Who owes what, for which weeks?
A direct student pays a deposit by card in January, her father sends the balance by international bank transfer in March with a reference that does not match anything, and she extends by two weeks when she arrives and pays at reception. An agent pays for three students in one transfer, less commission, and a fourth student's booking with the same agent was cancelled.
Accounts spends part of every week matching payments to bookings. Some students arrive with a balance still owing that nobody chased. A cancellation refund is worked out differently from the last one, because the person who did the last one is on holiday.
Why payments drift away from bookings
- Payments arrive from several payers: the student, a parent, a sponsor or an agent.
- Bank references are often missing, shortened or in a different alphabet.
- Agents pay several bookings at once, net of commission.
- Currencies and bank charges leave small differences.
- Bookings change after payment, creating credits or new amounts due.
- Cancellation terms depend on timing, and are applied from a PDF.
The student system knows what was booked, the bank knows what arrived, and a spreadsheet tries to bridge the two.
The cost of loose payment tracking
Unpaid balances on arrival are awkward to collect from a student who is already in class. Refunds done inconsistently lead to complaints and sometimes to chargebacks. Accounts time goes on matching instead of reporting. And a manager cannot quickly answer a basic question: how much do students and agents owe us today, and for which bookings?
The payment tracking we build
- Every booking has a payment schedule, set from your terms: deposit, balance due date, and who is expected to pay.
- Card payments through Stripe or your provider are linked to the booking automatically, from a payment link on the confirmation.
- Bank transfers are imported from your bank feed or accounts package, such as Xero, and matched to bookings by amount, payer name and reference, with suggested matches for a person to confirm.
- Agent payments covering several bookings are split across them, with commission deducted under each agent's terms.
- Balance reminders go to the right payer at points you choose before the due date, and overdue balances appear on a list before the student arrives.
- Cancellations and changes calculate the credit or refund from your terms and the dates involved, and a person approves before any money moves.
- Everything posts to your accounts package, so the ledger and the booking agree.
| Payment situation | What the tracking does |
|---|---|
| Card deposit on booking | Linked automatically |
| Transfer with an unclear reference | Suggested matches for a person |
| Agent pays several bookings | Split across bookings, net of commission |
| Balance not paid by due date | Reminder, then on the overdue list |
| Cancellation | Refund calculated from your terms, approved by a person |
Your cancellation and refund terms are yours, set with your advisers. We apply them as written and flag anything they do not cover.
Money that matches the bookings
Accounts confirms suggested matches instead of hunting for them. Balances are collected before arrival, not in the corridor. A refund is worked out the same way whoever does it, with the calculation shown. And the owed-today report takes a click.
Consider an ordinary Tuesday. The bank feed brings in nine transfers overnight. Six match a booking on amount and name and are confirmed with a click. Two are agent payments, split across their bookings with commission shown. One has no usable reference, and the tracking suggests the two bookings it could belong to, so accounts emails the payer to check. Meanwhile three balance reminders went out that morning without anyone opening a spreadsheet.
Is this your accounts week?
- Bank transfers are matched to bookings by hand.
- Students arrive with unpaid balances.
- Agent payments for several students are hard to split.
- Refunds are calculated differently by different people.
- Nobody can say quickly what is owed today.