In this tutorial we’re going to cover account balances in Tapestry’s Management System — the running balance each child’s account carries as invoices are raised and payments come in. We’ll look at the Account Balances screen, a child’s individual transaction history, and how to show balances on the invoices you send out.
The Account Balances screen
To start, click Management System in the menu on the left of your screen, then Finance, then Account Balances.
The Balance column shows each child’s current account balance — anything outstanding shows in orange, while a zero or positive balance shows in green. Alongside it, Last Invoice shows when the child’s most recent invoice was generated and for how much, and Last Payment shows the most recent payment received. You can search for a particular child, narrow the list to a single room, include inactive children, and send payment reminders from here too.
The Status dropdown filters the list to just the accounts that are In Debt or In Credit — handy for a quick end-of-month check of who has an amount outstanding.
A child's individual balance
Click any child in the list to open their profile on its Finance tab. At the top you’ll see the Account Balance card with the child’s current balance, and a Send Reminder button underneath if something is outstanding.
Scroll down and you’ll find the Transactions list — the child’s ledger: invoices appear as amounts owed and payments as amounts received, with a running balance alongside. The Invoices tab next to it lists every invoice generated for the child.
Please note, you can reach the same Finance tab from Management System › Children as well — search for the child and open their profile, then choose Finance.
Showing balances on invoices
If you’d like the invoices you send to show each child’s balance as well, head to Management System › Config › Invoices and find the Balance Brought Forward panel. Ticking Show the child’s balance brought forward and total now due adds the child’s balance at the time the invoice was created on its own line, and factors it into the total now due — there’s a Show Example link so you can see exactly how it will look.
And that’s it! You now know where to see every child’s account balance at a glance, how to dig into an individual child’s transactions, and how to show balances on your invoices.