Splitting the “5000:Salaries and Wages” Ledger into Two Separate Ledgers

To better align department-level position budget activities with posted payroll expenses, and to aid in both department and central goals to report on these activities, WSU will now split salary and wage expenses into two separate ledger accounts.

Beginning with the 07/01/2025 – 07/15/2025 pay period, all payroll earning expenses previously posted to 5000: Salaries and Wages will now post to one of the following new ledgers: 5001: Salaries or 5002: Wages.

What will post to 5001:Salaries, and what will post to 5002:Wages?

Activity posted in 5001:Salaries corresponds to personnel expenses budgeted on the Position Budget sheet within Adaptive Planning. This includes all regular pay for salaried employees (ex. Regular Pay, Holiday Pay, Annual Leave, Sick Leave) and Additional Responsibility Pay.

Activity posted in 5002:Wages corresponds to personnel expenses budgeted on the Pooled Compensation sheet within Adaptive Planning, as well as other expenses that may not have been planned for. This includes regular pay for hourly workers, overtime, other allowances (ex. Cell Phone Allowance, Shift Differential Allowance), Period Activity Pay, and unplanned pay (ex. Awards).

Will 5000:Salaries and Wages be used moving forward?

Beginning with the 07/01/2025 – 07/15/2025 pay period all payroll earning expenses will be posted to the two new ledgers described above. There are, however, some instances where 5000: Salaries and Wages may still appear on transactions from FY26 onward.

For example, if a Payroll Accounting Adjustment including Grant worktags is completed in FY26 for a pay period in FY25, users may see the reversal of the original earning expenses on 5000:Salaries and Wages (where they were originally posted) while the reposted expenses will appear in either 5001: Salaries or 5002: Wages.

It is also possible that 5000: Salaries and Wages may need to be selected manually on a Record Cash Sale if it was necessary to complete a payroll expense recovery for a pay period in FY25 or earlier, to ensure that the expense recovery directly offset the original expense.

How will this impact reporting in Workday?

When looking at data from before this change (FY25 and before), employees will still see all payroll earning expenses in 5000: Salaries and Wages, as this change will not retroactively update for expenses posted in prior fiscal years.

When looking at FY26 activity in reports, users will see payroll earning expenses split between the two new ledgers (5001: Salaries and 5002: Wages) rather than consolidated a single ledger (5000:Salaries and Wages). Those who wish to view all salary and wage activity together will need to sum both ledgers together.

Employees should note this change will be most visible when viewing payroll earning expenses across multiple fiscal years, primarily in reports such as CR FIN Sources and Uses with Last 4 Years Summary. In such instances, payroll earning expenses prior to FY26 will be listed under 5000: Salaries and Wages,while payroll earnings expenses for FY26 onward will be under 5001: Salaries and 5002: Wages, with certain types of activity (Prior fiscal year PAA’s and Payroll Expense Recoveries) landing in 5000: Salaries and Wages.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns regarding this update via the Workday Service Desk.