|
| |
What Makes Up a Payroll or Personnel Compensation and Benefits
There are many types of payroll costs that can be accounted for in an accounting system
and that may have to be budgeted for by an analyst. The following illustrates what
these types of costs can be. The list is not exhaustive, and will change with the
organization in which the analyst works. The analyst has to make adjustments to the
payroll items of interest based on what is relevant and significant for his organization.
For example, if the organization is not responsible for a retirement trust fund,
then the analyst does not have to budget for the trust fund costs. Note that,
although the listings are extensive, even OMB uses examples (click
here to go to one) since it is not possible to define every possible item for a very
large organization, such as the U.S. government. Also note the need to pay attention
to similar items that may be classified under a different category of expenditure (click to see).
This material is based on OMB Circular A-11, where a more detailed listing can be
found. There are other sources for this type of information. A-11 can be
accessed from the links at Useful Information
Sources. OMB uses the term
"object classification" to identify cost categories, and assigns numerical codes
to them. There are major object classes and their subdivisions. This listing
preserves this classification. (The numerical codes are the same ones as are used to
present the budget; these codes are used mostly in the Appendix to the Budget of the
United States.)
| Major Object Class |
Sub object class |
Description of What is Included |
| 11 |
|
Personnel Compensation. Compensation directly related to
duties performed for the Government by Federal civilian employees, military personnel, and
non-Federal personnel |
|
11.1 |
For full-time civilian employees
with permanent appointments. Regular salaries and wages paid to the employees.
Other payments that become part of their basic pay (for example, geographic
differentials, and critical position pay). Regular salaries and wages paid while the
employees are on paid leave, such as annual, sick, or compensatory leave. Lump sum
payments for annual leave upon separation. |
|
11.3 |
Other than full-time
permanent. Regular salaries and wages paid to civilian employees for part-time,
temporary, or intermittent employment. |
|
11.5 |
Other personnel compensation. Compensation above the
basic rates paid directly to civilian employees. Includes Overtime (which
is pay for services in excess of the established work, standby duty and administratively
uncontrollable overtime, and unscheduled availability duty hours for criminal
investigations), Holiday pay, Night work differential (which is pay above the basic
rate for regularly scheduled night work), Post differentials (above the basic rate
for service at hardship posts abroad that are based upon conditions of environment
substantially different from those in the continental United States and warrant additional
pay as a recruitment and retention incentive), Hazardous duty pay (pay above the
basic rate because of assignments involving performance of duties that subject the
employee to hazards or physical hardships), Supervisory differential, Cash
incentive awards, Other payments above basic rates, Royalties to Federal
scientists and inventors |
|
11.7 |
Military personnel. The regular salaries and wages paid to
military personnel. |
|
11.8 |
Special personal services payments. Payments for
personal services that don’t represent salaries or wages paid directly to Federal
employees and military personnel. Include payments for: Reimbursable details,
that is, payments to other accounts for services of civilian employees and military
personnel on reimbursable detail (both compensation and personnel benefits). Reemployed
annuitants, that is, payments by an agency employing an annuitant to reimburse the
Civil service retirement and disability fund for the annuity paid to that employee. Non-Federal
civilians, such as witnesses; casual workers, patient and inmate help, and allowances
for trainees and volunteers. Salary equalization to individuals on leave of
absence while employed by international organizations or State and local governments, when
the equalization payment is 50 percent or less of the person’s salary. Staff
of former Presidents paid by GSA. |
|
|
Back to top |
| 12 |
|
Personnel
Benefits. Benefits for currently employed Federal civilian, military, and
certain non-Federal personnel. |
|
12.1 |
Civilian
personnel benefits. Cash payments (from the agency, not funds withheld from employee
compensation) to other funds for the benefit of Federal civilian employees or direct
payments to these employees. Also, payments to or for certain non-Federal employees
as required by law. Civilian personnel benefits include: Insurance and
annuities, which are the employer’s share of payments for life insurance, health
insurance, employee retirement (including payments to finance fiduciary insurance costs of
the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board), work injury disabilities or death and
professional liability insurance. Recruitment, retention,
and other incentives, such as: Payments above the basic rate for recruitment
bonuses, relocation bonuses, and retention allowances; relocation and other expenses
related to permanent change of station (PCS), except expenses for travel and
transportation and the storage and care of vehicles and household goods; cash allowances
for separate maintenance, education for dependents, transfers for employees stationed
abroad, and personal allowances based upon assignment or position, and overseas
differentials. Other allowances and payments such as allowances for uniforms
and quarters, special pay that is paid in a lump sum (such as compensatory damages or
employee settlements), reimbursements for notary public expenses, and subsidies for
commuting costs, that is, payments to subsidize the costs of Federal civilian employees in
commuting by public transportation. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
12.2 |
Military personnel benefits. Cash allowances and payments
of employer share to other funds for military personnel. Include: Cash allowances
such as: Uniform allowances; reenlistment bonuses; cost-of-living allowances;
dislocation and family separation allowances; personal allowances based upon assignment or
rank. Exclude hazardous duty pay, flight pay, extra pay based upon conditions of
work environment, and other such pay, which are classified as military personnel
compensation in object class 11.7, and benefit payments to veterans resulting from their
past service, which are classified as benefits to former personnel in object class 13.0.
Payments to other funds, such as the employer’s share of military
retirement, Federal Insurance Contribution Act taxes, Servicemen's Group Life Insurance
premiums, and education benefits. Subsidies for commuting costs, which are
payments to subsidize the costs of military personnel in commuting by public
transportation. |
| 13 |
|
Benefits for former personnel. Benefits for former
officers and employees or their survivors that are based (at least in part) on the length
of service to the Federal Government. Include: Retirement benefits
in the form of pensions, annuities, or other retirement benefits paid to former
military and certain civilian Government personnel or to their survivors, exclusive of
payments from retirement trust funds, which are classified as insurance claims and
indemnities under object class 42.0. Separation pay, which are severance
payments to former employees who were involuntarily separated through no fault of their
own and voluntary separation incentive (VSI) payments, also known as
"early-outs" to employees who voluntarily separate from Federal service. Payments
to other funds for ex-Federal employees and ex-service personnel (e.g., agency
payments to the unemployment trust fund for ex-employees and one-time agency payments of
final basic pay to the civil service retirement fund for employees who took the early-out
under buy-out authority) and other benefits paid directly to the beneficiary. Also,
Government payment to the Employees health benefits fund for annuitants. Exclude
benefits provided in-kind, such as hospital and medical care, which are classified
under the object class representing the nature of the items purchased |
|
|
Back to top
Back to PC&B Main Page |
Adapted from OMB Circular No. A-11 (1999).
|
