Finance gives the bursar and head a quick picture of the school’s money for any period: fees collected, money spent, what is left over, and how parents are paying. It is also where you lock the books for a finished term so nobody can change them by accident.
- Where Finance & Billing → Finance
- Who can use it Anyone whose role includes Finance. Only the Admin can reopen a locked period.
- Set up first Terms; receipts in Receipts and spending in Expenses
Choose a period
The screen opens on the current term. Use Period to pick another term, a Whole year, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, a Custom range… or All time. The period is shared with the Billing Dashboard.
Switch on Compare with previous period to see arrows showing whether each figure went up or down.
Read the figures
For a term, year or date range, the four boxes are:
| Box | In plain words |
|---|---|
| Collected | Fee receipts dated in the period, and how many receipts that was. |
| Spent (expenses) | Expenses recorded with a date in the period. |
| Net (collected − spent) | What is left after spending. A minus figure means you spent more than you collected. |
| Best day, week or month | When the most fees came in. |
Below the boxes, the Collection Trend chart shows fees collected day by day, week by week or month by month, depending on how long the period is. Payment Method Mix shows how much came in by cash, Mobile Money, bank transfer and so on, with the number of receipts for each.
With All time, the boxes change to Collected (Last 6 Months), Collected This Month, Best Month and Payment Methods Used.
Payroll is not included in Spent; only items recorded in Expenses are. For full accounts including salaries, use the reports in Journal & Ledger.
Lock a finished period
Once a term’s books are checked and final, lock it. After that, no receipt, expense, payroll posting or journal entry dated inside it can be added, reversed or deleted. This keeps the figures you reported to the board or auditor from changing later.
- In Accounting Periods, click New Period.
- Enter a Label, for example Term 1, 2026, and the Start Date and End Date.
- Click Create. The period appears with the status Open.
- When you are ready, click Lock on its row and confirm. The status changes to Locked.
Periods can’t overlap. Until you lock a period, everything in it stays open.
Reopen a locked period
If a correction is really needed, the Admin clicks Unlock on the period and confirms. Records dated inside it can then be changed again. Lock it again when the correction is done.
Other users who click Unlock get a message that only a school admin can reopen a locked period.
Good to know
- Voided receipts and deleted expenses are left out of every figure.
- Terms that have not started yet are greyed out in the Period list.
- Payroll can’t be approved or paid on a day that falls inside a locked period.
- Locking is not the same as closing a year. Nothing is carried forward or reset.