Introduction
Payroll Audits are a series of verification rules set up to help ensure the accuracy, integrity and compliance of payroll batches. Based on the Payroll Audit that it is set up, they are intended to flag abnormalities, inconsistencies and even potential errors within pay entry. Payroll Audits can be set up to flag things like irregular worked hours, missing pay information or inconsistencies with pay rates.
Payroll Audits offer the flexibility to define audit parameters based on specific payroll requirements and company policies. Once a Payroll Audit is set up, the system flags any instances where the parameter is met each time payroll is run.
When there are Payroll Audits set up within the system, the audit results will appear right after pay entry is completed whether it's via time import or manual entry. There will be a left-hand menu that displays each audit that was flagged and the employees that were flagged.
Setting Up Payroll Audits
To set up Payroll Audits, navigate to the Rules & Alerts section within the Company tab and then select the Audits Card.
Within the Audits Card, it will automatically default to the Payroll Audits section, however there is also a section for Attendance Audits which are similar in concept to Payroll Audits but catered toward Empeon's Time and Attendance feature. This screen will display any Payroll Audits that have already been set up, with the option to create a new Payroll Audit by clicking the blue "+ New Audit" button.
For any type of Payroll Audit being set up, the following steps will be required:
- Select Audit - Choose the Audit Type to configure. Additional fields will populate once a Payroll Audit is selected.
- Audit Name - The selected Audit Type will automatically appear as the Audit Name. This field can be edited, as it will be the heading displayed when the Payroll Audit is flagged.
- Audit Description - This field describes what the Payroll Audit will flag after Pay Entry is completed. A default description will appear, but it can be adjusted as needed.
With certain Payroll Audits, it may be applicable to Select a Condition as this is how parameters are established for what the Audit will flag.
In the example below, we are setting up a Total Hours Per Check Audit which can be set up to flag when an employee's total hours is either Equal to, Not Equal to, Less than, or Greater than a specified amount of hours. For this example, we are setting up an Payroll Audit that will flag us when any employee has worked more than 45 total hours in a pay period. If flagging only specific Earning Codes is desired, rather than total hours, a Code Group can be set up and linked to the Audit.
After setting up the parameters of the Payroll Audit, the next step will be to select which employees the Audit should be applied to. There is the ability to set this up for All Employees, or for Specific Employees based on their assigned Cost Center or Job Info.
Flagged Payroll Audits
After Payroll Audits are set up within the system, they will flag any instances where the audit parameters are met during the Pay Entry process. Right after the Pay Entry process, there will be a section for Audits and there will be a blue button labeled "Go to audits" displayed in the top right area of the screen to initiate this step.
Clicking the "Go to audits" button initiates an audit scan of the payroll data. The system will review the entered payroll data against the predefined audit parameters configured in the Payroll Audits feature. When the scan is complete, and there are Audits that were flagged, the screen will look like this:
Reviewing & Approving Flagged Audits
Audit Overview - The left-hand menu of the Audit screen lists each flagged audit, along with a corresponding number indicating the number of employees for whom this audit was flagged. This provides a quick summary of the scope and magnitude of the audit findings.
Employee Listing - Using the left-hand menu to view each specific audit, it will populate on the main screen the list of employees who were flagged by the audit with a brief description explaining why.
Audit Review - Each displayed employee can be selected by name to review their timecard, conduct a more detailed review, and make any necessary changes. If everything is accurate, the Audit can be approved directly from the Audit Review screen. To do this, either "Select All" to approve all employees at once, or approve each employee individually by clicking the blue "Approve" button next to their name. Approving these employees indicates that the audit findings have been reviewed and validated, signaling readiness to proceed with payroll processing.
Approvals - After each payroll audit is approved, they will appear under the "Approvals" tab in the left-hand menu. This tab confirms the payroll audits that were approved for each employee and also shows who approved them and when.
After reviewing each audit and the flagged employees, select the blue "Go to verification" button in the top right corner of the screen. This will navigate to a verification screen for a final review of totals before processing payroll.