The Crediting topic appears only in German pension mode and only in the case of career average and cash balance accrual definitions. 

Specify the annual crediting Period by entering the day and month of the allocation date. The amount credited to the member's benefit will be based on the member's pay, age and service as of that date in each year of active service.

For cash balance components, select the contribution Frequency (Annual, Semi-annual, Quarterly or Monthly) and Timing (Beginning of period, Middle of period or End of period). For example, if the Frequency is Monthly and the Timing is End of period, the contribution will be assumed to be credited at the end of each month. If the Frequency is Annual and the Timing is Middle of period, the contribution will be assumed to be credited at the midpoint of the period between the allocation date and the retirement date, when deriving the component values at each retirement date. For more details on the Frequency and Timing parameters, see the article Projection and Freeze Ages, Crediting and Indexation Timing.

For cash balance components, select the Interest Type from one of the following options:

• Annual percentage rate - Select this option if the interest rate you provided should be treated as an APR. For example, if contributions are credited monthly and you entered an interest rate of 5%, the monthly interest factor will be set to (1 + 0.05 / 12) and the cumulative interest factor over a full year will be set to (1 + 0.05 / 12) ^ 12.
• Effective rate - Select this option if the interest rate you provided should be treated as the effective interest earned during the year. For example, if contributions are credited monthly and you entered an interest rate of 5%, the monthly interest factor will be set to 1.05^(1/12) and the cumulative interest factor over a full year will be set to 1.05.

The credited accrual in the year of decrement can be chosen from one of the following options:

• None - no accrual from last allocation date
• Partial (default) - provide an accrual from last allocation date to the date of decrement
• Full - provide a full year of credited accrual

The Accrual basis for partial credit at decrement can be determined using the member’s age and service either At the prior allocation date (as of the allocation date most recently preceding decrement) or At decrement (as of the date of decrement), according to your selection.

Check Contractual allocations end at to indicate that allocations to be valued are limited to a contractual guarantee period. If the guarantee period ends at the same time for all records, select number of months from valuation date and enter an integer number of months after which time allocations will end. If the guarantee period varies by record, select date in database field and choose the field which contains the contract end date. These guarantee periods will always apply for Tax/Funding valuations. In Accounting valuations, you may override the contract end and assume continued allocations via Valuation Assumptions.