A customer is anyone the school bills who is not a student: a church that hires the hall, a neighbouring school that hires the bus, a member of staff buying uniform or farm produce on credit. Students are billed from their own ledger; customers have their own invoices, receipts and balance.
Adding a customer
- Go to Dashboard → Finance → Customers and click Add customer.
- Enter the name and choose the kind: Organisation, Individual, Staff member or Other.
- Add a contact person, phone, email, address or TIN if you want them printed on the invoice. All of them are optional.
- Save.
You can also add a customer without leaving the invoice form, using New beside the customer field.
Raising an invoice
- Go to Dashboard → Finance → Customer Invoices and click New invoice, or open a customer and click New invoice there.
- Choose the customer and what the invoice is for: hall hire, bus hire, school farm, canteen, uniform and shop sales, and so on.
- Check the issue date and, if the customer has agreed one, set a due date.
- Add a line for each thing you are billing, with a quantity and a price. The total is the sum of the lines.
- Click Raise invoice.
Each invoice gets a number starting CIN-. Click the invoice to open it, and Print
for a PDF on the school's letterhead.
One invoice has one source. If a bill mixes two (hall hire and catering, say), raise two invoices so each payment lands under the right source.
Recording a payment
- Open the invoice and click Record payment.
- The amount starts at the balance; change it for a part payment.
- Choose the method and the account the money went into. A cheque, bank transfer or mobile money payment needs its reference number.
- Click Record payment. The receipt, numbered
REC-, opens ready to print.
A payment can't be more than the balance on the invoice. Customers don't carry a credit balance: if someone pays ahead, raise the invoice first and record the payment against it.
When it counts as income
Raising an invoice earns nothing; it records what the customer owes. Each payment is recorded as a deposit into the chosen account, under the invoice's source, so it appears in Other income, the Other Income tile and the Running Balance on the Finance overview, the account statement and the cash book, all at the moment the money arrives.
The Finance overview shows what customers still owe in its own Owed by Customers tile, with any overdue amount beneath it. That figure is not part of the Running Balance, which counts money the school actually holds.
Reversing a receipt
If a cheque bounces or a payment was recorded against the wrong invoice, open the invoice and click the reverse icon beside the receipt. Give a reason and confirm. The money is taken back out of the account, the amount is owed again, and both the receipt and its reversal stay on record.
A receipt's deposit can't be reversed or corrected from Money Movements. That screen links to the invoice instead, so the invoice and the account never disagree.
Voiding an invoice
An invoice raised in error can be voided from the invoice with a reason, as long as no money stands against it. Reverse any receipts first. A void invoice stays on record, marked void, and is left out of every balance.
Reading what is owed
- Customers lists each customer with their open invoices and what they owe. Open one for their contact details and a statement: every invoice, payment and reversal in date order, with a running balance.
- Customer Invoices has tiles for what is owed, what is overdue and how many invoices are open. Filter by status, source, overdue, or search by invoice number, customer or description.
- Reports → Customer invoices gives the same invoices for a week, month, term or year, by customer, or as an aging table of open balances by days past due.
Things to know
- Only Admin, Headmaster and Bursar can see or manage customers.
- Loans and owner's contributions are financing, not sales, and can't be invoiced.
- A customer invoice doesn't move merchandise stock or create a handover order, even when it is for uniform and shop sales. Record stock changes under Merchandise.
- A customer with invoices can't be deleted. Deactivate them instead; their invoices and receipts stay as they are.