Finance: balances, the ledger, and billing

The ledger (balances, payments, credits, event deposits and balances, and Upcoming charges) comes with events on the Barn plan and up. A barn on Stable takes no money through 1barn, so it has no Finance tabs or Payments settings; they appear when the barn moves to Barn. Billing your boarders (lesson billing, cards on file, the monthly run) is in early access and coming on the Program plan; barns that 1barn set up have it switched on.

Who can see it

Finance is for the owner, and for managers the owner gives the Finance permission under Settings → Managers. Balances are the most sensitive thing at a barn, and “staff” includes part-time help, so Finance appears in the menu for them and nowhere else, and on an event other staff see only a Paid or Balance due chip. Staff can still set how a customer pays from the person's page, and a customer sees their own account and their family's, never anyone else's.

The balances page

Finance lists every customer with something on their account, biggest amount owing first, with the total owing and the total in credit at the top. Accounts at zero are tucked away; Show settled brings them back and Hide settled puts them away again. Click a name to open their account.

An account and its ledger

The account page is the customer's balance, a form for recording something new, and the ledger underneath: newest first, each row with its date, what it was, a note, the method and reference for money that moved, and the balance after that entry. The balance column answers the question anyone actually asks of a statement: what did they owe after this?

Recording a charge, payment, credit, or refund

1. Pick the kind. Charge / fee adds to what they owe. Payment received is cash or a check in hand and reduces it. Credit also reduces it, and needs a note saying why. Refund is money going back out.
2. Enter the amount as a positive number; the kind decides which way it goes. Set the date if it wasn't today.
3. For a payment or refund, choose the method (cash, check, stripe, other) and add the check number or reference. Charges and credits don't ask, because there's nothing to put there.
4. Click Record.

Fixing a mistake

A ledger isn't edited, because the balance someone was shown last month should still add up next year. Instead, an entry is adjusted: a reversing entry cancels the original, a corrected one takes its place with the new amount, note, or date, and both point back at what they replaced. Ask the assistant to adjust an entry and say why; the reason lands in the reversing entry's note. An entry that was already adjusted can't be adjusted again; adjust the corrected one. For a typo made moments ago, Remove on the ledger row deletes it outright, so use it for slips, not history.

Lesson billing

Settings → Lesson billing is where lessons turn into ledger entries. Pick one policy: Per lesson, when taught charges each student the lesson's price when it's marked taught; Per lesson, when booked charges when it goes on the calendar; Monthly is a flat amount per student per month, posted when you say; By hand posts nothing. Set the Usual lesson price so new lessons start with the right number, and under Monthly the Monthly amount, $ per student. Nothing is ever charged twice: a lesson marked taught twice, or a month posted twice, charges once.

When a lesson is cancelled

Also on Settings → Lesson billing, When a lesson is cancelled says whether the family is credited back. Credit the family back, the setting to begin with, credits every cancellation, as 1barn always has. Credit only when cancelled more than 24 hours ahead (set the hours) credits a family's cancellation made in good time and keeps the charge for a later one or a no-show. Keep the charge suits a monthly subscription, where a skipped week isn't refunded. Whatever you choose, a cancellation on the barn's side (weather, a horse, an instructor) is always credited.

Staff say why when they cancel, and the lesson records Charge kept or Credited. A charge kept under Per lesson, when taught is posted when the lesson is cancelled, since it will never be marked taught; under Per lesson, when booked the charge simply stays. Under Monthly, a cancellation that keeps its charge counts as a lesson that month. The ledger says why: "No-show — charge kept per barn policy: Lesson Mar 2", or "Cancelled by the barn: Lesson Mar 2" on a credit. As the owner you can switch any cancelled lesson between the two on its page; the charge is posted or credited once, however often it's switched. Switching doesn't touch a month already posted. Families see the result on their ledger as before.

Posting a month

Under the Monthly policy, choose the month beside Post this month and click it. Every student who had a lesson on the calendar that month, cancelled ones aside unless the cancellation kept its charge, gets one charge for the flat amount, dated the first of the month and labeled with the month. Posting again reports what was already there and charges nobody new. On the first of each month, 1barn posts the month just finished for you at 8am barn time.

