Spend and Revenue Category Guidance

The Controller’s Office is implementing an initiative to define spend and revenue categories with the goal of enhancing the accuracy of financial and tax reporting (where applicable). By providing clear definitions and guidance, this effort will aid end users with proper category selection and provide greater insight into how category attributes impact Workday reporting and processes downstream.  The following changes are being implemented over the course of the next several months and will be fully complete by July 1, 2026.

• Spend category records within Workday will include a definition in the Description field.   Descriptions can be accessed through the Related Actions directly on the spend category, or the Spend Categories – FDM Values report.
• Revenue category definitions will be published and maintained on the Controller’s Office website, as Workday does not currently support a Description field for revenue categories.
• New spend and revenue categories will be created based on operational needs identified through multi-year data analysis.  New categories will be activated for use starting July 1, 2026.
• Select category names will be updated to better reflect intended use.
• Categories with low utilization or redundancy will be inactivated.

Spend category definitions are accessible in two different formats: within each spend category record and in a comprehensive list - 

To view a definition from a transaction - Select the spend category (or search by keyword), then open Related Actions (three dots) next to the category name. The definition appears in the Description field.

For a full list of spend categories, definitions, and attributes - Run the Spend Categories – FDM Values report and refer to the Spend Category Description column. The report also indicates 1099/1042‑S tax reportability, if applicable. Note that tax reporting applies to transactions when both a tax-reportable spend category is used and the supplier is classified as 1099 or 1042‑S.

Coming Soon: Users will be able to reference this spend category job aid on the Administrative Resource Center for instructions on accessing the report and additional spend category attribute details that assist with category selection.

Key Spend Category Changes:

New Categories (will be activated on 7/1/26):

Other Notable Changes:

Food and beverage spend categories will be updated to better distinguish inventory for resale from restaurant/catering purchases. Some categories will be marked stockable for inventory purposes and intended for resale at university-operated venues or events.

Additional adjustments have been made to address other operational needs.

 

Revenue category definitions are available in this reference document on the Controller’s page (as Workday does not currently support adding descriptions directly to revenue categories). Once the document is downloaded, the definitions can be viewed in the Revenue Category Description column. This document also shows the hierarchy levels for each revenue category. 

The Revenue Categories – FDM Values report is also available within Workday, but due to the system limitations noted above, the description field cannot be added to this report
 

Key Revenue Category Changes:

New Category (will be activated on 7/1/26):

Other Notable Changes:
Rental revenue categories will be restructured to better reflect the nature of the rental activity by distinguishing between operating space rental income (earnings activity) and non-operating rental revenue in managerial reporting (Note that financial statement operating/non-operating classification differs to align with accounting standards).

Additional adjustments have been made to address other operational needs.
 

Through multi-year data analysis, the Controller’s Office identified a significant amount of spend and revenue categories that can be deactivated due to low usage or overlapping categories from the Workday implementation. Minor name changes are also listed in this document.  A full list of these categories can be found here. They are set to be deactivated by 7/1/26. If you have any concerns or questions regarding alternative categories to use, please reach out to CTL-FDMRequests@osu.edu.