Dear Proprietor and Proprietress,

This post is going to be a long read, but if you can read to the end, you will discover one of the reasons why your school's profit is decreasing and what you need to do to increase it.

You will agree with me that one of the things you want as a private school owner is an increase in profit.

Now let me shock you.

For your school's profit to increase, you need to do something that you know but have been avoiding or possibly doing in a wrong way.

Wondering what that is?

Tracking your monthly expenses.

This is the one thing you have been avoiding or possibly doing in a wrong way.

But wait, what is the meaning of a school expense, and how do you track it so that your school's profit can increase?

Continue reading.

Expenses are outflows of money.

As a private school owner, any money your school spends to generate sales and run the school is known as expenses.

The fuel your school buys to power the generator in your office area or classrooms is an expense.

The electricity bill your school pays to provide light in classes and offices is an expense.

The salaries your school pays its staff are expenses.

The recharge card your school buys to call parents of students is an expense, etc.

Your failure to track and record these expenses will always decrease your school's profit.

Now that you know what an expense is, the next thing you should start doing so that your school's profit can increase is to start tracking or recording these expenses.

Let me tell you some important things to take note of when recording any expense for your school:

1. The first thing you need to note is your school expense category.

As a private school owner, for any expense you record, you must categorize them properly.

You categorize by asking yourself the things that your school spends money on.

Examples of school expense categories are:

- Staff salaries and wages
- Transportation
- Security
- Licenses and permits
- Electricity
- Repair and maintenance
- Telephone
- Diesel and fuel

The simple reason why you are categorizing them is so that you can always know which of these expense categories is taking money out of your school the most. When you know the category that is taking money out of your school the most monthly, it helps you make better decisions.

2. Whenever you want to record an expense for your school, always take note of where the money was spent from.

Instead of writing, "I bought fuel 500 naira," clearly state out where the money was spent from.

An example is this:

"I withdrew 5000 from Zenith Bank Card and bought fuel 1000.

Or

"I bought fuel 1000 out of the 5000 cash I withdrew from Zenith Bank Card.

The reason why you are doing this is to know where the money is being spent from.

Imagine you withdraw money from your personal bank account to fuel the generator in your school.

This is why it's necessary to open a separate bank account for your school.

Doing it this way will tell you that your school is owing you and it needs to refund you your money. A lot of small-sized private school owners do not do this, and they don't know it's hurting their profit, so do yourself a favor by doing the right thing.

As a private school owner, you should always record the amount of your personal money that you use to fund your school so that your school will refund your money. When you do this, it helps you to know whether you are gaining or losing.

3. Whenever you want to record an expense for your school, always take note of all elements relating to the spending.

Instead of writing "I gave the Electrician 2000," clearly state out:

- The date
- Reason for the expense
- Name of the person you paid
- Amount of money you paid.

4. Whenever you want to record an expense for your school, always test for completeness and reasonability.

So why do you need to test for completeness?

Very simple.

There are instances you might forget what you spend on your school a day.

How do you test for completeness?

Go to your bank and ask for a bank statement, check line by line for every money that left your school account and make sure you record them.

A lot of private school owners don't do this; it is the one they remember they record while some don't even record at all. This should not be your case if you want an increase in your school's profit.

How do you test for reasonability?

Let's say you normally spend 1000 on fuel a day, then coming the next day, your staff records 5000 for just a day when you are not around.

As a private school owner, this is where you need to test for reasonability because if you don't do it, your school's cost will continue to increase and your profit will decrease.

You might want to ask, "Femi, you said in order for my school profit to increase, I need to track and record my school expenses. Where do I record these expenses?"

Here's my response:

Use a financial management tool.

Wondering what the meaning is?

Let me explain.

A financial management tool helps you keep track of all the money that comes in (like fees) and goes out (like paying teachers or buying books) in your school.

But here is the twist:

There are different kinds of financial management tools out there. How then do you know the one your school should be using?

Any financial management tool you want to choose for your school must have the following characteristics:

1. Cloud-based

Before you choose a financial management tool for your school, always check or ask whether it is cloud-based.

You know why?

When your school has its financial records in a cloud-based tool, all your school financial records are 100% safe and secured. This means that your school financial records can never get missing and it can be saved for years.

Another reason is this:

Let's say you travel, and you forget your phone or laptop at home, will you be able to access your Facebook account? I am sure your answer is yes, and that is exactly how a financial management tool that is cloud-based works.

A financial management tool that is cloud-based is just like your Facebook and Instagram account that you can access with your phone and internet connection.

2. Affordability

Any financial management tool your school chooses should be something that is affordable.

If the number of students or pupils in your school is between 50 - 100 students, then you shouldn't be using an expensive tool; rather, something affordable.

