What do the Requisition Settings do — Staff Advances account, settle-within days, block when overdue, bill attachment?

Finance › Requisition Settings is the rule book for the requisition system: which New Ledger accounts the money moves between, how requisitions are numbered, how long someone may hold an advance, and whether the bill must be attached. It is also what switches the money part on — until the Staff Advances account is chosen here, Issue Payment refuses to post anything.

Steps

1. Go to Finance › Requisition Settings
2. Under Where the money moves pick Staff Advances (compulsory — an asset account in the New Ledger), optionally a Default account to pay from and a Payable to staff account (a liability)
3. Under Rules set the number prefix, the day limits and the three tick-boxes
4. Press Save settings

The account lists come from the New Ledger, not the original chart of accounts. If the asset list is empty, the page tells you to go to Ledger Setup and copy your accounts across first.

Where the money moves

• Staff Advances — what staff are holding on the school's behalf. Debited when money is issued, cleared when the bill or the return comes in. It must be an asset account: money handed to a person is a receivable, not an expense. Anything else is refused at issue time.
• Default account to pay from — only a suggestion. Issue Payment and Settle Requisition start with it selected; you can pick another each time.
• Payable to staff — used only when a bill comes back for more than the advance and the school owes the person the difference. It must be a liability account; such a bill is refused until it is set (or the difference is paid back on the spot).

Rules

• Requisition number prefix — the letters in front of every number (REQ-2026-0042). Blank means REQ. Changing it only affects requisitions raised from now on.
• Settle within (days) — how long a person may hold an advance before the bill. It starts at 15. Past it, the holder shows as overdue on the Advance Ageing report, and a bell reminder goes to them every morning quoting this limit.
• Flag as overdue after (days) — a second, longer limit used only by the tick-box below (30 if left blank).
• Block a new requisition while an old one is unsettled — when ticked, a person still holding money past the Flag as overdue limit is refused when they raise a new requisition, with a message saying how much they hold and for how long. Off by default.
• Allow unspent money to be carried to the next requisition — saved for the record; at present the carry-forward choice on Settle Requisition is offered whether or not it is ticked.
• Require the bill to be attached — ticked by default. While it is on, logging a bill without a photo or PDF of it is refused.

Common confusion

"Issue Payment says choose the Staff Advances account first." That is this screen — set it and save.

"I set the accounts on Chart of Accounts but the dropdown is empty." Wrong ledger: these must be New Ledger accounts. Copy your chart across on Finance › Ledger Setup, then come back.

"Save settings is greyed." It is its own permission, Requisitions — Settings, separate from Request, Approve and Issue Payment — a clerk who could edit these could raise the limits on their own request. Ask whoever manages Users & Privileges.