First-week Finance learning checklist
This checklist helps a new Finance user learn the domain without experimenting on live transactions or receiving excessive access.
Audience: new bursars, cashiers, accountants, administrators, reviewers and support analysts
Learning time: five guided sessions
Owner: line manager and Finance process owner
Use a safe environment
Complete practice in an approved sandbox or with read-only production access. Do not create, cancel, refund, reverse, reconcile or post live records merely to learn the interface.
Week outcome
By the end of the week, the learner should be able to:
- describe the Finance object model in plain language;
- find the correct workspace;
- identify exact permissions needed for assigned duties;
- trace one transaction from source to evidence;
- recognise controlled and irreversible actions;
- collect a useful support evidence pack.
Day 1 — Learn the language
Read:
Complete:
- Explain fee structure, invoice, payment, allocation, receipt and journal entry without using the word “transaction” as the definition.
- Explain why a receipt is not bank settlement evidence.
- Explain the difference between a credit note and a refund.
- Identify the selected tenant and school in the application.
- Record the learner’s assigned responsibilities.
Manager verification: ask the learner to trace the Mupfure USD 300 example verbally.
Day 2 — Learn the workspace map
Read:
Complete:
- Find each workspace family visible to the learner.
- Record which families are hidden.
- Match three visible pages to their
resource:actionnavigation checks. - Confirm that hidden pages are intentionally restricted or not configured.
- Identify the correct workspace for billing, collections, accounting, statements, controls and audit.
Control: do not grant access simply to make the learner’s menu match another user’s menu.
Day 3 — Learn states and evidence
Read:
Using an existing safe example, identify:
- object identifier or number;
- current status;
- amount and currency;
- actor and timestamp;
- approval evidence;
- verification evidence;
- posting or journal evidence;
- reconciliation evidence;
- cancellation, refund or reversal evidence if applicable.
Manager verification: the learner must say “not applicable” or “not yet completed” rather than inventing missing evidence.
Day 4 — Learn access and separation
Read:
Complete:
- List the exact abilities required for assigned work.
- Identify who requests, creates, reviews, approves, posts and reconciles.
- Identify at least one action the learner must not approve or certify themselves.
- Confirm school scope and currency responsibilities.
- Confirm who owns exchange-rate and period decisions.
- Confirm escalation for closed periods or unsupported currencies.
Day 5 — Prove readiness
The learner completes a verbal or sandbox walkthrough:
Readiness rubric
| Area | Not ready | Ready |
|---|---|---|
| Terminology | confuses payment, receipt, invoice and journal | defines each object correctly |
| Navigation | searches randomly or relies on another user’s menu | selects the correct workspace and understands hidden routes |
| Permissions | asks for “Finance access” or administrator | names exact resource:action abilities |
| Controls | treats approve, verify, post and reconcile as the same | explains each control separately |
| Currency and scope | ignores school or currency context | confirms tenant, school, amount, currency and rate basis |
| Evidence | relies on a toast or screenshot | verifies status, balances, actor, reference and downstream evidence |
| Recovery | edits or repeats blindly | stops, preserves evidence and follows the safe recovery path |
A learner is ready only when every row is in the Ready state for their assigned duties.
Role-specific sign-off
Cashier
- Can distinguish capture, allocation, receipt, verification and reconciliation.
- Knows not to collect again while a provider attempt may still complete.
- Knows who verifies and who reconciles.
- Can identify the exact payment and receipt permissions assigned.
Bursar
- Can explain the end-to-end domain.
- Can review billing and collections without bypassing accounting controls.
- Can identify outstanding configuration or approval dependencies.
- Can define the daily review evidence expected from cashiers.
Accountant
- Can explain the internal GL and journal source traceability.
- Knows that posted history is reversed with an offsetting entry.
- Can distinguish ledger exports from the source ledger.
- Can identify statement date and currency parameters.
Administrator
- Can support tenant, school, user and permission setup.
- Does not assign wildcard access to solve a route problem.
- Can identify which configuration belongs to Finance owners.
- Preserves independent approval and certification.
Reviewer or auditor
- Can trace actor, source, state and downstream evidence.
- Does not change the record under review.
- Can identify missing approval or reconciliation evidence.
- Understands the difference between product evidence and external policy evidence.
Support evidence template
Copy this structure into a support case:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Tenant | |
| School | |
| User and role labels | |
| Effective permission | |
| Application route | |
| Object type and ID/number | |
| Current status | |
| Amount and currency | |
| Date/time and timezone | |
| Request ID | |
| Provider or bank reference | |
| Journal source/entry | |
| Reconciliation batch/line | |
| Expected result | |
| Actual result | |
| Safe actions already attempted |
Final knowledge check
- Why should onboarding use a sandbox?
- Which is more precise: “Finance access” or
financial_payment:create? - What evidence proves a payment was reconciled?
- Why should the creator not certify the same controlled state?
- What should a learner do when the documentation does not support the intended action?
Answer guide
- To avoid uncontrolled live transactions and irreversible corrections.
- The exact ability.
- Reconciliation status and its linked bank/batch evidence—not the receipt alone.
- Independent review protects against error and abuse.
- Stop, preserve evidence and escalate the gap rather than infer the procedure.