Workday Financial Management MCP server

Workday Financial Management is a cloud-based financial management platform that helps organizations streamline financial operations, improve decision-making, and ensure compliance. An AI agent with this MCP server can manage the general ledger and journal entries, create and monitor budgets and forecasts, generate financial reports, track expenses and revenue, manage accounts payable and receivable, maintain audit trails, and automate month-end and year-end close processes. Finance teams, controllers, accountants, CFOs, and compliance officers use this integration to manage enterprise financial operations.

Setting up an MCP server

This article covers the standard steps for creating an MCP server in AI Gateway and connecting it to an AI client. The steps are the same for every integration — application-specific details (API credentials, OAuth endpoints, and scopes) are covered in the individual application pages.

Before you begin

You'll need:

• Access to AI Gateway with permission to create MCP servers
• API credentials for the application you're connecting (see the relevant application page for what to collect)

Create an MCP server

Find the API in the catalog

1. Sign in to AI Gateway and select MCP Servers from the left navigation.
2. Select New MCP Server.
3. Search for the application you want to connect, then select it from the catalog.

Configure the server

1. Enter a Name for your server — something descriptive that identifies both the application and its purpose (for example, "Zendesk Support — Prod").
2. Enter a Description so your team knows what the server is for.
3. Set the Timeout value. 30 seconds works for most APIs; increase to 60 seconds for APIs that return large payloads.
4. Toggle Production mode on if this server will be used in a live workflow.
5. Select Next.

Configure authentication

Enter the authentication details for the application. This varies by service — see the Authentication section of the relevant application page for the specific credentials, OAuth URLs, and scopes to use.

Configure security

1. Set any Rate limits appropriate for your use case and the API's own limits.
2. Enable Logging if you want AI Gateway to record requests and responses for auditing.
3. Select Next.

Deploy

Review the summary, then select Deploy. AI Gateway provisions the server and provides a server URL you'll use when configuring your AI client.

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Connect to an AI client

Once your server is deployed, you'll need to add it to the AI client your team uses. Select your client for setup instructions:

• Claude Desktop
• Claude Code
• Cursor
• VS Code
• Windsurf

Tips

• You can create multiple MCP servers for the same application — for example, a read-only server for reporting agents and a read-write server for automation workflows.
• If you're unsure which OAuth scopes to request, start with the minimum read-only set and add write scopes only when needed. Most application pages include scope recommendations.
• You can edit a server's name, description, timeout, and security settings after deployment without redeploying.

Authentication

Workday Financial Management uses OAuth 2.0 for secure authentication. You'll need to register an OAuth 2.0 client in Workday and create an Integration System User (ISU) with appropriate Financial Management security groups. The OAuth endpoints follow this pattern: authorization at https://{tenant}.workday.com/ccx/oauth2/authorize and token retrieval at https://{tenant}.workday.com/ccx/oauth2/token. Provide your Client ID, Client Secret, and tenant name when setting up the MCP server. The standard scopes are read (read-only access), write (create and update financial data), and admin (system configuration).

Available tools

The tools below enable AI agents to perform the full range of financial operations: general ledger management, budgeting and forecasting, financial reporting, expense and revenue management, accounts payable and receivable, and audit and compliance functions.

General Ledger

Tool	Description
Create account	Add a new account to the chart of accounts
Read account	Get account details and balances
Update account	Modify account information and attributes
List accounts	Retrieve chart of accounts with filtering
Create journal entry	Post a journal entry to the general ledger
Read journal entry	Get journal entry details and posting status
Update journal entry	Modify or correct a journal entry
List journal entries	Retrieve entries by account, date, or status
Create reversal	Reverse a previously posted journal entry
Get balance	Retrieve account balance for a period

Budgeting and Planning

Tool	Description
Create budget	Set up a budget for a fiscal period
Read budget	Get budget details and allocations
Update budget	Modify budget amounts and structure
List budgets	Retrieve all budgets by period or status
Compare budget to actual	Analyze variance between budget and actuals
Generate variance report	Create a detailed variance analysis
Create forecast	Set up a revenue or expense forecast
Read forecast	Get forecast details and assumptions
Update forecast	Modify forecast amounts
List forecasts	Retrieve forecasts by type or period

Financial Reporting

Tool	Description
Create report	Generate a financial report
Read report	Get report data and results
List reports	Retrieve available report templates
Generate balance sheet	Create a statement of financial position
Generate income statement	Create a profit and loss statement
Generate cash flow statement	Create a statement of cash flows
Generate trial balance	Create a pre-closing trial balance
Create custom report	Build an ad-hoc report with custom dimensions
Generate compliance report	Create audit, SOX, or regulatory reports

Expense Management

Tool	Description
Create expense report	Initiate an employee expense submission
Read expense report	Get expense report details and status
Update expense report	Modify or approve an expense report
List expense reports	Retrieve reports by employee or date
Validate policy	Check expense compliance against policy
Generate analysis	Create expense trend or category analysis
Flag violation	Mark policy violations for review

Revenue Management

Tool	Description
Create invoice	Generate a customer invoice
Read invoice	Get invoice details and payment status
Update invoice	Modify invoice amounts or customer information
List invoices	Retrieve invoices by customer or date
Process recognition	Post monthly revenue recognition
Get deferred revenue	Retrieve deferred revenue balances
Track revenue schedule	Manage revenue recognition schedule by contract
Calculate subscription revenue	Compute revenue for subscription contracts

Cost Center and Allocation

Tool	Description
Create cost center	Set up a new organizational cost center
Read cost center	Get cost center details and spending
Update cost center	Modify cost center information
List cost centers	Retrieve all cost centers with filtering
Assign worktag	Assign cost center or dimension tag to transaction
Update worktag	Modify cost center or dimension assignments
Process allocation	Execute cost allocation rules for the period
Generate allocation report	Create allocation transaction details

Accounts Payable

Tool	Description
Create invoice	Record a vendor invoice
Read invoice	Get vendor invoice details
Update invoice	Modify invoice amounts or attributes
List invoices	Retrieve invoices by vendor or date
Match purchase order	Match invoice to purchase order
Create payment	Schedule a vendor payment
Read payment	Get payment details and status
Update payment	Modify or cancel a payment
List payments	Retrieve payments by vendor or date
Analyze vendor	Generate vendor performance or spending analysis

Accounts Receivable

Tool	Description
Create customer record	Add a new customer
Read customer	Get customer details and history
Update customer	Modify customer information
List customers	Retrieve all customers with filtering
Apply payment	Record a customer payment to invoice
Get aging	Generate an aging report by customer
Track collection	Log collection activities and notes
Calculate bad debt	Compute bad debt provision

Audit and Compliance

Tool	Description
Generate audit trail	Create complete audit log for account or period
Track changes	Record all modifications to financial data
Get user activity	Retrieve user actions by date range
Verify controls	Check segregation of duties and approvals
Generate evidence	Export audit evidence for external review
Create compliance report	Generate compliance or regulatory document
Track approval	Monitor approval workflow status

Tips

Keep audit trails comprehensive — enable and monitor detailed audit logging on all financial transactions to support both internal reviews and external audits.

Use budget monitoring proactively — set up alerts when spending approaches budget thresholds to prevent overspending and enable mid-course corrections.

Reconcile accounts regularly — perform monthly or weekly account reconciliations to catch errors early and maintain data integrity throughout the fiscal period.

Automate recurring entries — schedule recurring journal entries for standard transactions like depreciation and accruals to reduce manual effort and improve consistency.

Document approval workflows — clearly configure and document financial approval hierarchies so all stakeholders understand authority limits and review requirements.