Day to day use of Private Funds Manager
Creating accounts & Opening Balances
Withdrawing students from trips
Limiting students per trip
To limit the number of students on a trip, go to Accounts Maintenance and select the trip using the pull down arrow next to Short Code.
Click on the button marked STUDENT - on the right hand side of the screen you will now see a tick box next to 'Limit Number of Students'. Click to tick this box, then enter the number allowed in the box to the right.
If the number is already or becomes exceeded, a warning box appears. To get rid of the warning, either increase the limit or set one or more students as WITHDRAWN.
You will also be warned in Transaction entry if you take money from more students that the limit number.
Adding students to trips
Students can be added to a trip either in Accounts Maintenance, or by using the BY STUDENT tab in RECEIPTS you can take their money and automatically add them to a trip.
To add students to a trip in Accounts Maintenance , first select the trip.
Next, click on the BUTTON that says STUDENT on the left hand side of the page. The right hand side of the screen changes to show the student lists. The left of the two lists is the whole school. The right list, are the students currently selected for this trip.
To select name from school list, click on name and press the > button. Use < to deselect names. To look at one particular class, at the top of the whole school column change from ALL CLASSES to the class required. Use >> to select ALL students in this class or << to deselect all for the selected class.
To remove a student from a trip, simply locate them in the RH list of students, and click on the < button.
To remove a student from a trip after they have already made a payment to the trip, go to Accounts Maintenance – find the student on the pull down list next to Student and tick the WITHDRAW box.
Withdrawing students from trips
Students can be withdrawn from a trip to prevent them appearing on the Contact lists, attendee lists etc.
To withdraw a student from a trip go to Accounts Maintenance – find the student on the pull down list next to Student and tick the WITHDRAW box that appears on the RH side of the screen- below the students address.
Payment instalments
To set a trip up to allow instalment payments, and to be able to run reports of who is not up to date with instalments, go to Accounts Maintenance and select the trip.
Click on the BUTTON that says STUDENTS - the right hand side of the screen will change to the Student list. At the top of the student list box are three tabs - the second is Payment Schedule - click here.
Enter each date for an instalment and the amount due.
Grouping accounts
Cost Centres can be assigned to each short code if you would like to be able to group accounts for reporting.
To use cost centres, go to Accounts Maintenance and select a short code account.
To add a new cost centre -
Use the Add a Cost Centre button at the bottom left. Enter a name for your cost centre – we suggest the use of CAPITALS here for clarity and keep it sort - 8 charatcers maximum.
Click on SAVE. Call up the next short code and either assign it to a previously created Cost Centre by selecting it from the pull down list, or create another new one.
Click on CURRENT SHORT CODES button to check all short codes have a cost centre allocated.
To print reports based upon cost centres, go to Screen Enquiries.
Use the INCOME AND EXP BY COST CODE report to get a summary report showing group totals for each Cost Code.
Use the COST CODE filter in the top right to select an individual cost centre and run an INCOME AND EXPENDITURE REPORT just for that CC.
Gift Aid
Clubs and chargeable sessions
The attendance based module of PFM has been developed and improved to provide a simple way to manage billing for chargeable sessions. This covers afterschool clubs, nursery sessions and some schools are even using this for dinner money.
It enables you to bill either in advance for sessions that the child has signed up, or in arrears for sessions where attendance is optional and only charged when the child comes. You can print invoices, provide registers, print attendance records, record money received and generate lists and letters for people behind on payment.
Here's how it works -
1. You set up an account in Accounts Maintenance, allocating all pupils who may attend and mark it as either ABC or ABCh - h indicates that the charging is hourly, no h indicates that the charging is on a per session basis.
2. Clicking on the ABC menu, enter the session cost or hourly cost.
3. For billing in arrears, print a register of who might attend this week using the Print Register button.
(Anyone on FSM is shown with an asterisk by their name)
The register can be ticked and returned.
4. For billing in arrears, tick the days for each pupil that they attended the club.
5. You can print an Attendance register to show when they attended, how much this cost and what they have paid so far.
6. For billing in advance (when they book for a whole half term / term / year etc), tick the appropriate days they are coming and then use the COPY feature to copy these days to the rest of the term/year.
7. For billing in advance, you can then use the Invoicing feature.
Select dates to invoice for and enter any required invoice narrative.
Invoice can then be printed onto your own tailored invoice paper (provided as a word document for amendment)
8. When schedules are setup in advance for the whole term/half term, you can print registers that only show those people due on each day.
OR Generate a full weeks register showing days attending and days not.
9. Generate lists and reports of amounts due
10. Create follow up letters for balances outstanding
11. For sessions charged on an hourlybasis, setup the account and tick the ABCh option, then enter the hourly charge and the number of hours attended on each day.
12. If certain pupils pay a different amount for their sessions, then the default cost can be overridden.
In this example, we have a default cost of £1.50, but some are paying £1, some 50p and others zero.
Printing receipts
The Private Funds Manager can produce printed receipts for each entry of money received in Transaction Entry – Receipts.
