CherryMoney University Training: accounting, invoices, VAT, expenses and AI finance workflows
CherryMoney Training
Log in Open account

University Training Course

CherryMoney Applied Accounting, Payments, Analytics And AI Finance Course

A current, simulator-ready CherryMoney course covering accounting, payments, banking, tax, payroll, analytics, forecasting, AI-assisted finance and governance.

View curriculum Simulator practice Sign in to take training

Course Overview

A current, simulator-ready CherryMoney course covering accounting, payments, banking, tax, payroll, analytics, forecasting, AI-assisted finance and governance.

Updated 28 September 2026. The course distinguishes current product workflows from sandbox, pilot, provider-gated and admin-controlled capabilities. Learners should treat any feature marked where enabled as dependent on the organisation plan, permissions, provider access and deployment configuration.

Who This Is For

  • University accounting, finance, business and social enterprise students
  • Small business founders, sole traders and directors
  • Charity trustees, treasurers and volunteer finance administrators
  • Bookkeeping and accounting trainees learning cloud finance workflows

What Learners Will Be Able To Do

  • Set up UK organisations in CherryMoney using the correct organisation type, plan, access role and onboarding path.
  • Create customers, products, quotes, invoices, payment requests, payment records, credit notes and recurring sales records.
  • Capture expenses, purchases, receipts, mileage, fixed assets, grants, restricted funds and connected-bank evidence.
  • Use Ask Cherry and AI-assisted bookkeeping responsibly while preserving human review, evidence, audit and approval controls.
  • Prepare VAT breakdowns, Cherry Tax review inputs, payroll summaries, compliance packs and accountant-ready evidence.
  • Use bank and Open Banking workflows where enabled, understanding the difference between data access, reconciliation and payment execution.
  • Use Cherry Analytics for KPI review, management reporting, commentary, forecasting and group FP&A where enabled.
  • Explain scenario assumptions, multi-entity eliminations and FX evidence without treating management forecasts as statutory accounts or treasury execution.
  • Review Cherry Pay rewards, subscriptions, recurring billing and AutoPay controls in sandbox or provider-enabled environments.
  • Complete a simulated month-end, quarter-end and management-review finance cycle.

16-Week Teaching Syllabus

This schedule can be used as a full teaching programme or compressed into an intensive bootcamp by combining related modules while preserving simulator review and evidence time.

Week 1
Orientation, product boundaries and safe AI use Navigate the dashboard, identify enabled features and separate AI assistance from human approval.
Week 2
Account access, verification and sign-in Practise email/password access, verification, Google sign-in and Apple mobile sign-in concepts where available.
Week 3
UK identity, plans and onboarding Set up sole trader, limited company and VCSE profiles with role-aware access and filing dates.
Week 4
Clients, products and templates Create customer records, product records and invoice template checks.
Week 5
Quotes, invoices and getting paid Create a quote, convert it to an invoice, preview documents and review payment-link or Cherry Pay options where enabled.
Week 6
Expenses, purchases and receipt capture Use manual entry, receipt capture, CSV import, duplicate checks, mileage and fixed assets.
Week 7
Ask Cherry and AI-assisted bookkeeping Review finance guidance and approve, fix or ignore coding suggestions with evidence.
Week 8
VAT, Cherry Tax and compliance Check VAT Boxes 1-9, review tax inputs including Rent a Room examples, and keep HMRC activity sandboxed.
Week 9
Payroll and RTI review Prepare payroll evidence, review PAYE readiness and understand where RTI filing is enabled.
Week 10
Charity, VCSE, grants and restricted funds Track a restricted grant, project costs, donor reporting and trustee review evidence.
Week 11
Accountant workspaces, governance and admin controls Review client grants, role boundaries, Analytics admin controls, publishing and audit evidence.
Week 12
Banking, Open Banking and reconciliation Review sandbox bank activity, matching, reconciliation and provider/consent boundaries.
Week 13
Cherry Analytics and management reporting Review KPIs, custom metrics, evidence-linked commentary and immutable report versions where enabled.
Week 14
Forecasting, scenarios and Group FP&A Model dated forecast events, compare scenarios, consolidate subsidiaries and review FX assumptions and eliminations.
Week 15
Cherry Pay subscriptions, rewards and AutoPay Use sandbox payment automation to review recurring billing, rewards, cashback, provider controls and exceptions.
Week 16
Capstone simulation Complete an end-to-end accounting, banking, analytics and management-review cycle using only fictional data.