Connecting Stripe

Cards on file and event payments both run through your own Stripe account. In Settings → Payments, click Connect with Stripe and finish on Stripe's side; you can open a new Stripe account during that step. Money goes straight to you, and payouts, refunds, and receipts live in your Stripe dashboard. 1barn adds a 1.2% fee to the card and bank payments it processes for your barn, on top of Stripe's own processing fee. It comes out of your Stripe payouts, never your customers' bills, and it's refunded in proportion whenever you refund a payment. Disconnect Stripe stops payments until you reconnect and leaves your Stripe account untouched.

How a customer pays

On a person's page, the Billing card says how they pay: by check, by bank transfer, or by card. Check and plain bank transfer mean you record payments as they arrive. Card, or bank transfer with through Stripe ticked, means 1barn charges what they owe automatically. For those, Link to save a payment method makes a Stripe-hosted page you send them; nothing is typed into 1barn, and once saved the card shows as a label like “Visa ·4242”. Link to replace what's on file does the same for a new card.

The monthly run and charging a card

At 8am on the first of the month, barn time, everyone with a method on file is charged their balance owed. Someone who owes nothing is skipped. Each success lands on the ledger as a payment with the Stripe reference, once, so a webhook arriving later never doubles it. A decline or an expired card is written on the person's Billing card as Last charge failed, with Stripe's reason, and clears the next time a charge goes through. The owner can also click Charge what's owed now on a person's page at any time, or ask the assistant to run the monthly charge for everyone.

Taking a card in person (1barn Pay)

1barn Pay is a separate app for taking cards at the barn with a Stripe M2 card reader: the farrier's visit at the cross-ties, a bag of shavings, a lesson paid on the spot. It charges through the barn's own Stripe account, like online payments, and an account payment lands on that person's ledger.

To turn it on, go to Settings → Payments → In person (Stripe has to be connected first). Check Take card payments with 1barn Pay, give the Reader location's address, choose Who can take payments (the owner and managers, and any staff you allow), and add any Items for sale with their prices. Then pair each phone or iPad under Paired devices with its QR code or pairing code. A reader joins the barn the first time it connects in 1barn Pay.

In the app, a charge is any amount, an account payment (pick the person and see their balance), or items from the barn's list. Receipts go by email or text. Refunds are for the owner and managers.

1barn Pay is in early access: the app is on TestFlight for iPhone and iPad while it finishes review. Email hello@1barn.com to try it at your barn.

What boarders see

A customer's portal shows an Account section for themselves and for family members they can see: the balance and the last five entries, with a note to ask the barn for a full statement. In My profile, the How you pay card says whether they pay by check, bank transfer, or card, what's on file, and a Save a payment method or Replace it button that opens Stripe's page. It also shows the reason if a charge failed, so they can fix it before you ask.

Upcoming charges

Finance → Upcoming charges shows every scheduled charge before it happens: the next 30 days, or any range you pick. Each row has the due date, the family, the event and its type, the amount after any credit, how it's collected (auto-charge with the card's last four digits, a link, or at the barn), and its status: Scheduled, Reminder sent, At risk (no saved card, or the card expires first), or a payment problem in plain words ("Card declined"). Totals show per day, per week, and for the range. Where the barn has billing, the monthly run on the first shows here too.

From a row you can charge now, change the due date, switch to a link or to the barn, apply a credit, waive it, or cancel the charge; each is written in the registration's payment history. Filter by event type, event, status, or method, and Download CSV for the list. Failed charges also show in Open tasks on the dashboard.

Events on the ledger

Event money lands on the family's account. The family is matched by email, and someone the barn hasn't met yet is added to People when they pay. A deposit or a full payment is charged and paid at booking, so the account stays level; a balance is charged on its due date, which is why the monthly run never takes one early. A refund, a waiver, and a cancellation each take back what's no longer due. Cancelling and refunding happen from the event's registrants list; see Cancelling a registration.

Credits

A credit lowers what a family owes, and a family whose account is in credit can spend it at checkout or have it come off a scheduled balance. On a person's page, Issue credit gives a goodwill credit with a reason; moving someone to a cheaper event can also leave a credit. Only the family can spend it: they must be signed in, or confirm a code emailed to them.