The payroll projections in Beacon HR are a complex series of calculations that estimate the cost of EOY personnel services. 


    

  • YTD values are downloaded from upstream systems (HRDB, CC pay, nVision). These values sum the payroll files for that employee
    • For GS employees, payroll typically downloads on the Thursday after the end of a pay period. YTD sums are updated at this point
  • YTD values include:
    • Salary
    • OT
    • Awards
    • Benefits    
    • FICA
    • Retirement
    • Health
    • Fellow Stipends Obligations 
    • Fellow Health Insurance Obligations
  • The remaining costs are typically calculated as a straight-line projection from the most recent pay period
  • The straight-line projection excludes one-time costs including:
    • Awards
    • Special Pay
    • Note that OT pay is included in the projection. The system projects the most recent OT hours for future projections. Therefore, an employee with abnormal OT in one pay period will cause fluctuations to the remaining cost
  • The straight-line projection automatically includes:
    • Estimates for upcoming WIGI. For the pay period with an upcoming WIGI, the calculation will automatically account for the expected pay increase
    • Estimates for the FICA maximum. Based on tax law employees will stop paying taxes on income over a certain amount (this amount changes each year and is updated in Beacon). At the point the employee reaches that income threshold Beacon will stop calculating a 6.2% cost for the FICA contribution.
    • Future start dates: for planning records entered in Beacon the calculation will use the upcoming start date
    • Upcoming NTE or Depart dates: For records with Planning or Official NTE or a depart date the system will stop calculating a cost for that employee on that date. Planned NTE dates supersede the Official NTE or Depart date for the cost calculation. Therefore, users can override official data for the payroll projection
  • If users update the system then the projection can include:
    • COLA: COLAs are entered by system administrators under the Admin tab --> system configuration. This will estimate a pay increase based on the percentage entered for the selected upcoming date for all employees under a specific pay plan
    • Projected Pay Increases: users can enter employee-by-employee pay increase data for upcoming promotions or common pay increases such as Title 42 spring increases or quadrennials 
    • Lump sum leave pay: Users can mark that an employee is leaving the government and enter the projected leave balance for the system to calculate a LSLP
  • Our Projections do NOT include:
    • Estimates for upcoming Awards