Commitment Accounting
Commitment Accounting performs payroll accounting within Financial Services. It oversees PeopleSoft payroll distribution, redistribution and encumbrance processes and the resulting Workday payroll journal entries.
When a department overpays an employee, Commitment Accounting works with the employee to recollect excess wages on the university’s behalf. Commitment Accounting completes all payroll remittances and reporting, retirement and benefit deductions, and payroll taxes — federal, state and local.
Commitment Accounting also compiles the W2 forms at year-end, administers taxes for employees living or working outside of Arizona, participates in PeopleSoft system testing and assesses the graduate-level tuition waiver taxation.
View the Commitment Accounting PDF for more information about processes. Email Commitment Accounting with questions.
Payroll earning codes
View the full list of Payroll Earning Codes.
Employee-related expenses rates
Employee-related expenses are ASU's cost for benefits provided to employees as part of their total compensation package at the university. These include workers' compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, and the employer's portion of Social Security taxes, retirement plan contributions, health/dental insurance and life/disability insurance.
ERE is budgeted and charged to departmental Worktags based on ASU's Budgeting Office's rates, not individual employees' actual benefit cost. Each Employee Class in PeopleSoft is assigned an ERE rate, and the rates are applied to employee gross pay to determine ERE expense. ERE charges per employee are capped on a fiscal year basis when gross pay exceeds $400,000. See the following table for FY ERE rates in Workday.
Faculty | Staff | Non-benefits eligible | Students, excluding RA/TA | Research assistant/Teaching assistant | Post-doctoral | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FacAdmAppt and Faculty | AcademicProf, Admin, ACPRFAdmAP and Classified | Can include all employee classes | Students and graduate with job codes not equal to 989001, 989002, 989556 or 989557 | Graduate students with job codes 989001, 989002, 989556 or 989557 | PostDoc | |
Workday ERE ledger and Spend category | 7112SC0232 | 7113SC0236 | 7117SC0233 | 7116SC0237 | 7115SC0235 | 7114SC0234 |
FY 2025 rate | 30.60% | 35.50% | 11.10% | 1.90% | 7.40% | 22.30% |
FY 2025 rate | 30.4% | 36.8% | 10.9% | 1.2% | 8.5% | 25.3% |
FY 2024 rate | 27.1% | 34.2% | 10.2% | 1.6% | 11.5% | 21.7% |
FY 2023 rate | 25.6% | 34% | 10.6% | 2% | 10.7% | 21.4% |
FY 2022 rate | 26.5% | 32.6% | 10.1% | 1.7% | 10.2% | 22.1% |
FY 2021 rate | 26.3% | 33% | 9.4% | 1.5% | 10% | 21% |
An employee class is assigned to each position and job. An employee with multiple jobs can have multiple employee classes. Each job is charged the applicable ERE rate per class. Look up the employee class in PeopleSoft by navigating to Workforce Administration > Job Data >Job Information.
Regardless of employee class, non-benefits eligible employees are charged a specific ERE rate. The Benefit Program field on the PeopleSoft Job Data screen will determine an employee’s benefit eligibility. Employees in the Limited or Other Benefits Programs are assigned to the Non-Benefits Eligible ERE rate. Employees can have multiple active jobs, each with a different Benefit Program. When the primary job is assigned to the benefits-eligible Benefits Program, the employee is considered benefits-eligible for rate calculation purposes, and all jobs — including non-benefit eligible positions — will be charged ERE based on the Employee Class.
If the primary job is not the Benefits Program, each position is separately charged the applicable ERE rate. This is based on the employee class/benefit program combination, including the non-benefits eligible rate. Look up the employees' Benefits Programs in PeopleSoft by navigating to Workforce Administration > Job Data > Work Location > Benefits Program Participation.
General operating programs are assessed ERE. Departments are not allowed to move general operating ERE budget to either personal services or operations appropriation units.
Earnings codes exempted from ERE charges:
- AWP — Award/Prize Bonus.
- BNN — Nondiscretionary Bonus.
- BNS — Bonus.
- CAR — Car Allowance.
- DPA — Danger Pay.
- FRD — Fee Refund.
- HNR — Honorarium.
- HPR — Health Insurance Premium Reimbursement.
- HSG — Housing.
- TEC — Technical Subsidy.
- TSN — Non-taxable technical subsidy.
Payroll earnings redistribution transactions will also transfer the corresponding ERE expense for the selected pay period in equal proportion to the amount of earnings moved.
Vacation and compensatory payouts are centrally funded. The ERE rate includes a component to fund vacation payouts.
ERE transactions originate in PeopleSoft as redistribution entries generated during the payroll distribution process. The purpose of the redistributions is to charge or debit the departmental Worktags for ERE expense while funding or credit ASU’s central ERE account — CC0004, PG00002 — where the actual ERE benefits are paid. These transactions interface from PeopleSoft into Workday and post to the Journal Source: Integration — PSHCM Payroll ERE and PSHCM Payroll ERE — manual integration error corrections — under the following ledgers and spend categories:
Ledger | Spend Category |
7112: Employee Related Expenses — Faculty | SC0232 ERE Rate — Faculty |
7113: Employee Related Expenses — Staff | SC0236 ERE Rate — Staff |
7114: Employee Related Expenses — Post-Doctoral Scholars | SC0234 ERE Rate — Post-Doctoral Scholars |
7115: Employee Related Expenses — RA/TA | SC0235 ERE Rate — RA/TA |
7116: Employee Related Expenses — Student | SC0237 ERE Rate — Student |
7117: Employee Related Expenses — Other | SC0233 ERE Rate — Non-Benefit |
The referenced journal sources, ledgers and spend categories can be used as filters for ERE reporting purposes when querying Workday Departmental Reports and the Financial Data Warehouse, Amazon Redshift.
