Payroll 110 Badge #08 - Introduction to the Accounting Manual-Payroll 110 Badge #8

Video Transcription

Video Summary

Holly Berlingham introduces Wasco Payroll 110 Certification Badge 8, explaining the purpose of Washington State’s School District Accounting Manual and how account coding impacts payroll. The manual provides statewide accounting guidance and standardized account codes to support consistent financial reporting, budgetary control, and comparisons for users such as district leadership, OSPI, legislators, the public, and federal reporting (NCES).<br /><br />She breaks down the state-required account code structure: fund, expenditure (GL 530), and subsidiary codes—two-digit program, two-digit activity, four-digit object/NCES, and four-digit location. Districts may add optional local fields (e.g., responsibility, grants, projects) depending on their financial software (e.g., Skyward, BusinessPlus), sometimes using crosswalks behind the scenes.<br /><br />Because payroll costs are a major share of district budgets, payroll, HR, and accounting must coordinate to ensure correct coding for contracts, timesheets, extra pay, and benefits. She highlights OSPI’s Accounting Manual and the Chart of Accounts Validation/Lookup Excel tool to confirm valid code combinations.<br /><br />Finally, she reviews key payroll-related object codes: 2000 series for certificated salaries, 3000 series for classified salaries, and 4000 series for benefits/taxes, where the last digit distinguishes certificated (“2”) vs classified (“3”), including SEB health benefits (4282/4283).

Keywords

Washington State School District Accounting Manual

OSPI Chart of Accounts

account code structure (fund/program/activity/object/location)

school district payroll accounting

payroll coding coordination (HR and accounting)

NCES object codes (2000/3000/4000 series)

SEB health benefits codes 4282 and 4283