School ERP | Must-have features of Fee & Finance Module in 2023
Fee and finance management is probably one of the most time-consuming tasks in a school. The bigger the school the more the students, the more financial accounts to manage, and ultimately more human errors.
Meanwhile, the number of students in the K-12 segment is only going to increase the best option to avoid hours and hours of draining work is by increasing your operational capabilities. And thus — a School Management System (SMS) with Fee and Finance Module.
Fee & Finance Module
A fee and finance module is a gateway to digitalizing your accounting processes. It helps in tracking daily transactions and simplifies financial data management. By using an accounting management system you get access to useful features that help finish tasks easily.
Since it is a tool that is integrated with the student information system, with a simple yet secure 3rd party payment gateway integration you can enable online fee collection. The software keeps a centralized database and maps all the financial activities with the student ID. Not only does it streamlines the processes but increased data usability and availability increases employee productivity to a great extent.
Important features of a fee and finance module
The fee and finance module comes with in-built functionality to manage your account better. Using it you can digitalize fee collection, receipt management, financial holds, notifications, and reminders for fee submissions, generate monthly & yearly financial reports, manage multiple financial accounts and so much more.
- Student Fee Management
A School Management Software (SMS) can easily be integrated into a 3rd party payment gateway. This would enable online fee submissions through e-wallets, debit/credit cards, net banking, UPI, etc. The software also maps each fee submission with the correct student ID and can keeps a track of all the student fee submissions. This enables automation in the fee collection processes and generates a digital receipt that is automatically shared over email with the parents and students.
Furthermore, the software sends messages to parents and students about fee reminders automatically.
- Customizable Fee Structure and Collection Schedule
A School Management System would allow you to create custom fee plans for all the classes and departments in the school. Create and define multiple fee heads for every batch and custom fee plan for auxiliary services.
Not only the amount that is to be paid by a student or parent as a fee can be defined and configured but you can use the tool to define the collection schedules. Manage if the fee is paid monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or annually for each fee head and also if it is a one-time payment or recurring.
- Generate Demand Slips and Send Notifications
Send alerts to students and parents before fees are due or for unscheduled fees. You can also set it on automatic where human intervention in the process is the bare minimum.
- Cheque & Demand Draft Processing
Managing details of the payments done through cheques and demand drafts are a bit difficult. The software system can provide you with a fixed template for entering the details of the cheque and demand draft in much less time than it takes in manual management.
- Collect Fines & Security Deposits
Apart from free collection, define fines for late fee submission, and other disciplinary breaches. Also, collect security deposits and manage receipts for improved data management and refund at the time of student transfer or graduation.
2. Generate Receipts & Acknowledgements
Automate generation and delivery of receipts and acknowledgments. The software generates a unique receipt code and keeps a data repository for improved receipt management to keep your fee data error-free.
- Financial Hold
Apart from identifying fee defaulters and imposing fines, go for a school management software that comes with a Financial Hold feature. For the students that have an overdue balance, you can impose restrictions. You can choose conditions as well for which the financial hold would be applied such as — outstanding student loans, uncompleted counseling sessions, fines for parking or unreturned book, unpaid tuition fees, etc.
Also, once the student pays the outstanding charges, the system can automatically detect it and release the financial hold automatically without any human intervention.
Wrapping Up
Ditch your old methods of managing finances at schools and switch to a feature-rich education ERP that helps you in managing your fees and financial operations digitally. Manage multiple ledgers, get remote access to financial data, get in-built useful reports for financial reporting, and do a lot more from a single tool in a few clicks. If you are looking for a solution such as this, try Academia ERP. Connect with our ERP expert to get a demo of the feel and finance module in-built into our School Information Management System ERP.
