Month end with the agent file open
Most of your international students come through agents. Each agent has its own agreement: one gets a percentage on tuition only, another on tuition and accommodation, a third has a higher rate from a certain number of weeks booked this year, and a couple of large agents invoice net, so you never pay them commission at all but need to record it.
At month end the bookkeeper exports bookings, looks up each agent's terms in a folder of PDFs, applies the rate, takes off a cancellation, adds an extension that came in directly from the student and wonders whether it should earn the agent commission. Then an agent emails with their own calculation, which does not match.
Why commission gets worked out twice
The calculation is not complex. The inputs are scattered, and the terms are not stored where the bookings are.
- Commission rates and rules are in contracts, not in the booking system.
- What commission applies to varies: tuition, registration fee, accommodation, transfers.
- Gross and net invoicing agents need different treatment.
- Extensions, reductions and cancellations change the amount after the booking is made.
- Promotions for certain markets or seasons change the rate for particular bookings.
- Volume incentives depend on the total booked with that agent across the year.
So every month someone rebuilds the calculation from scratch, and the agent does the same on their side.
Where the time and trust go
Disagreements with agents are the visible cost. Each one means digging through bookings and emails to find which extension or cancellation is behind the difference. Paying commission on a booking that was later cancelled is money that is awkward to recover. Missing an extension the agent is owed on is worse, because agents talk to each other and remember who shortchanged them.
Management also loses sight of the real price of each market. Without clean commission figures per agent, it is hard to say which agents are worth the higher rates.
What we build for commission
- Each agent's terms are stored as rules: rate, what it applies to, gross or net, any tiers and the dates they apply from.
- Bookings in your student system are read with their agent, services and dates, including every change since the booking was made.
- The rules are applied per booking and per service line, and extensions follow whatever your agreement with that agent says.
- Cancellations and reductions create a negative line against the original commission rather than a quiet edit.
- At month end, each agent gets a statement listing every booking, the base amount, the rate and the commission, so their team can check it line by line.
- Your bookkeeper gets a summary for posting to your accounts package, such as Xero or Sage, and a list of agent credit notes to raise for net agents.
- Agent queries are logged against the statement line, so the answer is kept for next time.
| Situation | Handled by |
|---|---|
| Commission on tuition only | Rule per agent, service lines filtered |
| Net invoicing agent | Commission recorded, not paid out |
| Extension booked direct by the student | Your agreed rule for that agent |
| Cancellation after commission paid | Negative line on the next statement |
| Tier reached part way through the year | Rate changes from the date the tier is met |
The rules come from your agreements. Where an agreement is unclear, we list the question for you to decide rather than guessing.
Statements agents can check
The bookkeeper runs month end in a short sitting, checks a handful of flagged bookings and sends statements. Agents can match each line to their own records, so the back and forth drops to the few genuinely unclear cases. Management sees commission by agent and market next to the tuition it came with.
Is commission eating your month end?
- Agent terms live in a folder of PDF contracts.
- Commission is worked out in a spreadsheet each month.
- Agents regularly send their own calculation that does not match.
- Cancellations and extensions are handled differently each time.
- You cannot easily see commission cost per market.