Choose your Finance learning path

A learning path is an ordered set of lessons matched to the work you perform. It prevents a cashier from being buried in implementation material and prevents an accountant from learning only the front-desk screens.

Audience: every Finance learner
Learning time: 10 minutes
Owner: Finance documentation owner

Learning outcomes

You will be able to:

• select the path that matches your responsibilities;
• identify lessons that are mandatory before controlled work;
• understand where your responsibility ends and another role begins;
• use the curriculum without treating a job title as automatic authority.

Start with responsibility, not title

Schools use different titles. A “bursar” in one school may collect cash, configure fees and close the period; in another school those duties are separated.

Choose a path by answering:

1. What records do you create or change?
2. Do you receive or safeguard money?
3. Do you approve another person’s work?
4. Do you post or review accounting entries?
5. Do you reconcile bank or provider activity?
6. Do you configure access, providers, accounts or controls?
7. Do you review evidence without performing transactions?

Permission truth

A path describes competence. It does not grant access. Makronexus evaluates permissions such as financial_payment:create, financial_invoice:approve, or gl_journal_entry:reverse.

Path selector

Path 1 — Bursar or Finance manager

Outcome: understand and govern the full school Finance operation.

Read in this order:

1. Finance in plain language
2. Glossary
3. Domain map
4. Core objects and relationships
5. Navigation and workspaces
6. Transaction lifecycle
7. Accounting model
8. Roles, permissions and segregation
9. Dates, periods and currencies
10. First-week checklist

Later phases add configuration, billing, collections, accounting operations, reconciliation, reporting, playbooks and implementation.

Path 2 — Cashier or front-desk collector

Outcome: collect safely, preserve evidence and recognise when to stop.

Mandatory foundations:

1. Finance in plain language
2. Core objects and relationships
3. Transaction lifecycle
4. Roles, permissions and segregation
5. Dates, periods and currencies

Key control concepts:

• a payment and a receipt are different records;
• verification and reconciliation are later controls;
• an existing pending provider attempt must be checked before collecting again;
• reconciled or refunded payments have restricted maintenance;
• cancellation, refund and reversal are not synonyms.

The detailed collection procedures arrive in P4.

Path 3 — Accountant

Outcome: trace operational events into journals, ledgers, statements and controlled close.

Read:

1. Domain map
2. Core objects and relationships
3. Transaction lifecycle
4. Accounting model
5. Dates, periods and currencies
6. Roles, permissions and segregation
7. Navigation and workspaces

The internal General Ledger is the accounting source. Ledger exports package evidence; they are not the primary ledger.

Path 4 — Credit controller

Outcome: understand obligations, balances, ageing, adjustments and collection follow-up.

Read:

1. Finance in plain language
2. Glossary
3. Core objects and relationships
4. Transaction lifecycle
5. Roles, permissions and segregation

Then continue with P3 Billing and P7 Reporting when published.

Path 5 — School administrator

Outcome: configure access and dependencies without silently taking over controlled Finance duties.

Read:

1. Navigation and workspaces
2. Domain map
3. Roles, permissions and segregation
4. Dates, periods and currencies
5. First-week checklist

The administrator should be able to support school context, user access and configuration readiness while preserving maker-checker separation.

Path 6 — School owner, principal or board reviewer

Outcome: interpret responsibility, control coverage, cash exposure and reporting evidence.

Read:

1. Finance in plain language
2. Domain map
3. Accounting model
4. Roles, permissions and segregation
5. Transaction lifecycle

Later continue with reporting, governance and audit.

Path 7 — Auditor or assurance reviewer

Outcome: trace an event without changing it.

Read:

1. Glossary
2. Core objects and relationships
3. Transaction lifecycle
4. Accounting model
5. Roles, permissions and segregation
6. Dates, periods and currencies

Focus on actor, timestamp, source record, status, approval history, journal source, reversal evidence and reconciliation references.

Path 8 — Implementer or partner

Outcome: configure and launch a school from verified dependencies.

Complete every P1 lesson. P2 and P10 will add:

• readiness and dependency order;
• accounting books and chart of accounts;
• fee, provider, bank and template configuration;
• migration and opening balances;
• testing, cutover, rollback and hypercare;
• country and provider verification.

Path 9 — Support analyst

Outcome: reproduce a Finance problem and collect useful evidence without making the situation worse.

Complete:

1. Navigation and workspaces
2. Glossary
3. Core objects and relationships
4. Transaction lifecycle
5. Dates, periods and currencies

Record the school, user, route, object identifier, status, amount, currency, timestamp, request ID, provider reference, journal source and reconciliation reference when applicable.

Competence matrix

Capability	Cashier	Bursar	Accountant	Admin	Auditor	Implementer
Explain core objects	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required
Record or allocate collections	Primary	Oversight	Review	Support only	No	Test
Configure fees and billing	No	Primary	Review mappings	Support	Review	Primary
Post or reverse journals	No	Govern	Primary	Access support	Review	Test
Reconcile bank activity	Evidence	Oversight	Primary	Support	Review	Test
Approve controlled requests	Only if assigned	Common	Common	Configuration only	Independent review	Test
Maintain access	No	Request	Request	Primary	Review	Configure
Certify own work	No	No	No	No	No	No

“Primary” still requires the exact permission and a valid school context.

Practice

Choose one recent Finance task from your job. Write:

• the object you change;
• the exact action;
• the evidence produced;
• the person who reviews it;
• the action you must not approve yourself.

Use Roles, permissions and segregation to check your answer.