Finance Module User Guide (Non-Technical)

This guide explains how office staff, accountants, and admins can use the Finance module day to day without technical knowledge.

If some buttons or menu items are missing, your account may not have permission for that feature.

Who should use this guide

• Admin users
• Accounts/finance staff
• Front desk staff collecting fees

Finance menu map

Go to Finance in the left sidebar. You will see:

• Dashboard
• Fee Types
• Fee Structures
• Fee Payments
• Income Categories
• Incomes
• Expense Categories
• Expenses
• Scholarships
• Student Scholarships
• Concessions
• Student Concessions
• Collection Report
• Outstanding Dues
• Daily Summary
• Income vs Expense

Before you start

Please make sure these are already prepared:

1. Academic session is available.
2. Classes and sections are available.
3. Students are created and assigned to class/section.
4. Payment methods are active.

If these are missing, fee collection and reports may not work correctly.

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1) Initial setup (one-time or occasional)

A. Create Fee Types

Path: Finance -> Fee Types -> Add Fee Type

1. Enter Fee Name (example: Tuition Fee).
2. Choose Frequency (Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, One Time).
3. Optional: add description and icon.
4. Keep status Active unless you do not want to use it now.
5. Save.

Tip: If a fee type is already used, avoid deleting it. Set it to Inactive instead.

B. Create Fee Structures

Path: Finance -> Fee Structures -> Add Fee Structure

1. Select Academic Session.
2. Select Class.
3. Optional: select Section (leave blank for all sections).
4. Select Fee Type.
5. Enter Amount.
6. Optional: set Due Day (1 to 31).
7. Optional: set Late Fee.
8. Set as Mandatory or Optional.
9. Save.

Tip: One class/session/section/fee type combination should be created only once.

C. Create Income and Expense Categories

Path:

• Finance -> Income Categories -> Create Category
• Finance -> Expense Categories -> Create Category

For each category:

1. Enter category name.
2. Optional: enter description.
3. Keep active if it should appear in forms.
4. Save.

Example categories:

• Income: Admission, Donation, Form Sell, Misc
• Expense: Utilities, Salary, Maintenance, Stationery

D. Create Scholarships and Concessions

Path:

• Finance -> Scholarships -> Create Scholarship
• Finance -> Concessions -> Create Concession

1. Enter name.
2. Choose type: Percentage or Fixed Amount.
3. Enter value.
4. Optional description.
5. Keep active.
6. Save.

Use scholarships/concessions definitions first, then assign them to students.

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2) Collect and manage fee payments

A. Collect a new fee payment

Path: Finance -> Fee Payments -> Collect Fee

1. Search student by name, student ID, or roll.
2. Select the student.
3. Choose fee type from available fee structures.
4. Review amount details:
   • Fee amount
   • Discount
   • Late fee
   • Total amount (auto-calculated)
5. Enter Paid Amount.
6. Set payment info:
   • Payment date
   • Optional due date
   • Payment method
   • Optional transaction ID
7. Set payment period:
   • Month (important for monthly/quarterly fees)
   • Year
8. Optional remarks.
9. Click Collect Payment.

What the system does automatically:

• Generates invoice number.
• Calculates due amount.
• Sets status (Paid/Partial/Unpaid).

B. View receipt and take post-collection actions

Path: Finance -> Fee Payments -> Eye icon (View Receipt)

On receipt page you can:

• Approve payment
• Cancel payment (must give reason)
• Refund amount (must give amount and reason)
• Adjust payable (+ increase or - decrease with reason)
• Print receipt

Important:

• Cancelled payments cannot be edited/approved/refunded/adjusted.
• Refund amount cannot be higher than collected paid amount.

C. Edit or delete a fee payment

Path: Finance -> Fee Payments -> Edit/Delete icons

• Edit when you need to fix payment details.
• Delete only if absolutely required.

Best practice: prefer correction actions (adjust/refund/cancel with reason) over delete for audit trace.

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3) Award scholarships and concessions to students

A. Award scholarship

Path: Finance -> Student Scholarships -> Award Scholarship

1. Select student.
2. Select scholarship.
3. Select academic session.
4. Set awarded date.
5. Set valid from and valid to (optional end date).
6. Optional remarks.
7. Save.

