How to collect a school fee by cash, bank transfer, cheque, card or online

A parent can pay a fee six ways, and the method you choose decides whether the Collect Fee dialog asks for a bank account and which ledger account the payment is debited to. This guide follows one student, Usman Farooqui, who pays his invoice in every method.

Who it is forFee-counter cashier or school accountantTime10 minutesProductSCMLevelBeginner

Before you start

You can open Students › All Students and the student's Finance tab, and your role can collect fees.
The student has an open fee invoice. In this guide: Usman Farooqui, invoice INV-2026-000082, with PKR 8,000 still due at the start.
The school has a bank account under Accounting › Bank Accounts. In this guide: Al-Noor Collection A/c at Meezan Bank. Bank methods cannot be collected without one.

Steps

Know the six methods

A fee can be paid by Cash, Bank Transfer, Cheque, Credit Card, Debit Card or Online. For each method two questions matter: does the dialog ask for a bank account, and which account does the journal debit?

The six payment methods and the two questions that matter for each

Open Collect Fee

Open the student, go to the Finance tab and press Collect Fee. Choose the invoice and type the Amount (PKR): here 1,000 of the 8,000 still due. Open Payment Method: it lists the six methods. Choose Bank Transfer and the dialog gains two fields. Bank Account is required and lists the school's accounts from Accounting › Bank Accounts; pick Al-Noor Collection A/c at Meezan Bank. Transaction Reference holds the transfer reference, the cheque number or the card slip number. Then press Collect.

Collect Fee dialog with Amount, Payment Method, Bank Account and Transaction Reference

Meet the bank rule

Choose a bank method and leave Bank Account empty: a red line says "A bank account is required for Bank Transfer", and Collect shows the same words in a toast. Choose the account and collect again.

The red hint and toast saying a bank account is required for Bank Transfer

Collect by bank transfer

Collect 1,000 with the reference MZN-TRF-884215. The toast reads Payment collected and the receipt is RCP-2026-EZT1471U; the invoice now reads Partial, with 7,000 paid in total. Accounting posts JE-202610-00041: debit 1010 Bank Account 1,000, credit 1100 Accounts Receivable 1,000.

Payment collected toast with the receipt number and the journal entry for the transfer

Collect by cheque

A cheque works the same way: the same bank account, and the cheque number CHQ-004512 as the reference. The receipt is RCP-2026-3VVMOH7X and JE-202610-00042 debits 1010 Bank Account 1,000 and credits 1100 Accounts Receivable.

Cheque payment toast and its journal entry

Collect by credit or debit card

Credit Card and Debit Card also need the bank account, with the card slip as the reference (CC-SLIP-2201 and DC-SLIP-2202). Two payments of 500 post JE-202610-00043 and JE-202610-00044, each debiting 1010 Bank Account and crediting 1100 Accounts Receivable.

Credit Card and Debit Card payments with their journal entries

Collect online

Online is different: its Bank Account field has no star, so it can stay empty and the collection goes through. JE-202610-00045 still debits 1010 Bank Account 500 and credits 1100 Accounts Receivable.

Online payment where the Bank Account field has no star and the journal entry

Check the bank account

Open Accounting › Bank Accounts. Al-Noor Collection A/c now holds 4,500 rupees, and Transactions lists its credits by receipt. Four of them are these payments: the transfer, the cheque and the two cards. The online payment named no bank account, so it is not listed there.

Al-Noor Collection A/c holding 4,500 rupees with its four credit transactions

Cash is the exception

Cash has no bank field, and its journal debits 1000 Cash. The earlier 6,000 rupee cash payment is JE-202610-00040.

Cash payment with no bank field and the cash journal entry

The same rule everywhere money is taken

The same six methods and the same bank rule appear wherever money is taken: this Collect Fee dialog, Fee Management, Receive Advance and the application fee. In Fee Management, Collect Payment on an invoice row offers the six methods, and Credit Card asks for the bank account too.

The same six methods in Fee Management Collect Payment

Check it worked

Usman has now paid 9,500 of 14,000, with 4,500 outstanding: six payments, one in each method.
Cash debits 1000 Cash. Every other method debits 1010 Bank Account.
The bank account's own transaction list shows the payments that named it.

Summary of Usman's six payments and the outstanding balance

Common mistakes

Mistake	What you see	Fix
Bank method with no bank account	A red line "A bank account is required for Bank Transfer" and the same words in a toast	Choose the receiving account from the list, or add it under Accounting › Bank Accounts
Expecting an Online payment in the bank account's transactions	It is not listed, because no account was named	Name the bank account when you collect, if the payment should appear there

Quick reference

Method	Bank account asked?	Journal debits
Cash	No	1000 Cash
Bank Transfer	Yes, required	1010 Bank Account
Cheque	Yes, required	1010 Bank Account
Credit Card	Yes, required	1010 Bank Account
Debit Card	Yes, required	1010 Bank Account
Online	Optional	1010 Bank Account

Frequently asked questions

Which payment methods need a bank account? Bank Transfer, Cheque, Credit Card and Debit Card. Online lets the field stay empty, and Cash has no bank field.

Where does the Bank Account list come from? From Accounting › Bank Accounts. If it is empty, the school adds a bank account there first.

Which account does a cash payment debit? 1000 Cash. Every other method debits 1010 Bank Account, and the credit side is always 1100 Accounts Receivable.

Do this in GridX SCM

GridX SCM runs this whole workflow. See what GridX SCM does and what it costs, or browse all step-by-step guides.