Budgets and a cash forecast

Two questions keep school owners awake: are we spending to plan, and will we have enough cash next month? The Finance module answers both, from data you are already recording.

Budget versus actuals

Open Finance then Budget. For a period you choose, set a budgeted amount per ledger account. iEasySR then shows, side by side, the budget, the actual figure pulled from your ledger for that period, and the variance between them. At a glance you see where you are over and where you are under, without exporting anything to a spreadsheet. Because it reads your chart of accounts and posted journal entries, the actuals are always the real numbers.

A 13-week cash forecast

Open Finance then Forecast. It projects your cash 13 weeks ahead so you can spot a squeeze before it happens. There is nothing to configure: it recalculates live from your data each time you open it.

Read it like this:

• Current cash (estimated) is your starting point, from your recognised cash and bank balances.
• Expected inflows are outstanding fee-bill balances, placed in the week they fall due.
• Expected outflows are open vendor bills and unpaid payroll runs.
• Net is inflows minus outflows for the week.
• Running position is your projected cash after each week. If it drops below zero, that is a projected gap to act on early.

A leading row holds anything already due or without a due date, and a Download button gives a branded PDF.

If every week reads zero

That is not a fault, it just means there are no due-dated fee bills, open vendor bills or unpaid payroll in the next 13 weeks yet. To bring the line to life, give fee bills due dates, record vendor bills with due dates, and run payroll. The weeks then fill in.

A note on trust

Treat the forecast as an estimate, not a guarantee. Both tools are part of the licensed accounting module, and both work purely off numbers you have already entered, so keeping them honest is simply a matter of keeping your books current.