These receipts can be either 3, 6 or 9 per page, printed onto an A4 sheet and then cut apart, or as an individual receipt which prints onto Compliment Slip sized paper. Alternatively, point of sale receipts can be printed onto small tear/cut -off receipts.
Receipts can be printed for every receipt or just certain ones, either at the time of data entry or after the event. The option to print after the event is more flexible and probably our recommended route.
Printing Receipts at time of data entry
To print receipts as the information is being entered, tick the Auto Receipt option at bottom left of screen in Transaction Entry – Receipts. Select receipt type
Individual prints onto a compliment slip sized paper. 3,6, or 9 print onto an A4 sheet.
POS refers to Point Of Sale and prints onto a Receipt printer.
TtD means do you want the Total paid to date shown on the receipt.
Signed means should the receipt have Signed........... on it, requiring someone to sign it!
User means use the User login name on the receipt. Nothing mean have neither signed nor user.
If only some entries need a printed receipt, then tick Auto Receipts on before making an entry and then untick it when you do not need receipts for other entries. It can be turned on and off repeatedly through data entry.
Entries waiting to be printed (eg if you have entered 2 items and receipts is set to 3 per page) have a P on the left of the line, indicating they are Pending.
When the receipt has been printed the P changes to an R and the whole line goes green.
Printing Copy Receipts or Printing Certain Receipts after data entry.
To print receipts after data entry, make sure the Auto receipt box in Transaction Entry – Receipts is Unticked.
Go to Screen Enquiries and Report – Copy Receipts.
All the entries for money received are shown.
Their order can be changed by clicking on the column header, eg to sort in Class Order click on By Class header.
Select items for which a receipt is required by clicking on the white tick box on left edge of line.
Click on Print.
Receipts can be printed in Copy Receipts as many times as you wish. Because each has a unique number there is no audit problem.
Reprinting paying in slips
To print a paying in slip AFTER you have processed a banking, go to TRANSACTION ENTRY - RECEIPTS
In the bottom right hand corner of the screen is a PAYING IN ARCHIVE button- click on this.
Select bank account - a list of paying ins appears. Select the one you require and click on PRINT.
Corrections
Everyone makes mistakes. At some time, chances are you will enter something incorrectly on Private Funds Manager.
For audit requirements, there is no facility to go back and just change the original information entered, but you can and should instead enter an adjustment or correction.
Deleting Entries
Deleting entries – receipts or payments is straightforward if no receipt has been printed (in receipts) and if the entries have not been banked.
Simply click on the grey box on the left hand side of a line, and press the Delete key on your keyboard. If the entries have been banked, follow the instructions below.
Receipt Corrections
Entry on Twice
If you have not yet banked and auto receipts is not on, then simply click on the grey box to the far left hand side of the line and press the Delete key.
If you have not yet banked and auto receipts is on and the receipt has printed, enter a corresponding entry to the incorrect line using the same code, date etc but enter a negative amount.
If you have already banked the information, enter a new receipt equal but opposite to the original duplicate entry. You will need to remember that when you reconcile the bank, you will need to find the original banking and the adjustment in order to reconcile correctly.
Incorrect Short Code Used
If you have not yet banked and auto receipts is not on, then simply click on the grey box to the far left hand side of the line and press the Delete key.
If you have not yet banked and auto receipts is on and the receipt has printed, enter a corresponding entry to the incorrect line using the same code, date etc but enter a negative amount. Then re-enter using the correct short code.
If you have already banked the information, use Transaction Entry - Transfers – Short Code Transfer to move the income to the correct short code.
Incorrect Amount Entered
If you have not yet banked and auto receipts is not on, then simply return to the Amount field of the line and overtype the correct amount.
If you have not yet banked and auto receipts is on and the receipt has printed, enter a corresponding entry to the incorrect line using the same code, date etc but enter a negative amount. Then re-enter using the correct amount.
If you have already banked the information, enter an adjustment in the form of a positive receipt if the amount entered was too little or a negative receipt if the amount was too much. You will need to remember that when you reconcile the bank, you will need to find the original banking and the adjustment in order to reconcile correctly.
Payment Corrections
Entry on Twice
If you have not yet saved then simply click on the grey box to the far left hand side of the line and press the Delete key.
If you have already saved the information, use Payments- Cancel payment . You will need to remember that when you reconcile the bank, you will need to find the original banking and the adjustment in order to reconcile correctly.
Incorrect Short Code Used
If you have not yet saved, then simply click on the grey box to the far left hand side of the line and press the Delete key.
If you have already saved the information, cancel the entry with Payments - Cancel payment and re-enter correctly.
Incorrect Amount Entered
If you have not yet saved then simply return to the Amount field of the line and overtype the correct amount.
If you have already saved the information, enter an adjustment in the form of a positive payment if the amount entered was too little or a negative payment if the amount was too much. You will need to remember that when you reconcile the bank, you will need to find the original payment and the adjustment in order to reconcile correctly.
