Accumulator adjustments

An accumulator, also referred to as an accrual, is a counter that accrues dollars or hours at a certain rate based on the earnings paid to an employee each pay and are set up to have an accrual calculated on them. Accumulators are used to track how much vacation and sick time an employee is entitled to (how much they have "accrued") but can be used to track virtually anything your company wants as long as it increments regularly. Normally, accumulators increment automatically after the initial setup and are decremented (subtracted from, in whole or in part) as part of the payroll run if earnings are paid from the accumulator.

Adjustments are done when, for example, the employer realizes that the employee's vacation rate should have been increased from 4 percent to 6 percent. When this occurs, the employer must calculate the extra amount that should have been added to the employee's vacation accumulator and enter it as a positive amount in the Adjustment field on the Accumulators page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Adjustments > Accumulators. In addition, the employer must change the employee's vacation rate on the Employee Profile page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Hire/Profile > Employee Profile. to ensure it accrues correctly in future pay periods.

Note: For customers using the Time Off module requiring an adjustment to a custom entitlement, see Adjust balances for custom entitlements assigned to an employee. For adjustments to a standard entitlement (vacation and additional accumulators) are entered on the Accumulators page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Adjustments > Accumulators.

The accumulator information is entered by your Customer Support Team as part of your company setup. Use the Accumulators page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Adjustments > Accumulators. to view the accumulators set up for an employee, the accrual rates, and the current accrued-to-date values (current accrual). You can also enter adjustments to accrual amounts for individual employees.

The contents of the accumulator page depend on the employee selected from the Employee List and the accumulators set up for the employee. The accumulators set up options may include a vacation accumulator, a sick accumulator and/or an additional accumulator. If that employee accrues vacation pay, the Vacation Accumulator details display. Likewise, if the employee accrues sick pay or has an additional accumulator, Powerpay displays this on the page. If the employee does not accrue anything, the page is blank.

(For payrolls using time off request functionality) When adjustments are made to accumulators, the adjustment does NOT display in the time off request entitlement balance until after the payroll processes successfully.

Prerequisites

Your vacation, sick pay or additional accumulator plan types and descriptions are set up by your Customer Support Team with information you provided to Dayforce.

If your vacation, sick pay or your additional accumulator plan has not been set up, that accumulator does not display on the Accumulators page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Adjustments > Accumulators.

If an accumulator plan is set up at the company level, but it does not pertain to the employee selected, a message advises you that these accumulators do not apply to this employee.

Tasks

Results

After you save your adjustments, you can return to the Accumulators page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Adjustments > Accumulators. to view the adjustment data at any time until the payroll has been submitted. The amount in the Resulting Accrual field does not include any accruals earned for the current run until the payroll is processed. When the payroll is submitted, the Adjustment field is reset to zero in preparation for the next potential adjustment.

See also

Field Information

  • Plan (Vacation Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the vacation plan chosen for this employee on the Employee Profile page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Hire/Profile > Employee Profile.

    To create new plans, contact your Customer Support Team. You can have up to nine different vacation plans and each can calculate as a percentage of different specified earnings. For example, some provinces indicate that vacation pay is calculated on vacation pay, while others do not.

    As another example, your payroll may include office employees who accrue vacation pay only on regular and bonus earnings while your union employees may accrue vacation pay on regular and overtime earnings. In this example, two vacation plan types would be required.

  • Rate (Vacation Accumulator) - This view-only field displays the rate of vacation accrual for this employee. Rates will be based on legislative requirements and the employee's entitlement.

  • Current Accrual (Vacation Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the total accumulated amount of vacation accrual to date.

  • Adjustment (Vacation Accumulator) - Enter the amount of the adjustment in this field (to two decimal places). Enter either a positive (+) or a negative (-) value by typing a plus or a minus sign before the number.

  • Resulting Accrual (Vacation Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the adjusted amount of vacation accrual after the [Save] button is clicked. This is calculated as the sum of the Current Accrual field and the Adjustment field. Any additional accrual amount that is accumulated during the current pay period will not show in this field.

    Note: The Resulting Accrual field may not display an accurate representation of the employee's actual accrual. If there is regular pay, a manual cheque, and/or a cheque reversal being processed for that employee on the current payroll run, the system will calculate the current vacation accrual on those earnings when the payroll is processed. This field shows the employee's accrual PRIOR TO the current payroll run being submitted.

    Note: You can view the true Resulting Accumulator value (providing there are no further adjustments or entries for that employee) before you submit your payroll. Go to the Payroll Preview page.Closed From the Process menu, select Payroll Preview. select Preview, then click the Employee Totals button. Select the employee's name in the Employee List.

The description of the Additional Accumulator chosen for this employee.

