School of EngineeringEngineering Research AdministrationJuly 14, 2011Sharon Bergman & Lex Bunten

Organization Suspense Organization Suspense AccountAccount

akaaka “Org Suspense”, “Org Suspense”, akaaka “Salary “Salary Suspense”, aka “OSA”, etc., etc.Suspense”, aka “OSA”, etc., etc.

A “reject” list for salary expense. What does that mean?(Almost) Everybody on the Payroll at

Stanford gets paid even if the account they’re supposed to be paid on “rejects” in the system “Reject List”

EE has its very own Suspense PTA: 1057168-1-AAQBS

All salaries and wages that hit Suspense are coded with expenditure type 51610

What is it?What is it?

You, as RFA, are responsible for clearing salary charges from Suspense to the correct PTA in a timely manner; and,

Your Team Lead is responsible for providing training, support, nagging and encouragement to enable you to do that, and, takes the heat from above when you don’t.

Who manages EE’s Org Who manages EE’s Org Suspense Account?Suspense Account?

As RFA, you lead the clearing of all charges. ◦ Faculty – you submit the LDA◦ Students with GFS appts – you

submit the LDA◦ Salaried Postdocs (in GFS) – you

submit the LDA

Do I, as RFA, clear Do I, as RFA, clear allall salaries from the Suspense salaries from the Suspense Acct?Acct?

◦ Staff (res associates/admin staff) - you report the items to the dept and you direct the clearing

◦ Contingents (hrly) – you report the items to the dept and you direct the clearing

Do I, as RFA, clear Do I, as RFA, clear allall salaries from the Suspense salaries from the Suspense Acct? (cont)Acct? (cont)

#1 REASON: “Invalid PTA,” e.g., passed end date, late increments, etc.

#2 REASON: Something’s wrong with the Oracle Labor Schedule; it’s missing or it doesn’t total 100% (this does not apply to GFS students who do not have LSs)

Other reasons?

Why do salary/wage charges Why do salary/wage charges hit our Org Suspense Account hit our Org Suspense Account

anyway?anyway?

GOAL: Prevent charges from hitting in the first place by practicing good accounts management.

BUT, they do hit, so we must clear them in a timely manner, preferably within 30 days

How do we manage our Org How do we manage our Org Suspense Account?Suspense Account?

REPORTING TOOLS help us answer the question why expense hit and what is the correct PTA to charge:◦ ERA Admin sends Suspense Acct report

to RFAs right after each pay period posts◦ RFA identifies appropriate PTA and

submits the LDA or directs the dept to submit LDA

OK, how do we do that?OK, how do we do that?

Be proactive◦ Watch PTA end dates carefully and

make sure end dates are extended or salaries are moved to valid PTAs

◦ After submitting the LDA, be sure that the underlying problem is corrected so that the charge does not repeat on suspense PTA

And how do we keep And how do we keep suspenses off the suspense suspenses off the suspense

acct? acct?