One bank account for the school fund

How a South African public school keeps fees, fundraising and donations in its one school fund bank account and still reports each to the SGB.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Education businesses in South Africa

The Grade 12 farewell committee wants its own bank account so parents can see where the dance money goes. The sports club wants one for tour deposits. A generous former pupil would like the library donation kept "separate" from everything else. Each request sounds reasonable, and each would leave the school with another account that the governing body cannot easily see.

For a South African public school, the answer is set out clearly by the Department of Basic Education (DBE): one school fund, one bank account. The challenge is to honour that rule and still give the governing body, the fundraising committees and donors a clear view of each stream of money. That is a bookkeeping problem, and it has a bookkeeping answer.

What makes up the school fund

The DBE describes the school fund as made up of school fees, fundraising money and donations. Those three streams have different sources and often different expectations attached:

• School fees are charged by the SGB. The DBE notes that, under the South African Schools Act, every public school governing body must add to government funding through school fees and other reasonable fundraising, except at schools declared "no fee schools".
• Fundraising covers the money committees and the school raise: the fun day, the raffle, the tour fund.
• Donations come from parents, alumni, businesses and others, sometimes with a stated purpose.

There is also a fourth category the DBE mentions: voluntary contributions. Any parent, including an exempted parent, may contribute in money, in kind or in services.

One bank account and no more

The DBE says the school fund must be kept and managed in one bank account, and that no public school should have more than one account. The DBE's school fees and exemption page sets out that rule alongside the rules on charging fees and on exemptions.

So the farewell committee, the sports club and the library donor all deposit into the same account. That is not a loss of control; it is the opposite. Money in side accounts is money the SGB cannot see in its monthly figures and the auditor has to chase separately. The task is to make the single account readable, not to split it.

Separate income accounts in the books

The separation the committees want can be achieved in the ledger rather than at the bank. In Achekam, each business has its own double-entry ledger with a standard chart of accounts created when the books first open, and accounts can be added, renamed or switched off. For a school, add income accounts that mirror the school fund's streams:

When the farewell committee asks what it raised, the answer is the balance on its income account. When the library donor asks what happened to the donation, the designated donations account and the related spending show it. Switch accounts off when an event or project ends, so nobody posts to them by mistake.

Reconciling the one account every month

With everything in one account, the bank reconciliation becomes the single most important control over the school fund. In Achekam, a business imports bank statements as PDF, CSV, Excel, OFX, QIF, MT940 or CAMT.053, and each import is checked so that the opening balance plus movements equals the closing balance. Where the workspace has an AI model configured, it can read scanned or unrecognised PDFs, and every amount must appear on the page.

Bank lines are then matched by suggestion, with a person accepting each match. A deposit not yet in the books becomes a suggested journal a person approves, which is the moment to choose the right income account: a raffle deposit goes to fundraising, not to fees. A reconciliation completes only when the difference is nil or every leftover line is explained.

Ask each committee to deposit with a clear reference, such as "RAFFLE" or "TOUR", so the bursary can allocate deposits without guessing.

The Fees Committee's report and the SGB's monthly pack

The DBE encourages each public school to set up a School Fees Committee, chaired by an SGB member, to collect fees, report fee income to the SGB and help parents apply for exemptions. The committee's report is one part of the monthly pack; the school fund as a whole is the rest.

Management accounts in Achekam show an income statement for a chosen period beside the period before, and a balance sheet at period end, both added up from the school's own journals and exportable as PDF or CSV. The year-to-date preset starts on 1 January, which suits a school year that begins then. A monthly pack for the SGB can then contain:

1. the bank reconciliation, signed by the preparer and a reviewer;
2. the income statement, showing fees, each fundraising stream and donations on separate lines;
3. the Fees Committee's report on collections and exemptions;
4. the school's cash position before the next term, as covered in cash position before term.

Voluntary contributions in money, in kind or in services

Money contributions go into the one account and the voluntary contributions income account. Contributions in kind, such as paint for a classroom, and in services, such as a parent who is an electrician rewiring the hall, do not pass through the bank at all. Keep a simple register of them, with what was given, by whom and roughly when, and agree with the school's auditor whether and how they are reflected in the financial statements. Sales at a tuck shop or uniform shop raise their own questions, discussed in running the uniform and tuck shop till.

If the school has more than one bank account today, list each one, what it is used for and who signs on it, and put a plan to close the extras on the next SGB agenda.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.