Accountant / Bursar Guide

This guide walks you through the workflows you will use on the Henapp Educare platform. Each section explains a task with clear, step-by-step instructions. Use the screenshot space beside each section to paste your own captures (Windows + Shift + S), or ask your IT lead to add them.

1. First-time login

Your school administrator gives you a login URL plus your email/username and a temporary password. The login URL is your school portal address with /login at the end.

Step by step

• Open the login URL in your browser — Chrome, Edge, or any modern browser.
• Type your email address (or your school-assigned username) in the first box.
• Type your password in the second box. Passwords are case-sensitive.
• Tick “Remember me” only on a device you alone use. Leave it unticked on shared or family devices.
• Click “Sign In”.

First thing to do: change your password

• Click your name in the top-right corner of the screen.
• Choose “Profile” (or “My Profile”) from the dropdown menu.
• Find the “Change Password” section.
• Type your current temporary password, then your new password twice.
• Click “Update Password”.

If you forget your password

• Click “Forgot password?” on the login page. If your school has set up email, a reset link is sent to you.
• Or ask your school administrator to reset it — they can set a temporary password for you from the admin panel.

2. Your accountant dashboard

As the school accountant or bursar you handle fees, payments, payroll, and financial reporting. After login your sidebar focuses on the Finance and Payroll modules.

• Total invoiced, total collected, and outstanding balance for the current term.
• Recent payments and recent invoices.
• Use the academic year / term selector in the header — every figure follows it.

3. Fee categories and structures

3.1 Fee categories

• Sidebar → Finance → Categories.
• Add a category for each kind of charge — Tuition, PTA, Books, Sports, Boarding, Uniform.
• Categories are reused across every class and term.

3.2 Fee structures

A fee structure says how much a class pays per term.

• Sidebar → Finance → Settings / Fee Structures.
• Pick the class, academic year, and term.
• Add each category and its amount, then save.
• Repeat for every class.

4. Generating invoices

• Sidebar → Finance → Invoices & Fees → Generate for Term.
• Pick the term — the system creates one invoice per active student in every applicable class.
• If Communication is configured, fee reminders go to parents by SMS or email.
• You can also create a single one-off invoice for an individual student.

5. Recording and reconciling payments

• Find the student → Invoices tab → open the unpaid invoice.
• Click “Record Payment”.
• Enter the amount, method (cash, mobile money, bank transfer), and reference number.
• Save — a receipt PDF is generated and an SMS confirmation is sent to the parent.
• Partial payments are allowed; the invoice keeps a running balance until it is fully paid.

Online payments

If a payment gateway is enabled, parents can pay online. Those payments post against the invoice automatically — you only reconcile them against the gateway statement.

6. Scholarships, discounts and arrears

• Scholarships — Sidebar → Finance → Scholarships. Record a full or partial scholarship for a student.
• Discounts — apply a sibling discount or a one-off reduction to an invoice.
• Arrears — Sidebar → Finance → Arrears lists every unpaid balance, including balances carried from previous terms.

7. Payroll

• Sidebar → Payroll. Salary structures, allowances, and deductions are set per staff grade.
• Create the pay month, then click Generate — a payslip is built for every active staff member.
• PAYE tax and SSNIT are calculated automatically.
• Review and adjust individual payslips for overtime or bonuses, then lock the month.
• Distribute payslips as bulk PDFs or by email.

7.1 Ghana PAYE tax reliefs

Tax reliefs reduce a staff member's chargeable income BEFORE the GRA tax bands apply, so PAYE comes out lower. Six standard reliefs ship pre-seeded with GRA default amounts; the amounts are editable so you can update them when GRA revises a figure.

• Sidebar → Payroll → '1c. Tax Reliefs' tab.
• Top section — edit annual amounts and tick which reliefs your school honours: Marriage GH₵1,200, Child Education GH₵600/child (max 3), Old Age GH₵1,500, Aged Dependant GH₵1,000/dependant (max 2), Professional Training GH₵2,000, Disability 25% of taxable income.
• Bottom section — a matrix of staff × relief. Tick each relief the staff has filed a GRA relief card for; for Child Education / Aged Dependant, type the number of children / dependants.
• Save Relief Claims. New claims apply to the NEXT payroll month you generate. Already-processed months keep their snapshotted relief.
• The payslip prints 'PAYE is after GH₵X monthly tax relief' under the PAYE line, and the PAYE report PDF you submit to GRA gains a Relief column so taxable = gross − SSNIT − relief reconciles visibly.

