The Family Ledger

The family ledger is the list of charges and payments you see on a family’s Financial tab. It tracks every charge and every payment for each family, and calculates their balance automatically. Think of it as a running account that always shows exactly how much a family owes.

How the Balance Works

A family’s balance is simple math:

Balance = Total Charges - Total Payments

Charges (debits) increase the balance. These come from tuition, fees, optional charges, and any manual charges you add.
Payments (credits) decrease the balance. These come from recorded payments, online payments, and Autopay.
Refunds, chargebacks, and returns increase the balance again because money is going back to the family.

A positive balance means the family owes money. A zero balance means they are fully paid. A negative balance means they have overpaid (a credit on their account).

Where to See the Balance

You can find a family’s balance in several places:

Family detail page — At the top of the page, you will see both the season balance (for the current season) and the total balance (across all seasons).
Families table — The balance column shows each family’s total balance at a glance.
Statements — When you send or download a statement, it includes a full breakdown of charges and payments with the current balance.

What Creates Ledger Entries

The ledger updates automatically whenever financial activity happens:

Charges (increase balance)

A camper is enrolled and tuition is calculated
A fee is added (application fee, registration fee, optional fees)
A manual charge is added to the family’s invoice
A chargeback or return is recorded (money was reversed)

Credits (decrease balance)

A payment is recorded with Accepted status
An online payment is processed successfully
An Autopay payment goes through
A charge is removed or reduced (discount applied, fee waived)

No effect on balance

A payment is recorded as Pending or Promised (tracked but does not reduce the balance until changed to Accepted)
A payment fails (the charge was attempted but did not go through)

Season Balance vs. Total Balance

Campflow tracks balances at two levels:

Season balance — What the family owes for a specific season. This is what you will usually care about.
Total balance — What the family owes across all seasons combined. If a family has an unpaid balance from last season and new charges this season, the total balance includes both.

The family detail page shows both numbers so you always have the full picture.

Moving a Credit to the Next Season

Balances and credits do not move into the new season automatically — each season keeps its own invoice and statements. Nothing is lost: the total balance always includes every season. But because statements and Autopay look at one season at a time, a credit from last season won’t reduce them on its own.

To put a previous season’s credit toward the new season (once the family is registered for it):

On the previous season’s invoice, add a charge line for the credit amount (for example, “Credit moved to 2027”). This zeroes out the old season.
On the new season’s invoice, record a payment for the same amount using the Credit payment method.

The family’s total balance stays the same, and each season’s statement now reads correctly.

Good to Know

Ledger entries are permanent — they cannot be edited or deleted. If a mistake was made, a new correcting entry is created (for example, if a charge is removed, a credit entry is added to offset it). This creates a complete audit trail.
The ledger is the single source of truth for family balances. Every part of Campflow — the family page, the payment table, Autopay, statements — reads from the same ledger to ensure consistency.
When you merge two families, all ledger entries are transferred to the target family so no financial history is lost.
If a payment was recorded from a check photo or transfer screenshot and the saved amount doesn’t match what Campflow read from the image, the payment shows an amber note flagging the difference. See Recording Payments for details.
The Financial tab also shows an Upcoming Autopay list and a Balance after expected payments projection, so the balance you see and the balance the family will owe after scheduled charges can differ. See Autopay for how that projection is calculated.