Academies Finance

STAR ACADEMY – User Guide

Section 8 – Entering Transactions

Introduction

Whereas Orders (Section 7) and Debtors Invoices (Section 16) will account for many of the Academy’s transactions there will be occasions when transactions need to be recorded without a prior Order or Invoice having been created – for example an invoice will be received from your energy company for electricity used by the Academy without the Academy having raised an Order for its supply and its details will need to be recorded so that the invoice can be paid.

Please Note: Orders and Invoices raised by the Academy are commitments to spend or receive money in the future and as such are only shown in the ‘Commitments’ column in the AR reports until money is actually paid or received. But transactions entered as per the following paragraphs will represent actual money movements and will therefore appear immediately in the relevant Month and To Date columns in the AR and will be included in the Unpresented Transactions and Current Months Expenditure totals in the Reconciliation Statement (accessed from the ‘Process’ menu).

Accounting Periods: Both Expenditure and Income Transactions will be recorded (and reported on) according to the Accounting Period shown in the Override Period/Yr field which is initially determined by the Invoice Date (Expenditure Transactions) or Paid In date (Income Transactions).

Entering Expenditure Transactions

For an invoice received click Expenditure and complete the transaction as per the invoice details.

If Cheque Printing is activated the Cheque Number and Cheque Date fields will not be displayed as Cheque Numbers will normally be allocated during the Cheque Run (see Section 9). Circumstances may arise however when it is necessary to allocate a Cheque Number and Date before the Cheque Run and instead of switching Cheque Printing off and on in the School Details screen the facility exists to add a Cheque Number and Date on the Transaction screen.

Tick the “Enter Cheque No/Date” box alongside the Details field and then enter the relevant details. The entries will be validated and warning messages will be displayed should the “next available” Cheque Number not be selected or if a previously used Cheque Number is selected.

Accounting Periods

The Invoice Date will initially determine which of the three Accounting Periods the transaction will be recorded in – “Prior Month”, “Current Month” or “Future Month” and this value will be automatically entered in the Override Period/Yr field. In the above example Accounting Period “2” has been entered in the Override Period/Yr field by the system as the Invoice Date is in October (the second month of the financial year).

The “Current Month” is the month shown as current on the School Details screen but transactions can also be recorded in the “Prior Month” until such time as the next Period End is performed at which point the “Prior Month“ will be closed and the “Current Month” becomes the “Prior Month” – see Section 13 for full detail. Invoice Dates entered that are “out of range” of this three month period will be treated as follows:

If an Invoice Date is entered that is earlier than the start of the “Prior Month” it will be recorded within the “Prior Month” accounting period but will keep the actual Invoice Date entered unchanged.

If an Invoice Date is entered that is later than the end date of the “Current Month” but which is still within the current year then it will be recorded within the “Future Month” accounting period but will keep the actual Invoice Date entered unchanged.

If an Invoice Date is entered that is later than the end date of the “Current Month” and which is in the future year then the following warning message will be displayed:

If Yes is selected and the Future Year indicator is left unchecked then it will be recorded within the “Current Month” accounting period but will keep the actual Invoice Date entered unchanged.

If Yes is selected and the Future Year indicator is ticked then it will be recorded within the “Current Month” accounting period for the actual payment of the supplier and any VAT reclaimable but the transaction will otherwise be treated as a normal Future Year Transaction and the Invoice Date will be left unchanged.

Overriding Accounting Periods

There may be occasions however when there is a requirement to enter a different Accounting Period for a particular invoice (for example if the services being invoiced were actually received in the Accounting Period before the invoice was received) – in this case the drop down list in the Override Period/Yr field should be used to select the most appropriate Accounting Period to be used.

This facility can also be used when an invoice is received for an order where the services received were split over different Accounting Periods – each individual part of the order can be processed according to the month it was received in (irrespective of the Invoice Date) and the system will ensure that the expenditure relevant to each part of the order is accounted for within the Accounting Periods specified – even though only one Invoice Date and Number and only one Cheque Number is specified.

If you use the same Invoice Number for different parts of the order the system will warn you after the first entry that this Invoice Number has already been used for this Supplier – in this instance it is OK to use it again and you should select the ‘continue’ option as appropriate:

Similarly if Cheque Printing is switched off then when you specify the Cheque Number when making the payment after the first entry for this invoice a similar warning will be made about duplicate Cheque Numbers – again you should use the ‘continue’ option to proceed:

VAT Entries for VAT Registered Suppliers

If the Supplier is VAT Registered and part or all of the purchase is VATable then the transaction should have the split between Nett and VAT recorded to enable the system to calculate the VAT reclaimable by the Academy at the end of the VAT Accounting Period. This applies equally to both VAT Registered and non-VAT Registered Academies.

If an Academy is not VAT Registered then a warning message will be displayed if a VAT Code of “H”, “S” or “U” is entered for an invoice from a Supplier whose Supplier record doesn’t include a VAT Registration Number (see Section 4):

If you select Yes you will be taken to the Supplier record to add the VAT Registration Number which will be displayed on the Invoice if they are VAT Registered - select No to amend the VAT Code.

