Skulbase user guide
Bursar and finance guide
For bursars and accountants
Billing the term from fee structures and vote heads, recording payments and receipts, bursaries and waivers, fee reminders, and spending through payment vouchers.
Other guides: Administrator guide · Class teacher guide · Subject teacher guide · Staff guide · Learner guide · Parent guide · Academic leadership guide · Boarding and discipline guide · School nurse guide · Transport guide · Library, stores and HR guide
Chapter 1
Getting started
Bursars and accountants sign in with their own account like everyone else. The administrator then assigns the duty under Settings → Roles & duties, and its pages appear in the menu the next time you open Skulbase. You only see a page if your school has switched its module on and your role or duty uses it. If something here is missing from your menu, ask your administrator.
1.1Who this guide is for
The duties this guide covers, and what each one can do.
- Bursar: fees, billing, expenses and financial reports, including approving vouchers.
- Accountant: records payments and expenses; approvals stay with the bursar or principal.
1.2Activate your account with an invite code
Teachers, staff and learners do not sign up on their own. Your school adds you, and you get a personal invite code (or a link that has the code in it) to set up your login.
Get your code
Your school administrator gives you a six-character invite code, for example A7X3K9, by SMS, WhatsApp, on paper, or as a link. The code only works for your account.
Open the activation page
Tap the link you were sent, or go to skulbase.com, choose Sign in and then “Activate your account”. If you opened a link, the code is already filled in.
Check it is you
Press Continue. Skulbase shows the name the school registered. If it is not you, choose “Not you?” and ask the school for the right code.
Choose how you will sign in
Pick a username (one is suggested for you) and a password of at least 8 characters, or continue with Google. Adding an email address lets you reset your password yourself later.
You are in
You are signed in straight away and land on the home page for your role.
Good to know: Each code can be used once. If yours says it has expired or was already used, ask your administrator to reset your account; they get a fresh code in seconds.
1.3Sign in
Once your account is active, sign in with your email address or username and your password, or with Google if you activated with Google.
Go to the sign-in page
Open skulbase.com and choose Sign in.
Enter your details
Type your email address or username, then your password, and press Sign In. Or press “Sign in with Google”.
Forgot your password?
Choose “Forgot password?”, enter your email address, and type the six-digit code we email you along with a new password. This also works if you have only ever used Google, and afterwards both ways work.
Tip: Save skulbase.com to your phone’s home screen. It opens like an app and remembers you are signed in.
Chapter 2
Billing the term
Billing sets what each learner owes, from vote heads and fee structures, and bills a whole term in one go.
2.1Vote heads
Vote heads are the accounts fees are split into (tuition, exams, boarding, transport and so on). Add each with a name, a short code and an allocation order: payments are allocated to vote heads in that order.
2.2Fee structures
A fee structure is the year’s fees for a class level, for day scholars, boarders or both: an amount for the year per vote head, and the share billed each term (for example 50%, 30% and 20%).
2.3Day scholars and boarders
On “Day & boarding”, mark each learner as a day scholar or a boarder (a whole class at once, or one by one), so they are billed from the right structure.
2.4Bursaries and waivers
Record a bursary, scholarship, waiver or discount for a learner and term: the amount, the sponsor (for example CDF) and a reference. Awards reduce what the learner owes when the term is billed.
Good to know: If you add an award after billing, bill the term again so it is taken off.
2.5Bill the term
On Invoicing, choose the term (and a class, if you like) and press Preview.
Preview
Every learner is listed with the amount from their structure, less any awards. Learners with no structure are skipped and listed so you can fix them.
Bill
Press “Bill term” and confirm. Each learner’s fee record for the term is created or updated on the Fees page.
2.6Vote-head statement and reminders
The vote-head statement shows, for a term, what was billed and collected under each vote head. “Balance reminders” texts the guardians of learners who owe at least an amount you choose.
Chapter 3
Fees and payments
The Fees page is where each learner’s balance lives and where payments are recorded.
3.1Fee records
Choose the term to see what is expected, collected, outstanding and overdue, with a collection progress bar and one row per learner.
- Pay records a payment; the clock icon shows a learner’s payment history with receipts.
- “Batch entry” bills or records payments for a whole class at once.
- “Export” downloads the term as a spreadsheet.
3.2Record a payment
For cash, cheques, bank deposits and M-Pesa messages you receive yourself. Online payments made from the learner’s or parent’s Fees page are recorded automatically.
Press Pay
On the learner’s row.
Enter it
The amount (filled with the balance; change it for a part payment), the date paid, the method and, optionally, who paid and a note.
Save and give a receipt
The balance updates at once and the receipt is in the payment history.
3.3The payments log and unmatched payments
The Payments tab lists every payment, filtered by date, method and status. M-Pesa or bank payments that could not be matched to a learner (for example a wrong account number) appear with a button to assign them.
Chapter 4
Expenses
Every shilling spent goes through a payment voucher, so spending can be tracked by vote head and supplier.
4.1Payment vouchers
The Expenses tab shows totals awaiting approval, approved but unpaid, paid and rejected, and every voucher.
Raise a voucher
Press “Record expense”: what it is for, the amount, date, supplier, vote head, payment method and invoice reference. Staff raise their own under “My requests”.
Approve or reject (bursar, principal)
Use Approve or Reject on each pending voucher.
Pay it
When you pay an approved voucher, press Paid and enter who was paid and the reference (cheque number or M-Pesa code).
4.2Suppliers
The Suppliers tab keeps each supplier’s name, phone, email, KRA PIN and category, so vouchers pick them from a list.
Chapter 5
Getting help
Most questions are answered on the page itself: many pages have a “How to” panel at the bottom. For anything else, these are the places to go.
5.1Where to get help
This guide is always available from Help in the menu, and as a PDF you can download and print.
- Your school administrator can add or reset accounts, fix classes and subjects, and change school settings.
- For problems with Skulbase itself, use the contact page at skulbase.com/contact, or call 0740 129 444.
- When you report a problem, say which page you were on, what you pressed and what you expected. A screenshot helps.