8. Bootcamp finance

Bootcamp is a self-contained short-course programme with its own intake and finances, separate from school admissions.

• Sidebar → Bootcamp → Dashboard.
• Manage registration forms, registrants, invoices, payments, and expenses.
• Bootcamp reports give a profit-and-loss view of each programme.

9. Shop and feeding collections

• Shop — the bookshop can raise bulk class invoices for textbook sets; uniforms, stationery, and cafeteria are separate sub-shops.
• Feeding — Sidebar → Feeding shows the daily meal-collection roll; per-section kiosks record who has paid for and collected a meal.
• Both feed into the overall collection figures.

10. Financial reports

• Fee collection — by term, class, or category.
• Outstanding / arrears report — who still owes, and how much.
• Payroll register and the PAYE return for GRA.
• Every report exports to PDF (A4, school letterhead) or Excel.
• Run reports at term-end and keep a copy off-system.

10.1 The three end-of-period statements

Three reports work together to give the full picture of a period — use the same period filter on all three so the figures cross-check. They live under Sidebar → Finance → Reports.

• Income & Expenditure Account — the period's performance: did the school run a surplus or a deficit?
• Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet) — a snapshot of what the school owns and owes on a specific date.
• Statement of Cash Flows — actual money in and out, regardless of when invoices were raised.
• Each one has subsections below explaining what to look at.

10.2 Income & Expenditure Account

A running total of every income head and expenditure head for the chosen period, ending in Surplus / (Deficit) for the period. The report layout (May 2026 onwards) lists every income head directly under the Account column — no chart-of-accounts subheadings ("Fees & Levies", "Other Income") and no per-group subtotals; what you see on screen is what prints to PDF.

• Pick the period (term or custom date range), then Generate.
• The PDF carries the admin's uploaded letterhead and the canonical system footer.
• Income lines appear first, then a TOTAL INCOME row.
• Expenditure lines next, then a TOTAL EXPENDITURE row.
• Surplus / (Deficit) = TOTAL INCOME − TOTAL EXPENDITURE.
• Accumulated Fund block at the bottom: Opening Fund + Surplus = Closing Accumulated Fund.
• Notes at the very bottom: Note 1 is the currency band ('All figures in GHS') and the prior-period comparison label; any additional notes from the service follow.
• Want more granular income reporting? Split the chart of accounts into more specific income heads — the report will list them verbatim. There is no longer a 'Fees & Levies' or 'Other Income' bucket.

10.3 Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet)

A snapshot of school net worth on the chosen date — what we own vs what we owe.

• Assets — cash at bank, petty cash, fees receivable (arrears), inventory on hand, fixed assets (less accumulated depreciation).
• Liabilities — payables (unpaid suppliers), accruals (utilities incurred but not invoiced), tax owed, deferred income (fees collected in advance for a future term).
• Net assets = Assets − Liabilities.
• Accumulated Fund block: prior closing fund + current-period surplus = current closing fund.
• The accounting identity must hold: Net assets = Accumulated Fund. The report flags any mismatch in red.

10.4 Statement of Cash Flows

Cash in / cash out for the period, categorised into three activity buckets. Tells you whether the surplus translated into real money in the bank or got stuck as receivables.

• Operating — day-to-day school operations: fees collected, salaries paid, suppliers paid, utilities paid.
• Investing — buying or selling long-lived assets: vehicles, ICT equipment, building works.
• Financing — borrowings drawn or repaid, owner capital contributions or withdrawals.
• Net change in cash = the three categories summed.
• Opening cash + Net change = Closing cash — and Closing cash here MUST match the Cash & bank line on the Balance Sheet for the same date.

10.5 The cross-check rule

11. Quick reference card

12. Common issues

An invoice shows the wrong amount

The fee structure for that class is wrong. Correct the structure, then edit or regenerate the affected invoices.

A parent paid online but the invoice still shows a balance

Check the payment gateway statement. If the money cleared, the gateway reference can be matched to the invoice manually — record the payment with that reference.

Payroll totals look wrong

Confirm the salary structure, allowances, and deductions for the affected staff before locking the month. A locked month cannot be edited.

A figure looks wrong on a report

Check the academic year / term selector in the header — reports only show the selected period.

13. Switching languages (English / French)

The platform supports more than one language. Your school chooses which languages are enabled — usually English and French.

• Look at the header bar at the top of the screen for a small language toggle (e.g. “EN” / “FR”).
• Click the language code you want. The page reloads in that language.
• Your choice is remembered for the rest of your session.