If you select Yes and try to leave the Supplier record without entering a VAT Registration Number the following will be displayed:

For non-VAT Registered Academies all invoices submitted for a VAT Claim will need the Supplier’s VAT Registration Number to be held on the system as it has to be listed on the VAT Claim that goes to HMRC.

Therefore if a VAT Registration Number is not recorded for the Supplier then the whole amount of the invoice (including any VAT charged by the Supplier) will need to be entered in the Gross field and a VAT Code of “E”, “T” or “Z” entered to produce a VAT amount of zero and a Nett equal to the Gross figure. As a result any VAT that could have been reclaimed will not be claimed.

Please Note: Expenditure must be entered as a positive amount. If you enter an expenditure transaction as a negative figure, the following message will appear:

Transaction Coding


Default Coding

If the Supplier selected above has a default Nominal Code or Department Code these will automatically be entered after the Supplier is selected. If the default Nominal Code is an income Nominal Code this will not be entered.

Nominal Code

If you are unsure of the most appropriate Nominal Code to use, double-click the Nominal field:

All expenditure Nominal Codes containing the search criteria within their details will be shown. Double-click the Nominal Code you wish to use to enter it into the transaction.

Department Code

Select the required Department from the drop down list. If a new Department Code is required double click the Department field and create a new code following the instructions given in Section 3. On exiting the Department Code screen the last viewed Department Code will be added to the transaction.

Bank Account

When first selecting a new transaction the Bank Account will be pre-populated with the Default bank account (i.e. the Bank Account nominated as Default in the “View Accounts” part of the “School Details” screen). If the transaction being entered relates to Petty Cash or another Bank Account please ensure that you change the Bank Account before submitting the transaction.

If BACS Payments have been selected for the Academy and the Supplier for whom the transaction being entered is not BACS-enabled or if BACS

Payments have not been selected the following message will appear if the Bank Account is changed from the Default:

If BACS payments have been selected and the Supplier for whom the transaction being entered is BACS-enabled and the Bank Account is changed from the Default then this message will be displayed instead:

Enter ‘No’ to allow the Account to be changed back (automatically) to the Default Bank (BACS payment) Account to allow payment to be made by BACS.

Enter ‘Yes’ if it is intended to pay from the account selected instead of the Default bank account.

Having entered ‘Yes’ the message will be displayed once more as a double-check when you attempt to leave the screen either by selecting “New Transaction” or selecting “Save and return to Menu”. Select ‘Yes’ to confirm acceptance of the change or ‘No’ to revert to the Default account.

If ‘Yes’ is entered (i.e the account selected is left unchanged) then payment will have to be made by cheque from that account and not by BACS from the Default BACS account (see ‘Cheque Run’ in ‘Section 9 – Cheque Printing and Other Payments’).

Please Note: If a non-default account is selected (in any circumstance) and following completion of the transaction entry the “New Transaction” option is selected the Bank Account will be populated on the new screen returned with the non-default account just selected. If however the “Save and Return to Menu” option is selected the next time a new transaction is entered the Bank Account will be pre-populated with the Default account as normal.

Future Year Payment

See the instructions on Page 25 regarding Future Year transactions.

Asset Register

Place a tick in this box if you wish to flag the item as an item that needs to be added to your Asset Register (see Section 15).

Save / Cancel Transaction

Click Cancel to return to the transaction summary without saving the details entered. This will only cancel the transaction you are currently entering and not any previous entries.

To submit the current transaction and enter further invoices click New Transaction.

To submit the current transaction and return to the Transaction Summary screen click Save and Return to Menu.

After New Transaction or Save and Return to Menu are clicked Star Academy will validate the data entered on screen and report any issues that must be rectified before the transaction is accepted.

If you selected the Direct Debit or Credit Card payment option and left the Statement Date blank the following message will be displayed when you exit the screen:

Enter Yes to default to today’s date for your Statement Date or alternatively wait till you reach the Cheque Run screen before being asked to select a Statement Date. If you select Yes as a result of the Statement Date being set to today’s date the transaction will immediately be set as ‘paid’ and will appear on the Bank Reconciliation screen instead of on the Cheque Run screen.

If you select No then the following message will be displayed:

Select Yes and the transaction will be held as an ‘unpaid’ item until you have received the Credit Card statement and are ready to enter a Statement Date via the Cheque Run screen where you should select the Credit Card option:

Only when the transaction has been accepted will it be allocated a Voucher Number and Transaction Date (see the two fields at the top of the screen).

Entering Income Transactions

For any income received click ‘Income’ and complete the transaction details as required. The notes on Accounting Periods (see page 3 earlier) apply equally to Income Transactions as they do to Expenditure Transactions.

Paid In Date and Override Period/Yr

These should be treated in the same way as Invoice Dates are when creating an Expenditure Transaction.

VAT Entries for VAT Registered Suppliers

If the Supplier and Academy are both VAT Registered and part or all of the income is VATable then the transaction should have the split between Nett and VAT recorded to enable the system to calculate the VAT payable by the Academy at the end of the VAT Accounting Period.

Please Note: Income must be entered as a negative amount. If you enter an income transaction as a positive figure the following message will appear: