The option to "departmentalize by G/L account segment" in the Payroll company configuration sets you up to departmentalize Payroll expenses only or both expenses and liabilities – that is, you are able to post Payroll expenses and liabilities to accounts with segments that represent different departments or cost centers. Turning on this option lets you easily base the department segment portions of your Payroll expense and liability accounts on employees' assigned departments.

The department segment can be called anything you wish. It should be the account segment in your Chart of Accounts that you use to differentiate and analyze costs across the components – departments, divisions, locations, cost centers, or whatever you use – of your company.

You select the segment that represents the cost components (for example, Department or Location). You can give meaningful names to the different values for the segment (for example, "Administration" or "Tulsa). You assign employees to these departments.

When you select the option to departmentalize by G/L account segment you have the option in the configuration of each pay factor (earnings, deductions, taxes, and so on) to departmentalize the pay factor. This gives you total control over which expenses and liabilities will be tracked at the departmental level and which can be posted to company-wide accounts.

But you can simply configure the pay factor to post to the base account – for example, Salary Expense 6000-00. When you post Payroll to the employees' assigned departments — for example, Department 01, Department 02, and Department 03, the system posts to the department accounts that correspond to the employees' departments – for example, 6000-01, 6000-02, and 6000-03.