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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-08-22
Create Payroll Audit Rules

Create Payroll Audit Rules

Security:
Set Up: Payroll (Reporting)
 domain in the Core Payroll functional area.
You can configure audit rules so that you can identify and fix issues before completing payroll. Audit rules can be configured to identify payroll results values for:
  • A single period (this is done on the
    Period
     tab in the task).
  • A prior period comparison (this is done on the
    Prior Period Comparison
    tab in the task).
When you uptake the audit assignment and routing functionality, Workday recommends that you create new audit rules. Editing an existing audit rule can cause inconsistencies with existing exceptions. Also, the audit routing and assignment functionality includes additional fields and worker eligibility rules.
  1. Access the
    Maintain Payroll Audit Configurations
     report.
  2. As you complete the audit configuration, consider:
    Option Description
    Assignee Action
    When you use the Workday audit assignment and routing functionality, select or create an assignee action. Example: For an audit exception resulting from a missing national identifier, create the assignee action Add national identifier.
    Worker Eligibility
    (Optional) You can use worker eligibility in payroll audits to select a subset of workers to eliminate the need to run multiple reports. Example: When you audit for a high bonus, use worker eligibility fields to build audit rules for workers in a specific job profile.
    Severity
    Select the audit severity to prioritize audit exceptions and visually analyze severities on these reports:
    • Payroll Audit Exceptions
    • Payroll Audit Exception Summary
    Workday displays audit alert flags only on these reports:
    • Pay Calculation Results for Group of Workers
      .
    • Pay Calculation Results for Worker
      .
    • Results
       on the worker profile.
    Workday displays these flags to indicate a severity status:
    • Red:
      Critical
      .
    • Yellow:
      Informational
      .
    • Yellow:
      Warning
      .
    Configuration Detail
    To configure an:
    • AND relationship between detail rows, add multiple rows in the same audit detail. All calculations in the group must fail in order to trigger an audit exception.
    • OR relationship between detail rows, add rows to separate groups. If any 1 of the calculations fails, the audit triggers an exception.
    You can define audits based on specific payroll calculations, either earnings or deductions.
    Example: You want to conduct an audit of workers who've been paid for more than 40 hours of vacation. You add the
    Worker is Hourly
     eligibility rule and add the
    Hours
    payroll calculation.
    For best performance, Workday recommends that you create payroll audit rules with fewer than 50 audit details.
    You can perform audits only for calculations resolving in a result. If the calculation doesn't resolve, the audit won't work. Example: You can't configure an audit rule to return empty values.
    Balance Period
    The
    Current Period
     option refers to a configured balance period. When you select that option, the audit rule might not correspond to the single pay period you want to audit. To audit a single period, leave the
    Balance Period
     prompt empty.
    You can run the
    View Balance Period
     report to verify the period that the
    Current Period
     option represents.
  3. As you complete the
    Prior Period Comparison
     tab, consider:
    Option Description
    Reporting Level
    Select the corresponding reporting level when you want to use the audit rule on these reports:
    • Audit - Pay Calculation Results Comparison to a Prior Period (By Pay Group)
    • Audit - Pay Calculation Results Comparison to a Prior Period (By Worker)
    • Audit - Pay Calculation Results Comparison to a Prior Period (Period Summary)
    Example: You create a prior period comparison audit rule for Net > 15% and set the
    Reporting Level
     to
    Period
    . You can then run the rule on the
    Audit - Pay Calculation Results Comparison to a Prior Period (Period Summary)
     report.
Calculate payroll and then run the payroll audits.