Schools are financial institutions in disguise. Tuition, cafeteria sales, activity fees, donations, bus passes—every dollar that flows through the district creates a liability, an obligation, or earned revenue. Pretending otherwise is how budgets implode, audits go sideways, and community trust evaporates. PushCoin v3 is deliberately opinionated: it treats every school like a business because that’s what keeps the books honest.
This preview introduces the core accounts in PushCoin v3 and shows how they work together before we invite every school to lean into a true business mindset.
The accounts you must understand
Wallet – Your liability to a family. Funds here are spendable; typically cafeteria charges draw from it.
Escrow – A temporary holding area. Money lands here when office needs to decide what happens next (e.g., fee reversal under review, student activity change). Escrow protects balances from being automatically consumed.
Clearing outbound – Staging for money that has left your liability books but has not yet cleared the bank (checks, ACH pushes, refunds back to cards). If a balance lingers here, reconciliation isn’t done.
Receivables – Amount families owe for charges that haven’t been covered yet.
Revenue – Earned funds for charges applied to student accounts.
Payee accounts – track retirees, vendors and coaches you owe money to (PAYABLES, EXPENSES, CLEARING-OUTBOUND). These mirror the family-side accounts so you can reconcile outgoing payments with the same rigor.
How a single sale with a refund flows through the books
- Charge posted – Receivables and revenue increase; you have earned the payment and are waiting to collect it.
- Payment received – Wallet funds or new cash settle the receivable. Revenue remains, now matched by the payment.
- Refund processed – The system records a reversal, parks the dollars in Escrow, and keeps gross revenue visible alongside the reversal entry.
- Decision made – Finance either transfers the dollars to a wallet (for future student spending) or pushes them to clearing outbound for an external payout. When the bank confirms the payout, clearing outbound goes back to zero.
Every step is timestamped and tied to the original transaction. You can answer “where is the money now?” without opening spreadsheets.
Cafeteria example: sales with some refunds
There are two common ways districts handle refunds. In a “shared risk” model (Driver’s Ed is a good example), the vendor’s payout shrinks whenever a student drops—PushCoin records the reversal, reduces the payable, and the provider ultimately bills only for the seats they actually delivered. In a “district absorbs” model (typical for cafeterias under tight service contracts), families still get their refund, but the vendor keeps the full amount; PushCoin logs the reversal for visibility, leaves the vendor payable untouched, and books the refund as a district expense so finance can show both the gross revenue and the courtesy extended to the family and the vendor.
Example 1: Vendor absorbs cafeteria refunds
- Day 1: 100 meals sold worth $500. Receivables rise by $500; revenue records the earned amount.
- Day 2: 20 refunds. The system logs a $100 reversal, moves the dollars to Escrow, and tags them for follow-up—gross revenue still shows $500, reversals show $100.
- Day 3: Finance keeps $50 in Student Wallets for future spending and schedules $50 for an external refund. Clearing outbound holds that $50 until the bank confirms it left.
Café report covering previous 3 days:
- $500 in gross revenue,
- $100 in reversals,
- $50 waiting in wallets,
- $50 pending payout.
The cafeteria vendor’s bill is $400—exactly what they earned under this model.
Example 2: School absorbs cafeteria refunds
- Day 1: 100 meals sold worth $500. Receivables rise by $500; revenue records the earned amount.
- Day 2: 20 refunds. The system logs a $100 reversal but keeps the vendor payable at $500. PushCoin moves the dollars into Escrow and records a “Cafeteria Refund Expense” because the district, not the vendor, is covering the goodwill.
- Day 3: Finance keeps $50 in student Wallets for future spending and schedules $50 for an external refund. Clearing outbound holds that $50 until the bank confirms it left.
Three-day café snapshot:
- $500 gross revenue
- $100 reversals
- $50 waiting in wallets
- $50 pending payout
- $100 refund expense showing the school’s contribution.
The vendor still receives the full $500, and the books clearly show who paid for the courtesy to families.
Why the detail matters
- Families expect refunds and reallocations to be honored. Escrow and wallet tracking prove it with confidence.
- Vendors appreciate fair, timely payments. Payee accounts show exactly when a disbursement should happen—and when it should pause.
- Auditors love clean reconciliation stories. Clearing accounts highlight the few items that still need attention.
- Business office celebrates clarity. Tagged reports (e.g., everything labeled Cafe) surface gross sales, refunds, and reallocations without manual tracing.
Moving forward
PushCoin v3 gives you a clear map of every dollar so you can lead with intention. With that business mindset, you can answer:
- Where did the money come from?
- Where is it parked right now—wallet, escrow, clearing, revenue, or payable?
- Who will benefit from it next: a student, a family, a vendor, or a program?
- What changed since last week or last month—and what can we learn from it?
Run your school like a business. Your community, vendors, and audit partners will notice the confidence—and your office will have clear answers ready whenever the next question comes.