximum have a deduction added so the balance equals the maximum.
  3. Anniversary Max
    1. On their anniversary date (based on their Begin Date), this maximum rule will be enforced and the hours deducted.
5. Click Save

Example of a Vacation accrual schedule

Hours Worked Option

Some agencies are required to give PTO or Sick Time to part time employees. To accommodate for that, you can click on the /period, which will toggle to the hrs worked mode. Then set your parameters, such as earn 1 hour per 10 hours worked.

Accrual Schedule - add employees

Once you have created an accrual account, you’ll need to add employees to an accrual schedule.

For each accrual account, click on the Accrual Schedules button
Click on Set up Employees with this Account
Select the date you want this change to be effective. Usually it is today’s date. Click Next.
Select the schedule for each employee
Click Save