Transfer Corrections
If a transfer is entered incorrectly, the best course of actual is to reverse the original and re-enter correctly. To reverse the original use the same accounts, date and amount and put explanatory text in the Narrative field.
Refunds
Click here for full notes on refunds.
Bounced Cheques
Occasionally, a cheque you have received from a pupil, may be returned by the bank.
If the cheque was originally logged against a specific student, then the bounced cheque must also be logged against this student. To enter this -
Go to Transaction Entry - Receipts - Returned Cheques
Select the short code account this cheque relates to and press TAB - a list of students who have paid will appear.
Click on the ALL button.
Find the student who's cheque has been returned, and enter the amount of the cheque in the amount column. Enter this as a positive value.
Enter the cheque number
Click on FINISHED
Now click on BANK IT and select the account that the original cheque was destined for.
Print the printout produced as a record.
Bank reconciliation
If this is the systems first ever bank reconciliation start here - if not just to step 2.
Entering the First Statement Opening Balance
The statement opening balance offered will be the total of the Accounts opening balances entered in Account Maintenance less any transfers made on setup for petty cash or other bank accounts. The balance should include all unpresented items as these should have been entered also. Therefore, the suggested opening balance should be correct. If it is not, you should recheck your accounts and their opening balances before proceeding..
2. Reconciling Your Bank Statements
Statement Opening Balance
The statement opening balance comes from your previous reconciliation, so should always be correct. Therefore you should NEVER need to change it, and indeed cannot!
Go to Transaction Entry – Bank Statements.
Select bank account from pull-down list and enter the date that appears on the paper bank statement
The list on the screen displays all the unreconciled items for this account.
o reconcile an item simply click on the box on the far left hand side of the line. (To unreconcile those ticked in error, click again)
The list can be re-sorted to help find items. Click on the grey bar at the top of the column to sort by, eg Receipts to sort receipts in numeric order, Payment, Description to sort by cheque number or paying in slip number or Date to sort by date.
Use the FIND box to track down an entry by cheque number, paying in slip number etc
The boxes at the bottom right of the screen display the totals as follows :
Statement Closing balance is the Opening Balance + or – the items you have ticked so far. When all ticked, it should equal the closing balance on the paper statement
Unreconciled Items – the total of those items not yet ticked
Cash Book Balance – the overall balance of Opening Balance and all reconciled and unreconciled items in total.
Tick each item that appears on your statement, and when complete click on the COMMIT CHANGES button. This accepts your reconciliation, assigns a reconciliation date to each of the transactions reconciled, and produces a reconciliation report detailing your reconciliation activity.
We strongly recommend that you print this report and file it.
To ABANDON the reconciliation in order to start again, or do it later simply click on the ABANDON button.
Petty Cash
When dealing with petty cash in Private Funds Manager, there are two choices :
-
You draw petty cash by writing a cheque from your bank account to top up petty cash.
-
You hold some of the cash received as income and do not bank it, but use this as petty cash.
In the first instance, petty cash is treated as a separate bank account (although its not a bank account at all, just a cash tin) and needs a new account created on Private Funds.
In the second, the Cash in Hand account that exists by default on Private Funds is the account you need to use.
In both cases, as cash is spent, the transactions need to be analysed in terms of which accounts they relate to.
We will look at how to manage each of the 2 instances mentioned above -
If you draw petty cash by writing a cheque from your bank account to top up petty cash.
1. Create the Petty Cash Bank Account
If you need to create this new account, go to –
Transaction Entry – Transfers – Bank Transfers
Click on the NEW button
Enter a code for the petty cash account, eg PC and a description such as Petty Cash.
Save
2. Transfering cash into Petty Cash from the Bank
To draw a cheque from the bank for petty cash.
Transaction Entry – Transfers – Bank Transfers,
Select your Bank Account for the FROM box and Petty Cash for the TO box. Entering a date, narrative and amount to transfer.
3. Making Payments from Petty Cash
Payments can be made from petty cash, in the same way as all other payments.
Transaction Entry – Payments
Select the short code the payment relates to, but make sure in the column Bank Account that you enter the code for petty cash ie PC.
If you hold some of the cash received as income and do not bank it, but use this as petty cash.
1. The ‘Cash’ Account
This exists be default in PFM so does not need to be created.
2. Holding cash back from bankings for petty cash
When you processing a series of receipts in Transaction Entry – Receipts – the total cash received is automatically totalled at the bottom of the CASH column. If you do not want to bank all of that cash, simply type in the amount of cash to send to the bank in the very bottom white box marked Total to Bank. Anything remaining will be transferred to the Cash In Hand box until that cash is spent.
3. Making Payments from Petty Cash
Payments can be made from cash, in the same way as all other payments.
Transaction Entry – Payments
Select the short code the payment relates to, but make sure in the column Bank Account that you enter the code Cash
4. To reconcile Petty Cash
Transaction Entry – Bank Statements
Select the code for the petty cash / cash account, at top left of the screen
‘Tick’ items to reconcile.
Click on Commit Changes when the account is balanced. The closing balance should equal the amount of cash currently held in your tin.