The Finance Department is responsible for the following major functions: general accounting, budget preparation, debt management, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll processing, purchasing, and real estate reassessment.

• General accounting reviews and updates all general ledger transactions generated from other software applications, prepares and posts all monthly journal entries, reconciles all City-wide bank statements, and coordinates the annual audit.
• Budget preparation is responsible for coordinating with City departments and agencies to prepare the City’s annual budget.
• Debt management works with financial advisors and bond counsel to coordinate bond issuances for new money as well as continually looks for refunding opportunities.
• Accounts receivable is responsible for reconciling outstanding receivable balances.
• Accounts payable is responsible for receiving and processing invoices for payment and generating and filing 1099 tax forms. The function is also responsible for managing unclaimed property.
• Processes payroll for 26 pay periods per calendar year for approximately 600+ full-time employees. During the summer session, when the hiring of part-time employees reaches a peak, payroll may process wages for more than 680 employees. On a quarterly basis, the payroll division is responsible for filing federal and state withholding reports. On an annual basis, the payroll division processes W-2 forms.
• Purchasing is responsible for the direct preparation or assistance in preparing solicitations for all City projects, major purchases, and contracts. Purchasing ensures that purchases are carried out in accordance with the Virginia Public Procurement Act and City policies by processing all purchase requisitions and issuing all purchase orders.
• Real estate reassessment is the process of re-determining the assessed value of all real property for the purposes of taxation to insure that each property is valued fairly and accurately. The purpose of the general reassessment is to realign the values of real property so that equalization and current market values are obtained.

Goal 5: Supporting Winchester – Support the City’s high-performing operations with effective communication, innovation, and sound fiscal policies.

The Finance department continues to meet all mandates and guidelines for the City’s financial reporting. The City’s FY 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report was awarded a Certificate of Achievement of Excellence in Financial Reporting and the City’s FY 2023 Budget document was awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation upon review by GFOA. Also, in FY 2014 the City’s Standard and Poor’s bond rating was upgrade to AAA and reaffirmed in FY 2022.