Finding Text
Criteria: The Organization is responsible for ensuring employees are paid for hours worked as reported on their timesheets at applicable approved personnel rates, and charged to the correct program. Condition: During our testing of payroll transactions of this award, we noted three instances within our sample where the employee?s paycheck amount does not equate to the amount charged to the program. All three discrepancies occurred within the same payroll period and the differences were in relation to the pay of on-call hours, see details below; ? Program charged $50 for 1 hour of on-call time versus employee receiving $25 on paycheck ? Program charged $170 for 5 hours of on-call time versus employee receiving $92.50 on paycheck ? Program charged $330 for 9 hours of on-call time versus employee receiving $135 on paycheck In total, the program was charged $550 for the above on-call hours and the applicable employees were paid $252.50, a difference of $297.50. Cause: The Organization utilizes two systems to process payroll; the first being the HR/Timekeeping system (Unanet) and the second being the payroll system (Empath). These two systems are not integrated. For example, if a pay rate was changed in Empath, the same change needed to occur in Unanet. In the above instances, there was discrepancy between hours/rates of on-call time amongst the two systems and the grant was billed from Unanet and employees paid from Empath. Effect: It appears the program may have been overbilled due to the discrepancy between what the employees were actually paid and what was billed to the grantor. It is not clear if this was an isolated instance or occurred at other times during the year. Questioned Costs: N/A Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the Organization ensure systems are operating as expected to ensure grant billings agree to the underlying accounting records. Views of Responsible Officials: In FY22, Family Services utilized a separate timekeeping system and payroll system with data being manually imported in the general ledger system. While payroll and finance teams pride themselves on a high degree of accuracy, there are inherent complexities in operating multiple systems and the manual process is prone to human error. On August 1st, 2023, Sheppard Pratt implemented UKG HRIS system with integrated timekeeping and payroll, with reporting that integrates seamlessly with the ERP (General Ledger) system, Oracle. This is a major step forward for integration of the finance and payroll function and will greatly reduce manual processing and errors.