Fundraising plays a vital role in supporting school communities, funding extracurricular activities, resources, and special projects that fall outside core curriculum delivery. However, without clear tracking and reporting processes, it can quickly become difficult to maintain accuracy and transparency in financial reporting. Establishing a structured approach helps schools maintain trust with their community and ensures fundraising income is accurately reflected in financial statements. Best Practices for Tracking Fundraising Income Separate Fundraising from Other Income Streams: Create distinct codes or categories within your accounting system (such as Xero) for each fundraising activity. This helps ensure income and related expenses are clearly matched. Record Income at Source Level: Where possible, track income by event or campaign (e.g. gala, sausage sizzle, online donation drive). This allows schools to assess which activities are most effective. Match Expenses to Fundraising Activities: Include all related costs such as venue hire, materials, or promotional expenses. This provides a true picture of net fundraising performance. Use Consistent Naming Conventions: Standardise naming across all entries (e.g. “2026 PTA Gala” rather than variations like “Gala Night” or “School Gala”). Consistency improves reporting accuracy and reduces errors. Reconcile Regularly: Reconcile fundraising accounts monthly to ensure all income has been received and correctly allocated. This is especially important during busy event periods. Track Online and Cash Donations Separately: Different payment channels require different reconciliation processes. Ensure online platforms, cash collections, and bank transfers are all individually tracked. Reporting Fundraising Results Effectively Clear reporting is just as important as accurate tracking. Schools should aim to provide: Summary reports per campaign (income, expenses, and net result) Year-to-date fundraising totals Comparisons against previous years or targets Breakdown by fundraising type This level of reporting supports better decision-making and helps school leadership understand the true impact of fundraising efforts. How Accounting for Schools Can Help At Accounting for Schools, we can help you build robust financial systems and structured reporting frameworks that make fundraising tracking and reporting simple, accurate, and transparent. With the right systems in place, you’ll gain greater visibility over what’s working, where improvements can be made, and how your fundraising efforts are contributing to your school’s broader goals.

Say goodbye to tab-jumping and constant back-button clicking. Xero’s Quick View panel is here to make bill management significantly faster. With split-screen editing, you can now review, edit, and approve bills without ever losing sight of your main list. How to Use Quick View for Bills: 1. Under Purchases, select Bills 2. Click the View (eye) icon next to any bill to slide open the split-screen panel. 3. Within the Quick View panel, you can: Approve bills quickly with Approve & Next or arrow buttons Edit bill details and line items instantly Check attachments - View the source invoice alongside the data entry. Update supplier info or adjust payment dates Resize the panel or show/hide columns to suit your workflow Next time you’re working through your payables, use Quick View to speed up your workflow and complete your bill processing in record time.