The balance transfer works in two modes:

1. Transfer balances with the total amount in a single transaction per student

2. Transfer balances with a breakdown by account categories (e.g. Tuition, Fees, etc.) using multiple transactions per student as needed to transfer each category balance

Does your school break down payments manually, in order to post using separate transaction types (to maintain accurate ledger balances by category)?  If so, you will probably want to transfer the balances in the same way: by category, and there is an option for this on the Financial->Admin->Settings tab:

 


 

This option is off by default.  Schools that wish to use this feature should enable the above setting before transferring balances.We also recommend that schools confirm that balances are correct both in aggregate and within the individual categories before transferring balances.

To use the balance transfer feature, go to the Financial->Billing tab, and follow these steps:

1. Make sure last year’s session is selected in the upper-left corner of the grid.

2. Select the month that contains the balances you want transferred forward (e.g. May 2014 in the example below).

3. Click on the box labeled “Close Session Info” to open up the Balance Transfer setting and specify the new session where the balance forward entries should be posted.  NOTE: Make sure that the period containing the closing date of this session is an open period in the target session.  Balance transfer transactions will be generated for this “source” session to zero out the balances here, and complimentary balance transfer transactions are generated in the selected target session, hence the target session must be “open” to allow these balance forward transactions to be posted.

4. Flip the source period to Closed status as shown below.  Balance transfer transactions are created when the period is closed.

5. Click the Save button to proceed with the balance transfer and the close.



Here is an example of how the balance transfer out of the “source” 2013-14 session appears for a student:


Here is an example of how the balance transfer in to the “target” 2014-15 session appears for the same student:


 

Credit (CR) or Debit (DB) transaction types are created and assigned automatically as needed to zero out the balances in the source session, and forward those balances within the target session.  Here is another example of how the balance transfer records in the source session might appear for the same student when the “Breakdown balance transfers by account categories” option is selected under Financial->Admin->Settings.

 

 

 

The source session is locked after balances are transferred

 

The system will not allow additions, deletions or edits within the source session once balances have been transferred in a closed period.  Balance forward transactions in the target session also may not be edited.  However, the period in the source session in which the balance transfer was issued may be reopened. This will back the balance transfer transactions out of the source and target sessions (the target session must be open also in order to do this since the balance forward transactions are backed out as well).