Accounting Incentive
By Jess
@JJ4Ever (4693)
United States
March 23, 2010 6:01pm CST
My paycheck is direct deposited into my checking account every two weeks (Friday) - no questions asked. However, for some reason that I don't quite understand, there are four times this year that we get paid the following Monday instead of payday Friday. I've heard it's because of some kind of accounting "trick" or incentive that saves the company a whole bunch of money to pay us one weekday later. For those employees who bank with credit unions, they don't get paid until the following Monday. However, since I have a bank, my paycheck hits the following Saturday, only a day late. Do you think it's fair that the company chooses to pay its employees one business day later? I know for a lot of my fellow employees, this accounting decision really throws things off with bills coming due and so on. For me, it has never been a huge issue other than having to wait a day to see the money hit my account because I'm constantly looking ahead when it comes to money. We receive our payday calendar in November or December of the previous year for the entire next year so we know well in advance before these four accounting "tricks" take place. What is your opinion? Have you worked in payroll or accounting to know what this "trick" might be? Please share your thoughts!
1 response
@FaerieAne2003 (679)
• United States
24 Mar 10
Oh, no, not us. My husband's paycheck is direct deposit every other Friday as well, but the county he works for doesn't "have time" to tell them things like that. They just started that, and we never know when it's going to happen! Now, I wouldn't really mind, because checks still take a couple of days to clear if you happen to write a "bad" one. But for my auto-pay services, such as our credit cards and utility bill, they take it the day it's set up for. Which happens to be Payday Friday. So we got slammed with an entire paycheck's worth of overdrafts & fees...and then had no money left for everything else! The county claims that, basically, I'm stupid for setting things up to come out on the expected payday instead of the following Monday, and therefore it's not their fault even though they did not forewarn us. That was 3 weeks before Christmas last year, then again while we were on vacation with my parents in January. Yay. I despise politics & finance, and the two should NEVER mix under any circumstances. HA!
1 person likes this
@JJ4Ever (4693)
• United States
4 Apr 10
Wow, I couldn't agree with you more! That's absolutely horrible when you had no warning this lack of pay was going to cause you so many problems! I don't think it's your fault for setting your payments for payday because it sounds to me like you want to be prompt (and more than likely, EARLY) on all of your payments. I think it's completely fair and understandable that you want to pay things off the day you get your money. I think it's the company's fault for not warning you ahead of time and doing what they did. I'd even go as far as to say they should be responsible for all those fees...but you know the way things go...of course, they wouldn't take responsibility. Thanks for your response!
