Things To Consider When Adjusting/Changing Pay Period

This article lists some of the considerations in Wagemaster when you want to change a pay cycle to end on a different day or changing the length of a pay cycle (i.e. change from ending on a Tuesday to ending on a Sunday or monthly to fortnightly)

Example Of Things To Consider When Adjusting Pay Cycles

The scenario is considering to swap from one payroll system to another, however, some of the considerations are applicable when simply changing a pay cycle to end on a different day or changing the length of a pay cycle (i.e. from ending on a Tuesday to ending on a Sunday or weekly to fortnightly, etc). 

• Planned leave that has already been entered might need the Pay on the PPE date to be changed.
•  Allowances: (Additions, Deductions) - these values will have to be modified in the employee record by clicking on Employee > Payments > Allowance.
  
• Additional Employer Super, Salary Sacrifice Super and Employee Super -  These values will have to be modified in the employee record by clicking on Employee > Payments > Superannuation.
  
• Period Overtime calculations in the Award (i.e. if it is supposed to track over a fortnight, what will you do?)
• If you pay your employees super up to certain hours, then you will also need to make changes to the settings in awards by navigating to Awards > Select Employee's Award > Normal > Normal Times > Period Times.
  
• Employees with Predefined Timesheet hours or Standard Pays hours that are set in the employee file.  For Standard Hours, check the hours on Employee > Employment > Payment Options.
  
• If the employee is on a Predefined Timesheet, ensure that the Predefined Timesheet is setup correctly and the correct options (i.e. repeat times for all weeks that make up the pay period) has been selected.  
• Do you import from a Time and Attendance System? How are you going to split the worked hours for the pay cycles?
• Bank splits over multiple bank accounts i.e. mortgage accounts, etc.
• Tax adjustment amounts will need to be adjusted in employee record by clicking on Employee > Payment > Tax.
  

• Tax will be lower in the short pay cycle therefore you may want to consider calculating their average marginal tax and adjusting the tax in the short pay to be slightly higher if necessary.
• If the pay cycles are straddling the month of December which may make period end\month end\quarter end reporting difficult depending on the business reporting requirements, i.e. If one PPE will be in one system and another PPE's will be in the new system. How are you going to consolidate Period End \Month\Quarter\Year End reporting for the two systems for your other business unit reporting requirements? Would normally recommend having the first pay in the new system at the start of a month (the start of a quarter is even better). But this may not be a factor if the other system will be doing back-parallels.
• Also, it is best to obtain brought forward leave balances as at the actual pay period end date of the final pay in the out-going system. You would need to keep in mind that Wagemaster accrues leave daily for those employees on awards with a yearly accrual method – timing the leave entitlement report will be important.