  • Plan (Additional Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the additional accumulator plan chosen for this employee on the Employee Profile page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Hire/Profile > Employee Profile. The additional accumulator may or may not be used for vacation plans.

    For new clients - Do not use this page to populate your year-to-date amounts as this is done by Dayforce's Implementation Team at the time of setup.

    • The additional accumulator can be used to pay out vacation time accumulated from the previous year's (either the fiscal or calendar year's) vacation accumulator amounts. In this case, the description would be displayed as "Additional Accumulator: Previous Vac."

      Notify your Customer Support Team prior to the payroll in which vacation amounts are to be transferred to the previous vacation accumulator. They can do this transfer for you automatically. If the transfer amounts only apply to specific employees, contact your Customer Support Team so that these specific year-to-date values can be entered.

    • It can also be used to pay out statutory holiday pay each pay period (in which case, the description appended to the header "Additional Accumulator" would be displayed as "Auto Stat Pay").

      Note: You cannot use this page to make year-to-date adjustments as they have an impact on the current accrual on your Payroll Register Summary (part of your standard payroll package). To create new plans, contact your Customer Support Team.

      Note: You cannot use the Additional Accumulator for BOTH Previous Vacation and Auto Stat Pay at the same time.

  • Rate (Additional Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the rate of additional accumulator accrual for this employee.

  • Current Accrual (Additional Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the total accumulated amount of additional accumulator accrual to date.

  • Adjustment (Additional Accumulator) - Enter the amount of the adjustment into this field (to two decimal places). Enter either a positive (+) or a negative (-) value by typing a plus or a minus sign before the number.

  • Resulting Accrual (Additional Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the adjusted amount of additional accumulator accrual after you click Save. This is calculated as the sum of the Current Accrual field and the Adjustment field. Any additional accrual amount that is accumulated during the current pay period does not show in this field.

    Note: The Resulting Accrual field may not display an accurate representation of the employee's actual accrual. If there is regular pay, a manual cheque, and/or a cheque reversal being processed for that employee on the current payroll run, the system will calculate the current vacation accrual on those earnings when the payroll is processed. This field shows the employee's accrual PRIOR TO the current payroll run being submitted.

    Note: You can view the true Resulting Accumulator value (providing there are no further adjustments or entries for that employee) before you submit your payroll. Go to the Payroll Preview page.Closed From the Process menu, select Payroll Preview. select Preview, then click the Employee Totals button. Select the employee's name in the Employee List.

  • Plan (Sick Pay Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the sick pay plan chosen for this employee on the Employee Profile page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Hire/Profile > Employee Profile.

  • Hours per Pay (Sick Pay Accumulator) - This view-only field displays the rate (or hours per pay) of sick pay accrual for this employee. Hours per Pay is based on the amount entered for the employee on the Employee Profile page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Hire/Profile > Employee Profile.

  • Current Accrual (Sick Pay Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the total accumulated sick pay hours to date.

  • Adjustment (Sick Pay Accumulator) - Enter the amount of the adjustment in this field (to two decimal places). Enter either a positive (+) or a negative (-) value by typing a plus or a minus sign before the number.

  • Resulting Accrual (Sick Pay Accumulator) - (View-only) Displays the adjusted amount of sick pay hours after the [Save] button is clicked. This is calculated as the sum of the Current Accrual field and the Adjustment field. Any additional hours accumulated during the current pay period will not show in this field.

    Note: The Resulting Accrual field may not display an accurate representation of the employee's actual accrual. If there is regular pay, a manual cheque, and/or a cheque reversal being processed for that employee on the current payroll run, the system will calculate the current vacation accrual on those earnings when the payroll is processed. This field shows the employee's accrual PRIOR TO the current payroll run being submitted.

    Note: You can view the true Resulting Accumulator value (providing there are no further adjustments or entries for that employee) before you submit your payroll. Go to the Payroll Preview page.Closed From the Process menu, select Payroll Preview. select Preview, then click the Employee Totals button. Select the employee's name in the Employee List.

Related Information

When your Customer Support Team set up your original accumulators, your company was given a choice to allow or not allow each accumulator to go into a negative balance. For example, you might allow your employees to take vacation at any time during their first year of service even though they would not have accrued sufficient vacation pay to cover the time taken. Taking this time would cause an employee's vacation accumulator current accrued-to-date value to fall to a negative amount. If the employee left your service before putting in sufficient time to bring this accumulator to a positive balance, he or she will have been paid for vacation time in advance of earning it.

If you enter an adjustment that brings either of your accumulators to a negative balance, one of two things occur:

  • If you originally chose to allow negative balances, you receive a warning message to bring your attention to the negative balance, and the adjustment is saved.
  • If you originally chose NOT to allow negative balances, you receive an error message, and the adjustment is NOT be saved.

To change your original choice, contact your Customer Support Team.