Kestrel

Guide

Financial controller

Version 1.1 ·Updated 2026-10-25

Next reviewed by 2027-04-25.

Written for each member of a school's staff, from the registrar to IT, and the families using the portal.

For the financial controller, who chooses who works out co-curricular pay and reads the payroll batches and the contractors' reconciliation, and signs off no batch.

All guides, including the first steps each member of staff takes. The training for this role takes these tasks in sessions.

Choose who works out co-curricular pay

Settings, Who works out pay

Needs activities.calculation.write. It's under Settings, which only an administrator can open.

  1. Open Who works out pay and read the current choice.
  2. Review the choice of the school’s payroll system or Kestrel, and confirm a change with the passkey when asked.
  3. Set the standard rates used for estimates and whether coordinators can see those estimates. The business manager signs off payroll batches; this role does not.

Review and approve pay rates

Activities, Pay rates

Needs activities.rates.approve.

  1. Import a rate set from the template or edit a copy of the set in force. Check its effective day and review date.
  2. Compare each proposed code with the rates in force and review warnings and any back-pay differences.
  3. Approve only after checking against the school’s pay guide and confirming with the passkey. Where the school requires a second approver, the importer cannot approve it. Reject a set needing correction and give the reason.

Read batches and contractors’ hours

Activities, Contractors’ hours

Needs activities.payroll.read.

  1. Choose the date range in Contractors’ hours and compare the approved hours and their cost with the contractor’s invoice. Resolve any line that has no cost.
  2. Open Payroll batches to read the frozen batches and their history. Contractor lines stay out of the payroll file.