Basic Information Tab of the Pay Methods Screen

Use the Basic Information Tab to enter basic information about a pay method such as the code, description, payment type, and employee-specific pay method.

Screen Fields

Field Description
Code

Enter a 10-character uppercase alphanumeric pay method code. Each code must be unique.

Description

Enter up to 30 characters for a pay method description. You should make descriptions as short as possible and properly capitalize them because they are used in drop-down lists and as column headings for reports and inquiries.

Payment Type

Use this drop-down list to select the type of payment that corresponds to each pay method. The type that you select determines whether the employee gets reimbursed directly or if payment will be made to another entity. The payment types include Employee > Paid, Company > Paid, and Direct Pay.

If you choose Employee Paid, the employee will be reimbursed.

If you choose Company Paid, a general ledger account will be credited with the reimbursement to offset a company-paid account.

If you choose Direct Pay, a general ledger account will be credited with the reimbursement to directly pay a different vendor.

Employee-Specific Pay Method

Use this drop-down list to assign specific general ledger accounts for each pay method for each employee. The options include Optional, Required, and Not > Allowed.

If you choose Optional and you have set up specific general ledger accounting information for the employee on the History tab of the Employee Information screen, the system will use those accounts when applying cost. If you have not set up general ledger information for the employee, the system will use the general ledger information set up on the Charge Defaults tab of the Pay Methods screen.

If you choose Required, you must set up general ledger accounting information for the employee on the History tab of the Employee Information screen for this pay method to work.

If you choose Not Allowed, you do not need to enter any general ledger accounting information on the History tab of the Employee Information screen. The system uses the general ledger information from the Charge Defaults tab of the Pay Methods screen.

Example: If your company uses employee-specific general ledger accounts for cash advances, set the Employee-Specific Pay Method to Required.

Note: The system has several pre-loaded pay methods. Each has a specific purpose:
  • Advance: Use the Advance pay method, which has a payment type set to Advance, for any cash advances that your employees enter on their expense reports. You cannot change the payment type for the Advance pay method. You must choose the Employee-Specific Pay Method that your company uses. If your company does not use cash advances, you do not need to make changes to this pay method.

    If you use Cash Advances, you can change the Description, and must select an employee-specific pay method, which determines how the Cash Advance accounts are broken up - either one account for the entire company or one account for each person that requests an advance. The system knows that it is for a cash advance because this particular payment method comes into play only when the user fills out the Cash Advance screen on the expense report.

  • Receivable: The Receivable Pay Method uses a payment type set to Receivable. You cannot change the payment type for the Receivable pay method. Use this pay method when the employee owes the company money after completing the expense report.

    If your system is configured to create a Receivable entry (one of the Charge Receivable radio buttons is selected on the Expense Configuration screen), you must select an employee-specific pay method, which determines how the Receivable accounts are broken up - either one account for the entire company or one account for each person that owes the company money. The system will create the receivable record using the general ledger accounting information set up either on the Charge Defaults tab of this screen or the Pay Method screen of the Employee Information screen.

  • Cash Receipt: The Cash Receipt pay method uses a payment type set to Cash Receipt. You cannot change the payment type for the Cash Receipt pay method. Use this pay method when the employee owes the company money after completing the expense report and has provided the company with that money.

Export

Leave Export selected to export to your financial system all expenses that have a Company Paid payment type.

In most cases, company paid expenses should be exported to your financial system.

For example, where a credit card is provided to an employee for business travel, expense amounts charged to that card are paid by the company accountant, and when the associated company paid expense is later exported to your financial system, it offsets the credit card payment.

For certain company paid expenses, however, exporting may not be desirable, and you should leave the Export check box clear.

For example, suppose a consultant enters hours on an expense report, but those hours are paid by a different payroll system.

In this instance, the company needs the consultant to account for the hours, but does not want that expense exported, since those hours are paid through another source. In cases such as these, leave the Export check box clear.

When Payment Type is Direct Pay or Employee Paid, Export is selected by default and cannot be changed. These types of expense payments are exported by default.

Allow Employee Deletion

Select the Allow Employee Deletion check box to allow employees to delete from their desktops any outstanding expenses associated with this pay method, regardless of payment type.

These are most often personal expenses paid directly by the employee, and therefore, deleting them has no effect on the database.

Note: System administrators can restore deleted expenses to the employee's desktop from the Expense Utility.