Step one: set up your Chart of Accounts

Before doing anything else with Populi Financial, you need to set up your Chart of Accounts. The Chart of Accounts lists your school's financial accounts that are connected with your accounts receivable (and any donations you're taking through Populi).

Populi includes a number of built-in accounts. They include some standard asset, income, and liability accounts to help you get going right away. You're free to modify them as necessary and add new accounts...

...except for Accounts Receivable! The built-in A/R account is hardwired into all the relevant transactions in Populi Financial, and you cannot disconnect it from the financial functions in Populi. While you are free to change the A/R account's number and description, there is no need to do anything further. Also, you cannot create additional A/R accounts—they just won't do the job that the built-in account already accomplishes!

Adding an account

Your Chart of Accounts in Populi should include any accounts that affect your school's receivables. This would include liability accounts for financial aid awards, income accounts for special fees or donations, asset accounts for different payment types, and so on.

1. Click Add Account.
2. Enter the account—this can be a number, abbreviation, a nickname...
3. Enter the name; this is the official full name of the account (e.g. Graduate Income, Dorm Fees, Corinne Fox Scholarship, etc.).
4. Select the account type. Your five options are Asset, Income, Liability, Expense, and Equity.
5. Click Save to create the account.

Read more about Accounting.

Next: Set up your tuition schedules...