B. Award concession

Path: Finance -> Student Concessions -> Award Concession

1. Select student.
2. Select concession.
3. Select academic session.
4. Set awarded date.
5. Set valid from and valid to (optional end date).
6. Optional remarks.
7. Save.

Note: During fee collection, active concession can be shown and discount may be prefilled.

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4) Record income and expense entries

A. Record income

Path: Finance -> Incomes -> Record Income

1. Select income category.
2. Enter amount.
3. Select date.
4. Select payment method.
5. Optional reference number.
6. Optional description.
7. Save.

B. Record expense (with optional voucher file)

Path: Finance -> Expenses -> Record Expense

1. Select expense category.
2. Enter amount.
3. Select date.
4. Select payment method.
5. Optional reference no.
6. Optional voucher no.
7. Optional voucher file upload.
8. Optional description.
9. Save.

Voucher file rules:

• Optional
• Allowed: PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG
• Max size: 5 MB

C. Replace or remove an expense voucher file

Path: Finance -> Expenses -> Edit (pencil icon)

1. Open expense record.
2. To replace: upload a new voucher file.
3. To remove: tick Remove current voucher file.
4. Save changes.

D. View voucher links

• In Expenses list, there is a Voucher File column with clickable link when file exists.
• In Expense Edit page, current voucher file link is shown.

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5) Reports and exports

All report pages support filtering. Use filters first, then export.

A. Finance Dashboard

Path: Finance -> Dashboard

Use this for quick overview:

• Total collected
• Total due
• Total payments
• Defaulters
• Daily and monthly charts
• Payment method and fee type breakdown

You can filter by:

• Academic session
• Start date and end date

B. Collection Report

Path: Finance -> Collection Report

Filters:

• Session, class, fee type
• Payment method
• Status
• Date range
• Search by invoice/student

Exports:

• Export Excel
• Export PDF

C. Outstanding Dues Report

Path: Finance -> Outstanding Dues

Use it to find students with pending dues.

Features:

• Session/class/search filters
• Due summaries and collection percentage
• View History button per student
• Export Excel/PDF

Note: Send Reminder button currently shows a placeholder message.

D. Student Payment History

Path: From Outstanding Dues -> View History

Shows one student's full payment timeline and totals.

Exports:

• Export Excel
• Export PDF

E. Daily Collection Summary

Path: Finance -> Daily Summary

Features:

• Choose date (previous/next/today controls)
• Day-wise totals and breakdown
• Print
• Export Excel/PDF

F. Income vs Expense report

Path: Finance -> Income vs Expense

Features:

• Custom start and end date
• Combined table of income and expense entries
• Summary: total income, total expense, net balance
• Export Excel/PDF

G. Quick exports from list pages

• Incomes page: Export Excel/PDF with current filters
• Expenses page: Export Excel/PDF with current filters

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6) Suggested routine for finance staff

Daily

1. Collect fee payments.
2. Approve/check key receipts.
3. Record all cash/bank incomes.
4. Record all expenses with voucher number/file where available.
5. Check Daily Summary and print/export end-of-day sheet.

Weekly

1. Review Outstanding Dues list.
2. Open payment history for high-due students.
3. Review pending approval/corrections (refund/adjust/cancel).

Monthly

1. Review Dashboard trends.
2. Export Collection Report (month range).
3. Export Income vs Expense report.
4. Verify net balance and keep PDF/Excel backups.

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7) Common issues and quick fixes

"No fee structures available for this student"

• Create fee structure for that student's session/class/section.

"Paid amount cannot exceed total amount"

• Reduce paid amount or correct discount/late fee.

Duplicate transaction ID error

• Use a different transaction ID (must be unique).

"A payment for this billing period already exists"

• Check same student + same fee type + same month/year already collected.

Cannot delete records (fee type/category/scholarship/concession)

• Record is already in use.
• Keep it inactive instead of deleting.

Menu item not visible

• Ask system admin to grant required permission.

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8) Good practices

• Always apply filters before exporting reports.
• Prefer cancel/refund/adjust with reasons instead of deleting payment records.
• Upload voucher files for major expenses for better audit trail.
• Keep references (invoice, transaction ID, voucher no) consistent.
• Export monthly reports and store copies safely.