How to Track University Commissions Without Excel

To track university commissions without Excel, create a commission claim for each student the moment they reach visa granted, follow each claim through clear stages until the money is in your bank, and record the exchange rate, bank fee and any tax withheld when it arrives. An ageing view then shows which claims are overdue, so you can chase them.

Why commissions get lost

University commissions are often a consultancy's largest income, and the hardest to track. They arrive months after the work, in foreign currency, after deductions, and sometimes only after you remind the university. In a spreadsheet, a few problems come up again and again:

• A visa is granted, but nobody adds the commission row.
• The amount received doesn't match the amount expected, and nobody knows why.
• Old claims sit unpaid because nobody looks at them.
• Sub-agents ask when they'll be paid, and nobody can answer.

Step 1: Create the claim at the right moment

Tie the commission to the student's progress, not to someone remembering. The cleanest trigger is the stage where the student reaches visa granted. At that point, the claim should be created with the university, the student and the expected amount.

Step 2: Track each claim through simple stages

Keep the stages few and clear:

1. Expected: the visa is granted and a claim exists.
2. Invoiced: you've sent the university your invoice.
3. Received: the money is in your bank account.

Everyone should be able to see at a glance how much sits in each stage.

Step 3: Record what actually arrived

When the payment lands, record the full picture, not just the final rupee figure:

• the amount in the university's currency
• the exchange rate on the day you received it
• the bank fee
• any tax withheld at source

This explains every gap between what you expected and what you got. If you want to sanity-check one payment, our free commission and payout calculator does the arithmetic in NPR.

Step 4: Watch the ageing

An ageing view lists unpaid claims by how long they've been waiting. Set a threshold, such as 60 days, and flag anything older for follow-up with the university. This one habit catches money that would otherwise be forgotten.

Step 5: Link sub-agent payouts to the same claim

If a sub-agent referred the student, their payout depends on this commission. Keep the payout locked until the university has actually paid you, so you never pay out money you haven't received. Our guide to paying sub-agents fairly covers this in detail.

Step 6: Report by branch and destination

Once commissions are recorded properly, you can see income by month, by branch and by destination. That tells you which destinations really earn and where effort pays off. See managing several branches for what owners should look at.

A monthly commission review

Set aside time once a month, ideally at month end, to:

1. Check new claims. Did every visa granted this month create a claim?
2. Send invoices. Move expected claims to invoiced once you've billed the university.
3. Match receipts. For money received, record the exchange rate, bank fee and tax withheld, and mark the claim received.
4. Chase overdue claims. Work through the ageing list, oldest first.
5. Release sub-agent payouts for claims that were received.

Fifteen focused minutes a month is usually enough once the data is in one place.

Keep your accountant in the loop

Tracking commissions well is good housekeeping, but it doesn't replace your accountant. How foreign income, tax withheld abroad and VAT are treated in your books is a question for them. Share your commission records with them each month.

How ConsultMarg helps

ConsultMarg creates the commission claim when a student reaches visa granted. It tracks the claim from invoiced to received with foreign currency, exchange rate, bank fee and tax withheld, and flags claims older than 60 days. Sub-agent payouts stay locked until the university has paid. See the money side or book a demo.