Viewing Payroll Suspense in the NUFinancials Ledger Inquiry

This guide explains how to use Ledger Inquiry in NUFinancials to help you find payroll expenses in suspense.

Can the Ledger Inquiry in NUFinancials help you find payroll expenses in suspense?

Yes, but similar reports are available in myHR and Cognos. To manage payroll, it is a best practice to monitor PED reports before the payroll run to find suspense issues then. After the payroll run, and after the payroll journal is successfully uploaded into NUFinancials, the General Ledger Inquiry enables you to find the Fund, Department, and Account codes with suspense charges that must be resolved in myHR.

Background

When payroll is processed against a chart string that is inactive, that has an insufficient payroll budget, or that does not exist, the transaction is temporarily suspended. The charge reverts to a default chart string named when the project was set up, usually Fund 110 and the Department ID. The value SUSP is added to ChartField1, which makes it easy to find the suspended transactions in reports and inquiries.

Step 1: Navigate to the Ledger Inquiry in NUFinancials

• Login to NUFinancials: nufin.northwestern.edu
• From the Main Menu, click on the Navigator compass > Navigator > General Ledger > Review Financial Information > Ledger.

Step 2: Find or Create the Inquiry

If you already created an inquiry for this purpose, click
Find an Existing Value > Search. Click the inquiry name you want to use.

If you did not already create an inquiry:

1. Click Add a New Value.
2. Enter an Inquiry Name.
   •   For example, type SUSP.
   •   Use the underscore _ instead of spaces.
   •   Do not use symbols.
3. Click Add. Result: the search is saved with the name you gave it and the Search Criteria page appears.

Step 3: Enter the search criteria

1. In the Ledger field, type ACTUALS, or select it from the list of valid values.
2. Enter the Fiscal Year 20XX.
3. Enter the range of accounting periods that you want to review.
   1. In From Period, enter the starting month.
   2. In To Period, enter the ending month.
      •   The example is March through August of Fiscal Year 2013.
4. Enter Chart Field Criteria
   1. a.  Type the Department ID in the Department field.
   2. b.  Type SUSP in the ChartField1 field.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Search.

Step 4: View the results

Payroll expense transactions with positive values are in suspense. After transactions are taken out of suspense, and the subsequent payroll journal is uploaded into NUFinancials, a negative offsetting line appears.

Activity

Click the Activity link to see the Payroll Journal number and date associated with the account. From there, click Ledger Summary to return.

Detail

The Detail link leads to the full chart string. From there, click Ledger Summary to return.

What happens next?

Login into myHR and make the necessary corrections.

For additional assistance please contact the IT Support Center at 847-491-4357 (1-HELP) or email servicedesk@northwestern.edu.