Schools in India must opt for cloud-based accounting software

Accounting errors can practically put schools in jeopardy. One classic example of this is University Laboratory High School — an extremely noted school in Urbana, Illinois. The school had accidentally run a $1 million+ deficit in the year 2014 because it was withdrawing from the wrong account.

Schools, colleges, institutes in India must learn than they need to operate in a different way than a commercial company. Yet, they must keep their accounts up-to-date with accurate accounting. There are certain key accounting practices in schools that are very similar to any other company. These are: cash management, creating budgets, analytical report tracking, identifying operational costs. Then there are several unique school-only practices that may require special categories or heads.

Should schools go for school management or online accounting software?

We always recommend that you keep a separate online accounting software which takes care of your finance management and book-keeping. In India, there are online accounting software such as Giddh that allow for an overview of finances and easy receipt and linking options that are enough to take into account while managing the overall school activities.

A major portion of school activities would eventually involve payments and receipts and hence a separate online accounting software would help you set your priorities. Since these software are cloud-based, you can access information anytime and anywhere.

Choose an accounting software that offers customization

Even a generic online accounting software would help you create several heads such as student fees, receipting, online payments, general ledger, payroll management, invoicing, tuition and donation management, automated billing and payment reminders, reporting If you opt for accounting software such as Giddh, they can be customized as per your needs. However, the software allows enough room for you to define your own sub-heads under the broader accounting heads. Your school management software can eventually be integrated with Giddh so that it would all look like the sum of a whole.

Most importantly, such software give you an overview of your finance for any given period — weekly, monthly, bi-weekly and so on. Moreover, student records can easily be integrated with these software that itself helps cut a lot of cost and time.

Benefits of online accounting software to schools, colleges

– Accurate financial management

– Integration of financial and student records information

– Easy segregation of kinds of fees, specific incomes and expenses

– Lowering operational cost by automating the manual accounting process

– Customization with major online tools

– Easy creation of budgets

– Fully secured admin controls with easy access

Online accounting software decrease the control of an accountant on financial records. This significantly reduces frauds and errors. This is especially crucial for schools and colleges because their admissions are directly related to their credibility and integrity. If you want to know how you can improve your school or college finances, contact us.