Washington County to realign budget structure for Workday transition; supplemental readoption planned

County finance staff told the Washington County Board of Commissioners Dec. 4 that the county will realign its budget structure to accommodate a transition to the Workday enterprise resource planning system and will likely present a supplemental budget/readoption to match the new chart of accounts.

John, the finance presenter, explained that Workday uses a four‑digit fund structure (a fourth digit can indicate grant type), cost centers and tags for projects, locations and grants. He said the reorganization follows Government Finance Officers Association naming conventions and will allow better tracking of grant activity, automated approval routing and improved reporting. Staff emphasized that the budget book will look the same to readers but will use different fund and org numbers under Workday; staff plan to preserve 10 years of history for reporting.

Because some fund and org structures will change, staff said they must readopt the budget at the fund/organizational level before executing transactions in Workday to comply with state budget law. Staff also described tags and capabilities that will make it easier to pull reports on grants, general‑fund use and project activity.

Commissioners asked about the learning curve and whether reporting fidelity would allow easier auditing of general‑fund transfers and grant matching. John said the system will be more user friendly for searches and reporting as the county normalizes its use of Workday and that staff are building consistent tag conventions so reports such as general‑fund use will be straightforward to produce.

Staff said the timeline for the readoption and the need for any special meeting is still being finalized; they will return with timing and supplemental materials to support the statutory readoption process.