Introduction into expenses of finance module

Administration
1

Hi Ross,

Can you give a short introduction in how to use the expense part of the finance module?

Most schools I’m working with use a different system to do accounting, e.g. QuickBooks. I need to find out if the finance module could be a possible alternative.

Kind regards,
Roman

2

Roman,

The aim of the module is to allow for management of expense requests, and then track requests as they turn into expenses. I suggest you look at Finance Settings in Admin > School Admin, to understand the parameters. Then go to Other > Finance and set up some budget areas and some budget cycles, and take it from there.

Let us know if you have any specific questions or need more information.

Thanks,

Ross

3

Hi Ross,

I must admit not having any book keeping knowledge. The fact that the finance module doesn’t come with sample data is making understanding more difficult for me. Could you make sample data available?

I’ll be having a meeting today with a school accountant. What I have understood so far is, that it would be good if the finance module could help in annual budgeting.

In addition it should be able to track all incomes and expenses involved in school operation including salaries.

Can you give me specific info about what budget cycle you are using in your school? To my understanding this should cover an academic year, right?

Kind regards,
Roman

4

Hi Ross,

I had that meeting with the school accountant. He was suggesting to split up budget cycles according to the terms used in the school instead of using an academic or fiscal year. How is it done in your school?

To what extent can Gibbon’s finance module replace an accounting application like QuickBooks?

Can the finance module be used to manage expenses, e.g. salaries, book supplies, etc.?

Is there a way to create financial reports, e.g. after every term or for a complete academic year?

Kind regards,
Roman

5

Roman,

You can set your budget periods to whatever you like: terms, school years, financial years…up to you. Gibbon aims to be always flexible in this way.

We are not current;y using Expenses in Gibbon, but I hope to next year. We will be using it in conjunction with MYOB, to which we will export all data.

Ross

6

Hi Ross,

Proprietary book keeping solutions like MYOB are not really an option for us.

I’m sure you were able to evaluate open source book keeping solutions. Is there nothing out there that you can recommend?

Kind regards,
Roman

7

Roman,

I am generally not involved with the finance side at school, so have not looked into this. Sorry! My powers are limited : (

Ross

8

I understand…thanks anyway! Roman

9

Hi Ross,

I believe you are using the Gibbon billing module in your school, right? Since you do the book keeping with MYOB, how do you synchronize data between the Gibbon billing module and MYOB?

Kind regards,
Roman

10

Roman,

We use billing only in Primary, where they use DacEasy (MYOB is in Secondary). I believe they export from Gibbon to Excel and then import into DacEasy.

Thanks,

Ross

11

Thanks, Ross!

12

Hi Ross,

You informed me above that you are using the billing module in Primary using some form of export from Gibbon to Excel. I need to do something similar. However, I’m using Quickbooks instead.

I was thinking of transferring either daily income or all individual payments and refunds. I believe, currently Gibbon doesn’t support such data transfers, right? How is this done in your Primary?

Kind regards,
Roman

13

Roman,

That is correct. We export to Excel, then the Finance team massage the data and import it into their software (which I don’t have much to do with).

I’d suggest you install the Query Builder module from our Extend page. There are no Finance export queries as of yet in our Gibbon Value Added Services library, but you could build your own. Feel free to contribute back anything you do build, so we can share with the community via Query Builder.

Thanks,

Ross