3. Debtor and Non-Debtor tracking

Do not go for any financial management tool that cannot track the list of students who are owing, the amount, and also those who have paid.

4. Receipt Creator

Any financial management tool your school should go for must be able to create a receipt for parents after payment.

5. Bill Creator

Instead of using a paper bill that your school gives parents, you should be able to create a bill that carries the logo of your school on any financial management tool you choose. This is really necessary.

6. Expense Category Tracker

The financial management tool must be able to track the things taking money out mostly in your school so that your school will know where to cut down costs in order for increased profit.

7. Income (Sales) Tracker

There's no meaning in having a financial management tool when you can't see how much money is coming in and how much money is going out. This is very important, so take note of it when looking out for a financial management tool for your school.

8. Report Generator

This is one of the most important things you must check when looking out for a financial management tool for your school.

A financial management tool with a report generator will give you clear and detailed summaries of where your school's money comes from and how it's spent.

This will help you make smart decisions about budgets, see if you are sticking to your plans, and understand if any changes are needed.

You can even send this report to an organization that wants to assist your school with money so they can see how your school's money is being managed. This means that you don't need to print it out. Inside the tool, you can send a copy.

9. Look and feel

Ensure the financial management tool is simple to understand with clear pictures and buttons.

It should show money information in graphs and charts that are easy to see.

The tool should also work well on computers and phones and be easy to use without needing lots of help.

So where can you get a financial management tool with these characteristics?

You don't have to worry about this because there's a new all-in-one financial management tool that has all the aforementioned characteristics.

The all-in-one financial management cloud software is SIMPLE, ACCESSIBLE, CHEAP, RELIABLE, SAFE, and SECURE.

With this cloud technology software, your school financial records can never get missing and you can access all your school financial records at any place and time.

You can access the cloud technology software by using your school email address and password.

The tools you need to access the cloud technology software are:

- Internet Connection
- Laptop or phone

After you have logged in, you will need to do some compulsory setup which I am going to help you do.

After setting up, you can now start using the cloud technology software for your school.

One more thing, this all-in-one financial management software does not only help your school record expenses alone. You can use it for amazing things which are:

✅ You can see the number of students or pupils and the amount they are owing so that your school will know where its money is hanging and this will enable you to follow up with parents until they pay.

✅ You can create a customized electronic receipt and bill that carries the logo of your school and it can be sent to each parent on WhatsApp.

The way it works is that once the bill has been created, all you need to do is just send a link to each parent on WhatsApp, and when they click the link, their child's bill will open.

This will save your staff the stress of typing or writing bills for each student. The time they use in doing this can also be used for another thing that adds to the growth of your school.

This will also save your school the cost of buying A4 paper, and when this happens the profits you make from your school increases.

✅ You can see the things taking money out of your school the most, so that you will know how to adjust your spending and when you do this, the profits you make increase.

✅ You can see the lists of students who are not owing.

✅ You can save parents' contact details (name, email, phone number, address, etc.) neatly and organize in the cloud so that you can always have access to it instead of writing them in a book or Microsoft Excel and the book gets missing or the computer gets spoiled.

When you have parents' contact details in a safe and secured place, you can easily pass information to them on time, and build more relationships with them.

✅ You can see the total amount of money (revenue) that your school makes in a term.

✅ You can see your school profit in a term.

The way this works is that as you are recording student payments and your school expenses in the software, the software is also doing the plus and minus for you, so in just one click you can see your school profit. This alone will save you the stress of doing calculations that you can even make mistakes.

✅ You can generate reports.

✅ The software has the ability to automatically create a portal for all parents so that they can view how much their child is owing and all the money they have paid for their child.

This means that all parents will have their own login details to their portal. This alone will make your school stand out among others and it will increase the value and reputation of your school.

✅ Lastly, one of your staff can also use the software but based on the role you assign them. This means you can restrict their access to some extent. I believe these sets of staff are those in charge of record keeping of your school.

The cloud technology software has a paid version and a free version.

If the number of students in your school is not more than 200, the free version of the software will work perfectly for your school.

However, as your school population increases, you will need to upgrade to the paid version.

The paid version of the software starts from 27,000 per year depending on the specific task you want to use the software for.

27,000 a year is just 2,250 per month.

You will agree with me that this is ridiculously cheap compared to everything your school will benefit from this software.

I have trained and helped over 10 schools set up this all-in-one financial management tool in my 3 months of establishing my personal brand.

Would you like to see a video demonstration of how this tool works? The video is 100% free.

If yes, check my profile and you will see my WhatsApp contact.



Till I ✍️ again,

© Adeleke Femi David