Accounting has come a long way since traders in Mesopotamia wrote down long lists to track their day’s bartering. We are now empowered with advanced digital double-entry accounting software to reconcile global transactions en masse.

Both ancient traders and finance professionals alike had the same aim, however: to make sure they kept accurate accounts. And, even with sophisticated modern software, reconciling accounts can be a tough, monotonous task.

For educational institutions, when all their payments come in big waves, it can be a particularly fraught experience. Errors in fee processing can lead to financial discrepancies, affecting both the institution's operations and the student's satisfaction.

Reducing those issues can positively impact an institution's bottom line while also improving the payer's experience.  

So how can financial professionals make reconciliation easier when processing student fees?

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4 strategies to make reconciliation easier for education institutes

Here are four practical strategies that can make this process a lot smoother. All while ensuring accuracy and efficiency in the new world of automated reconciliation.

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1. Implement Automated Fee Management Systems

Educational institutions can use automated systems developed by fintechs to handle fee collection, billing, and reconciliation complexities. Adopting these technologies streamlines the reconciliation process and offers significant advantages over traditional methods.

These systems consolidate all the information in one platform, providing a single, reliable source of truth. Administrators can instantly access up-to-date financial information and access real-time tracking of payments and outstanding balances. As a result, students get the correct information, so they don’t have to contact the institute with questions about their payment.

One of the most significant advantages of these automated systems is their ability to reduce human errors. The tedious task of manual data entry, often a breeding ground for mistakes, is eliminated. This not only prevents financial discrepancies and administrative headaches but also ensures the integrity of your financial records.  

“We’ve probably knocked 20 to 30% off the amount of time that we would normally have spent chasing up those things”. – Rowland Crawte, Director of Administration, American College Dublin

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2. Standardize Payment Channels

When you have disconnected systems, disconnected reconciliation is almost inevitable.  

Standardizing payment methods and channels is crucial for simplifying the reconciliation process in educational institutions. When payments are funneled through consistent and limited channels, the complexities of managing multiple systems and formats significantly decrease; enhancing the efficiency of financial operations.

At the same time, universities need to offer multiple payment methods to their students and parents.  

The answer here is to use platforms and partners that can automatically funnel these disconnected payment methods and providers into a single system.  

By consolidating payment processors, institutions can streamline these processes, making tracking transactions and reconciling accounts easier without cross-referencing multiple reports and systems.

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3. Standardized, live reporting and reference numbers

Spreadsheets. They are at the centre of so much of the manual work done by financial professionals and can become massive black holes of data that can’t be distilled to reportable information. These reams of columns and rows aren’t easily searchable. Making referencing student payments a pain, especially in the helms of a busy payment season.  

Modern fintechs have figured out smarter, automated systems to keep track of this sea of tedium.  

By using webhooks (essentially an automated way of sending messages between systems), payment data is reported live to a central database with live information displayed in real-time.  

Coupled with this, the dashboard acts as a sole source of truth. Each payment is given unique and unified reference numbers, making payment tracking through the entire process much more manageable. They create a streamlined environment for finance professionals and highlight errors or delays in processing. Gone are the days of a student pressing send and hoping their payment reaches its destination.

In fact, this standardised automated system allows for complete oversight of tracking, and easier referencing for any cases of refunds.

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4. Giving students the right information  

Communication in the modern world is as easily accessible as ever. Social platforms, email, phone, and live chats all facilitate free and open information, making it easier to converse with students regarding fee structures, payment deadlines, and policies easier.

Make no mistake, this communication plays a crucial role in the reconciliation process for educational institutions. Institutions can ensure students are well-informed about their financial obligations and be as clear and transparent as possible with the feed and foreign exchange (FX) rates.

Disputes that have long complicated reconciliation can be minimized by providing detailed billing statements that break down the costs associated with student fees.  

When students understand what they owe, when it is due, and why certain charges are applied, they are more likely to make payments promptly. Systems that automatically build in live FX rates for accurate currency-to-currency payments make this even easier for institutions to action.

Using fintech solutions, these statements can be automatically generated and linked to the software's back-end, with the front-end displaying details such as due dates, payment methods, live FX rates, and transparent transfer fee information. Priming the payer to act sooner, rather than later.

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We’ve come a long way

A great reconciliation process, with the right tools to implement it, can make the life of financial professionals in educational institutions a whole lot easier. Even in our more developed world, with complex systems, we can create financial processes that the Mesopotamians would envy (and be able to use).

Contact TransferMate today to improve how you reconcile your international student payments.