Finance & Fees
Complete guide to Ardent SMS Finance — fee structures, invoicing, payments, accounting, and financial reporting.
Finance & Fees
Complete school financial lifecycle — from fee setup and invoicing through collection, accounting, and reporting. Every amount stored in pesewas for 100% precision.
Module Overview
Key Concepts
Fee Components
The building blocks of what a school charges for
Fee Structures
Term/year-specific fee schedules per class level
Invoices
Bills issued to students, including scholarship deductions
Payments
Online via Paystack, offline via cash/bank deposit
Accounting
General ledger, journal entries, bank reconciliation
Reports
Trial balance, income statement, collection summaries
How Currency Works
All amounts are stored in pesewas (the smallest unit of GHS). GHS 1.00 = 100 pesewas. This prevents floating-point arithmetic errors in financial calculations. The platform displays all amounts formatted as GHS X,XXX.XX but stores and transmits them as integers.
Finance Workflow
Financial Reports
| Report | Description | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Collection Summary | Total fees collected vs. outstanding by class | Daily / On-demand |
| Trial Balance | Debit/credit balance across all accounts | Monthly |
| Income Statement | Revenue minus expenses for the period | Termly |
| Aged Receivables | Outstanding fees grouped by age (30/60/90 days) | Weekly |
| Payment Method Mix | Breakdown by Paystack, MoMo, Cash, Bank Transfer | On-demand |
| Scholarship Report | Total concessions and beneficiaries | Termly |
Permissions
Finance Module Access
| Feature | Super Admin | Admin | Teacher | Accountant | Parent | Student |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create fee structures | ||||||
| Generate invoices | ||||||
| Record offline payments | ||||||
| View financial reports | ||||||
| Pay online (Paystack) | ||||||
| View own invoices |