Prepare family finance accounts
Connect learners and billed guardians to the right family account.
Checked on 29 October 2026
Overview
Family accounts hold the billing relationship for learners, guardians and receipts. Check identity and responsibility before adding another account.
Get to know the screen
Practice example: all names, records and amounts are fictional. Options vary with your school’s curriculum, currency and access.
Phone example
Interface labels are shown in English. Follow the translated steps below to find each control. Follow the sequence, review the recorded information and choose the next step.
Who can use this feature
Use your own authorised school account. Live Finance requires the School Finance module and a finance officer, administrator, owner, co-owner, director or head-teacher role. Publishing fees and deciding money adjustments require an owner, co-owner or director; a person cannot approve their own adjustment request.
Before you start
Check the school, live or sample mode, currency and reporting period. Have approved source records ready and confirm who may save, approve or send this record. School subscription invoices belong to the separate Administration guide.
Prepare the checked academic learner list, existing family account references, approved guardian contacts and fee profiles.
Required and optional fields
| Field | Requirement | Format or example | Prerequisite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family name, members and guardians | Required in this form | A new family needs a name up to 160 characters. Link the correct existing learners. Each added guardian needs a name; supplied email must be valid. Billed-guardian responsibility is 0–100% each and must total 100%. Confirm fee profile and transport route. | Checked academic import, family membership and saved finance accounts. |
Picklist prerequisites
| Choice | Options come from | Earlier selection | If missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Families and open invoice lines | Saved family accounts, academic membership and issued invoices. | Complete the academic import and family assignment; select the family before reviewing allocation. | Check school, family status, filters and live mode. A family without open invoices may leave a payment unallocated. |
Desktop walkthrough
Check the school, person and current record.
Screen walkthrough · 0:45Download GIF ↓- Open Finance → Families or School fees → Families. Search existing accounts by account code and learner identity first.
- If learners are missing, preview the academic import or enrolment sync offered by that screen. Resolve exceptions before confirming; then compare the imported records.
- Use the available create/assign control to choose an existing family or provide a new family name. Check each learner and fee profile.
- Add or review guardians, contact details and billed responsibility. Billed shares must total 100%; inspect day/boarding and any transport route.
- Save the authorised changes, reopen the family and check members, guardians, account code and linked invoices before billing.
Mobile walkthrough
Check the school, person and current record.
Screen walkthrough · 0:45Download GIF ↓On a phone, open Finance and swipe the section tabs to find the named feature. Work through one panel at a time; scroll wide records or use landscape. Close the keyboard to reach the final controls.
Make prerequisite selections before later fields. Check the selected family and period again after changing filters. Use a larger screen for fee matrices and bulk billing; the written steps remain available.
Wait for confirmation, reopen the saved record and compare it with the source. If a request may have succeeded, inspect the receipt, run or history before retrying.
Save and verify
The intended learners and paying guardians appear under the correct saved account without a duplicate family.
Troubleshooting
A learner or paying guardian is not offered
Check academic import, family membership, current year and existing assignments. A guardian contact does not automatically establish a parent account or permission to view unrelated records.
A record or choice is missing
Check live mode, school, permissions, year and filters. Complete the earlier family, fee-version or setup task first. An empty sample view or a loading error is not proof that a live record does not exist.
The action did not complete
Read the validation or access message. Check the saved state and any partial completion before retrying. Keep source references and ask the authorised finance lead to resolve a locked record or approval restriction.
