PAYROLL PROCESSING QUESTIONNAIRE
Table of Contents
Payroll Administration
1. Does someone review the checksheets and budget control?
Ideal Answer: YES. An individual who knows the names of new or terminated employees should review the related checksheets, budget control, and student expense sheets for accuracy.
2. Does anyone follow up on the list from Employee Compensation and Benefits Services showing persons on the student payroll who are not students?
Ideal Answer: YES. Verification of current student status before payroll processing is critical to insure the eligibility for student payroll and proper tax withholding.
3. Does anyone review for Multiple Appointments (over 80 Regular Hours Worked Report for persons working in more than one department)?
Ideal Answer: YES. This will promptly identify employees receiving overtime. Verification of appointments can reduce the risk of an employee receiving multiple paychecks, where the total accumulated hours worked exceeds their authorized limits for work-study.
4. Are any checks sent to the Department for distribution?
Ideal Answer: NO, the employees use direct deposit or must pick their checks up at Employee Compensation Benefits Services at the Peterson Building (go directly to question #9).
If YES (move on to question #5).
5. Does your department send one person to pick up all checks/earnings statements?
Ideal Answer: YES. Check distribution at the departmental level creates an unnecessary risk and should not occur. However, if you choose to accept this risk, the designated individual must be someone other than the employee who approves timesheets or enters them into the payroll system.
6. Are all employees required to show I.D. or sign for checks?
Ideal Answer: YES. Employee verification of check distribution can reduce the risk of mishandling of payroll checks.
7. If any checks must be kept overnight, are they stored in a secured location?
Ideal Answer: YES. All checks kept after hours must be in a safe or a locked location with limited access.
8. Do you return all unclaimed checks to ECBS or your Dean's office?
Ideal Answer: YES. All unclaimed checks after a [two-week] window must be returned to ECBS. This practice will reduce the risk of check mishandling or misappropriation.
9. Is there a monthly reconciliation of the payroll (e.g. timesheets, checksheets, or summary sheets) to SFS?
Ideal Answer: YES. Monthly reconciliation of payroll records to SFS will ensure that payrolls were properly entered. If done by someone knowledgeable of currently employed individuals it should identify anyone paid who is not with the department.
Separation of Duties
10. Does the person(s) who prepare the payroll also sign the payroll checksheets?
Ideal Answer: NO. Proper separation of duties requires these two tasks be done by two separate individuals to ensure accurate accounting for salaries and avoid misappropriation.
11. Does this same person(s) receive the payroll checks from Employee Compensation and Benefits Services?
Ideal Answer: NO. Proper separation of duties requires the payroll preparation and authorizing payroll timesheet tasks are separate from distributing payroll checks to reduce the risk of misappropriation.
12. Does this same person(s) distribute payroll checks?
Ideal Answer: NO. Proper separation of duties requires the payroll preparation and authorizing payroll timesheet tasks are separate from distributing payroll checks to reduce the risk of misappropriation.
13. Is there a process in place to notify the payroll processor to remove individuals who are no longer employed from the payroll in a timely manner?
Ideal Answer: YES. Immediately notification to the payroll processor of an employee termination should be in place. This control will reduce the risk of further payments made to an employee who has been terminated. Additionally, your network administrator should be notified to cancel all system accesses.
14. Are LTE and Student rate changes submitted formally and directly entered into the payroll system?
Ideal Answer: YES. All rate changes for LTE and/or Student employees should be reported in writing (e.g. some type of "Rate Change Form"), with the appropriate supervisory approval.
Payroll Calculation
15. Are the reported number of hours worked re-calculated to make sure they are correct?
Ideal Answer: YES. If hours worked are manually calculated by employees, a re-calculation of these hours should be done by payroll personnel to ensure accuracy of the reported hours.
16. Are all timesheets calculated using a standard payroll-rounding model?
Ideal Answer: YES. Your department should have a standard for time-rounding that is consistently applied to all employee timesheets. (Consult with ECBS for appropriate standards).
Payroll Forms Processing
17. Are new employees required to complete an Employees Benefits Checklist?
Ideal Answer: YES. All new Classified and Unclassified employees are required to fully complete and sign an Employees Benefits Checklist to ensure they're provided the necessary employment information and forms.
18. Are new employees provided the necessary information and forms to have their checks deposited directly to their financial institution?
Ideal Answer: YES. This is part of the New Employee Packet. Direct deposit increases processing efficiency for the department and eliminates the risks involved with employee check distribution.
19. Are direct deposit authorizations or change of address requests handled by the same person who approves payroll or distributes checks?
Ideal Answer: NO. Only the Personnel Officer who does not approve payroll or distribute checks should handle these requests. To reduce the risk of misappropriation these tasks should be handled separately.