For any ERE-related questions, contact your Financial Services accountant or your Grant and Contract Officer for inquiries specific to sponsored grants.
RA/TA flat rate semester calendar
Departmental accounts are assessed tuition remission based on a flat rate charge for each academic term — fall, spring and summer. The following table indicates the pay period start date and end date tuition remission are assessed for each academic term.
Semester | Pay period start | Pay period end | No. of pay periods |
---|---|---|---|
Fall 2025 | Aug. 18, 2025 | Jan. 4, 2026 | 10 |
Summer 2025 | May 12, 2025 | Aug. 17, 2025 | 7 |
Spring 2025 | Dec. 23, 2024 | May 11, 2025 | 10 |
Fall 2024 | Aug. 8, 2024 | Dec. 22, 2024 | 10 |
Summer 2024 | May 13, 2024 | Aug. 4, 2024 | 6 |
Spring 2024 | Dec. 25, 2023 | May 12, 2024 | 10 |
Fall 2023 | Aug. 7, 2023 | Dec. 24, 2023 | 10 |
Summer 2023 | May 15, 2023 | Aug. 6, 2023 | 6 |
Spring 2023 | Dec. 26, 2022 | May 14, 2023 | 10 |
Fall 2022 | Aug. 8, 2022 | Dec. 25, 2022 | 10 |
Summer 2022 | May 16, 2022 | Aug. 7, 2022 | 6 |
Spring 2022 | Dec. 27, 2021 | May 15, 2022 | 10 |
Fall 2021 | Aug. 9, 2021 | Dec. 26, 2021 | 10 |
Summer 2021 | May 17, 2021 | Aug. 8, 2021 | 6 |
Spring 2021 | Dec. 28, 2020 | May 16, 2021 | 10 |
RA/TA tuition remission and rates
RA/TA tuition remission is assessed to departmental Worktags through a flat rate per-semester charge allocated on a per-pay-period basis for each academic term the RA/TA is employed. See the RA/TA calendar for the tuition remission start and end date for the fall, spring and summer semesters.
The semester’s tuition remission flat rate is determined by the RA/TA’s FTE. Simultaneously the amount levied each pay period considers the expected number of pay periods worked within the RA/TA semester calendar. In the instance the RA/TA has multiple positions subject to tuition remission, the RA/TA assessment is allocated between positions based on gross earnings.
Local programs and sponsored grants are subject to the flat rate charge. RATA charges are not allowable on general operating accounts — Fund FD1100 or FD1110 — and are automatically redirected to PG99994: RA and PG99997: TA for grad paid under those accounts. Departments that hire an RA/TA after the seventh pay period of the fall or spring semesters are not assessed tuition remission. The summer session tuition remission is assessed to departments on all summer jobs regardless of the RA/TA's start date or FTE amount.
See the following table for current and prior year RATA rates:
Term | Job code | Job code description | FTE | Workday Ledger and Spend Category | Flat rate academic year 2025–2026 | Flat rate academic year 2024–2025 | Flat rate academic year 2023–2024 | Flat rate academic year 2022–2023 | Flat rate academic year 2021–2022 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fall/Spring | 989001/989556 | Teaching Asst/Assoc | .50 and greater | 7111SC0810 | $10,511.50 | $9,870.00 | $9,400.00 | $8,990.00 | $8,636.00 |
Fall/Spring | 989001/989556 | Teaching Asst/Assoc | .49–.25 | 7111SC0810 | $5,256.00 | $4,935.00 | $4,700.00 | $4,495.00 | $4,318.00 |
Fall/Spring | 989001/989556 | Teaching Asst/Assoc | Less than .25 | 7111SC0810 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Fall/Spring | 989002/989557 | Research Asst/Assoc | .50 and greater | 7111SC0808 | $10,511.50 | $9,870.00 | $9,400.00 | $8,990.00 | $8,636.00 |
Fall/Spring | 989002/989557 | Research Asst/Assoc | .49–.25 | 7111SC0808 | $5,256.00 | $4,935.00 | $4,700.00 | $4,495.00 | $4,318.00 |
Fall/Spring | 989002/989557 | Research Asst/Assoc | Less than .25 | 7111SC0808 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Summer | 989001/989556 | Teaching Asst/Assoc | Any FTE Amount | 7111SC0810 | $1,369.00 | $1,285.00 | $1,224.00 | $1,170.00 | $1,124.00 |
Summer | 989002/989557 | Research Asst/Assoc | Any FTE Amount | 7111SC0808 | $1,369.00 | $1,285.00 | $1,224.00 | $1,170.00 | $1,124.00 |
Tuition Remission Transactions in Workday
Tuition remission transactions originate in PeopleSoft as redistribution entries generated during the payroll distribution process. These transactions interface from PeopleSoft into Workday and post to the Journal Source: Integration — PSHCM RA/TA and PSHCM RA/TA or manual interface error corrections in ledger account 7111: Employee Related Expenses — Graduate Tuition Benefit under spend categories SC0808: Tuition Benefit — RA and SC0810: Tuition Benefit — TA.
You can use the referenced journal sources, ledgers and spend categories as filters for RA/TA reporting purposes when querying Workday Departmental Reports and the Financial Data Warehouse, Amazon Redshift.
RA/TA health insurance
The health insurance benefit for RA/TAs is charged through the Research/Teaching Associate/Assistant ERE rate.
Payroll expense redistributions and RA/TA tuition remission
When a payroll redistribution entry is processed for an RA/TA, the tuition remission amount transferred will be proportionate to the amount of earnings moved.
For any tuition remission-related questions, contact your Financial Services accountant or your Grant and Contract Officer for inquiries specific to sponsored grants.