In a digital world where most transactions are done and saved online, how do you get access to all your transaction records after approving payments or withdrawal? As a school owner, there are some financial statements you should have access to as easily as possible. These documents will help you monitor and understand the growth of your school's finances so you know how well your school is performing termly or yearly, and make room for improvements where necessary.
A financial report is a breakdown of financial activities, to show a significant influence on the financial results over a period of time. In other words, financial statements help business owners understand how their businesses are performing financially. They are:
- Balance Sheet: The balance sheet is a document containing details about the business' working capital; that is, the current assets and liabilities of the business, debts which need to be paid currently, cash available, and extra funds for future growth. This is one very important document because it will help you understand all your school's earnings at the end of every year or term.
- Income Statement: Your income statements are necessary documents you should have quick access to as a school owner. This is because they contain your school's income and expenses, and the profits you've earned in a particular term or year. It will help you understand the total sales and expenses incurred throughout a term or a school year.
- Cash Flow Statement: Your school's cash flow statement shows your cash inflows and outflows, that is your school's expenses and sources of funding, e.g, school fees, lesson fees, etc. It's important, as a school owner that you have access to this document to understand your school's spendings every year, and your school's earnings also.
- Accounts Receivable Report: Accounts receivable report shows how much money your school has invoiced to parents, and the unpaid invoice balances along with the duration for which they've been outstanding. This report will help you identify owing parents and keep on top of them.
- Budget vs Actual Report: This report helps you check how close you were to achieving your set out goals for the school term or year. The budget report shows you what you had planned for the school term or year, while the actual report shows if you were able to accomplish the goals, if you came close to accomplishing them or if you were far behind your term or year's budget.
- Operating Cash Flow Report: This report shows the normal financial operations of your school business. It is important because it gives you insight into your school's financial health, and shows you how strong your school's yearly or termly operations are. If at the end of any term or year your school's operating cash flow reports are good, it should assure you that your school is financially healthy, and can run future operations successfully.
- Net Profit Margin: Net profit margin would help you as a school owner understand if your school business is making enough profits or losses from its sales over time. Simply put, net profit margin helps you weigh your school's finances at the end of the term or year to know if you've been running your school at losses or if you've actually been making profits.
- Daily Expense/Sales report: This gives you as a school owner an overview of the state of the sales activities within your school. It shows the sales volume over the year or school term, and also makes you know what aspects of sales are performing well, and aspects which aren't so you can improve on them.
Conclusion
Your bank or Accountant may not be able to present these important documents to you on a single sheet, but fortunately, you can access all these 8 important financial statements on a single platform called Schoolable Pay. Through Schoolable Pay, you can easily view and understand these statements on your dashboard without having to request from a bank. Having these reports where you can easily access them gives you better insights into your finances, helps you to know what’s happening in your school, and helps you plan ahead for income and prevent losses. Also, you can ensure to have regular stand-ups with your accountant or bursar to explain some of these documents when you don't understand them, or read up on them online.
