Timesheet Entry Audit Checklist

1. Casual Appointments and Payments
2. Logging on to the SAP system
3. Check the Timesheet has been Completed Correctly
4. Timesheet Signatures and Separation of Processing Roles
5. Filing of Reports and Timesheets

1. Casual Appointments and Payments

This checklist outlines the procedures that must be completed in order to meet Monash University audit requirements for time entry and payment of Casual General (Non Trades and Services), Casual Academic Research and Sessional staff in SAP HR.

All casual staff must have a valid Employment of Casual/Sessional Staff contract for the period of their employment at Monash University. An Employment of Casual/Sessional Staff contract is a formal agreement between a staff member and the university that provides details about the staff member’s working terms and conditions. The Employment of Casual/Sessional Staff form must be completed, signed and forwarded to Human Resources prior to the person commencing employment. An employment agreement is enforceable in the courts.

For further information and support regarding casual appointments please contact your HR team representative at Human Resources.

2. Logging on to the SAP system

• Only authorised and trained staff are granted user access to enter timesheet data into SAP HR.
• The user is accountable for a created, changed or deleted record and is traceable via the user name (Changed By)
• The user must not delete or change a time entry record already paid into the staff member’s bank account in a previous fortnight that will cause the staff member payroll processing account to become negative (claim). For further information about the procedures to recover an overpayment please contact your HR representative at HR Operations.
• All staff are required to familiarise themselves with the contents of the IT Use Policy - Staff & Other Authorised Users.

Time Sheets - Only compliant Casual General (Non Trades and Services), Casual Academic Research and Casual Academic Sessional timesheets may be entered for payment by the department or faculty. Timesheets can be printed can be printed from the Staff Forms page.

3. Check the Timesheet has been Completed Correctly

Fortnightly Pay - All staff members shall be paid their salary on the basis of a fortnightly pay period and such payments shall be made fortnightly throughout the duration of their employment. All departments and faculties must ensure that casual staff submit their completed timesheets to the relevant admin area on a regular fortnightly basis for payment. Failure to do so may result in a staff member not being paid on time and risk a dispute that could be referred to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Also, late collection of timesheets and payments does not foster an environment at Monash University that values its casual working staff.

Original Timesheet - In order to prevent duplication of payments and for payroll compliance the original timesheet and signatures should be used to enter time into SAP HR. Under some circumstances a facsimile copy can be used but should later be matched up with the original for audit purposes.

Meal breaks - Total hours worked/paid = Full attendance hours minus meal breaks. A meal break of 30 mins in length is required to be taken after every five consecutive hours of work and must be recorded on the timesheet.

Hours worked must be entered in SAP HR in decimal format - For example, 9 hours and 30 minutes is entered in the hours field as 9.5. The formula to convert minutes into decimal is: number of minutes/60 = decimal value. Failure to do so could result in an underpayment.

Overtime - For Casual General (Non Trades and Services) staff overtime is calculated as per the award and paid automatically in SAP HR/Payroll when Total Hours worked is entered or totals greater than 7.35 (decimal) hours for any week day. Total Hours entered on weekends will also be automatically calculated according to the award.

Casual general (Non Trades and Services) staff members are to be paid  for a minimum period of three hours for each engagement except for the following circumstances:

• A person who is a student (including a post graduate student) who is expected to attend the University on that day in his/her capacity as a student will have a minimum period of engagement of 1 hour.
• A person with a primary occupation elsewhere will have a minimum period of engagement of 1 hour.
• In order to meet his/her personal circumstances, a casual staff member may request and the University may agree to an engagement for less than the minimum of 3 hours.

4. Timesheet Signatures and Separation of Processing Roles

Signatures and Separation of Roles - Check that the following two signatures are present:

• Staff member (Role 1)
• Attendance Verification (Supervisor) (Role 2 cannot be same as Role 1)

Additional Signatures and Roles:

• The Payment authorisation signature (Role 3 can be same person as Role 2 but not same as Role 1) - is preferred but not compulsory. Payment Authorisation has already been signed off in Section 5 of Employment of Casual/Sessional Staff contract by Person with Financial Delegation and Dean or Head of Organisational Unit. The requirement of this signature must not delay the timely payment of the casual staff member’s salary. The management of casual working hours and expenditure may be performed using the relevant HR and fiscal reports.
• Actioned By: Time Entry User (Role 4) - this section is signed by the person entering the timesheet in SAP HR (Role 4 cannot be same person as Role 1, Role 2 or Role 5). Role 4 is also traceable by SAP User name (Changed By).

Report Authoriser - (Role 5 can be the same person as Role 2 and or Role 3 but not Role 4) - After the scheduled close of pay (usually the Tuesday of pay week), Role 4 time entry user runs an SAP time entry report for the Report Authoriser (Role 5) to verify and tick off the following:

• Who entered time - User name
• Correct hours entered from time sheet - ENSURE CASUAL MINIMUM IS PAID
• Correct costing (If required)
• Amount Field must be zero (Casual Academic Report)
• Correct employment type - Casual Academics (Sessional and Research Assistants), or Casual Generals (HEW)
• Contract end date
• This report must be signed by the authoriser

The time entry report may be run for checking and quality control purposes throughout the pay period but the Final reports must be run and signed off by the Report Authoriser after the Monday of the data entry close off period..

5. Filing of Reports and Timesheets

The time sheet entry report must be attached to the original time sheets for each related pay period and filed in the fortnightly pay period sequence.

For further details regarding report and payroll dates please refer to the Time Entry Audit Timetable