Full Curriculum

Each module has classroom teaching, guided demonstration, simulator practice and assessment evidence.

Module 1 2 hours

Orientation: CherryMoney, Cloud Accounting And AI

Introduce CherryMoney as a practical accounting workspace and explain how AI supports, but does not replace, review and judgement.
Module 2 2 hours

Creating Accounts, Login And Verification

Train students to create accounts, choose organisation type, verify email, recover passwords and understand admin manual verification.
Module 3 3 hours

UK Identity And Organisation Onboarding

Teach students how different UK organisation types affect records, statutory fields, people records and filing reminders.
Module 4 2 hours

Clients, Products, Services And Templates

Build the master records that make invoice and quote creation accurate and fast.
Module 5 4 hours

Quotes, Invoices, Cherry Pay And Getting Paid

Run the full sales cycle from quote to invoice, preview, payment request, payment tracking and correction, including Cherry Pay options where enabled.
Module 6 4 hours

Expenses, Purchases, Receipts And Data Intake

Capture expense and purchase records through manual entry, receipt capture, CSV import and review controls.
Module 7 3 hours

AI-Assisted Bookkeeping And Review

Use AI suggestions to classify records while keeping review, correction and audit controls.
Module 8 4 hours

VAT, Cherry Tax And Compliance Checks

Prepare VAT reviews, inspect Cherry Tax calculation inputs, understand current MTD/HMRC boundaries and use compliance prompts.
Module 9 2 hours

Payroll Summary Packs

Prepare payroll review packs where the plan includes payroll features.
Module 10 4 hours

Charity, VCSE, Grants And Restricted Funds

Teach fund accounting concepts through charity and VCSE workflows.
Module 11 3 hours

Accountant Workspaces, Governance And Admin Controls

Control role-aware access, accountant client grants, Analytics admin policy, publishing controls, verification and audit trails.
Module 12 3 hours

Banking, Open Banking And Reconciliation

Review connected-bank data, matching and reconciliation while keeping consent, provider and payment-execution boundaries explicit.
Module 13 4 hours

Cherry Analytics, KPIs And Management Reporting

Use the Cherry Analytics companion workspace for deterministic reporting, KPI review, commentary and evidence where the organisation has Analytics access.
Module 14 5 hours

Forecasting, Scenarios And Group FP&A

Build deterministic forecasts from assumptions and dated events, then review scenario, multi-entity, elimination and FX effects at group level where enabled.
Module 15 4 hours

Cherry Pay: Rewards, Subscriptions And Payment Automation

Review Cherry Pay payment requests, rewards, cashback, subscriptions, recurring billing and AutoPay controls in sandbox or provider-enabled environments.
Module 16 6 hours

Capstone: Month-End And Quarter-End Simulation

Students complete a full finance cycle from setup to reporting using seeded simulator data.

Google Cloud Simulator Plan

The simulator will let learners practise inside a safe Google Cloud VM with seeded demo data, test users and guided tasks.

Training VM Design

Environment
  • One training tenant per student or team.
  • Seeded organisations: sole trader, limited company, CIC and charity.
  • Demo clients, products, invoices, receipts, expenses, grants, donors and VAT records.
  • No real customer emails, real bank data, live HMRC submissions, live payment mandates or production payment credentials.
  • Sandbox or seeded bank transactions, payment events, FX observations and forecast scenarios for banking and analytics exercises.
Practice Roles
  • Student operator: completes daily workflow tasks.
  • Reviewer: checks outputs, VAT breakdowns and reports.
  • Trainer admin: resets data, unlocks exercises and reviews evidence.
Simulator rule: students must never use real customer emails, live HMRC submissions, real bank accounts or real personal data in training environments.

Student Workbook Rules

These rules turn simulator work into assessable learning evidence instead of simple screen clicking.

Student Checklist

  • Before each lab, write down the organisation type, role and plan you are using.
  • For every invoice, check client, due date, line items, VAT treatment and preview before sending.
  • For every expense, check date, supplier, amount, category, duplicate warning and project or fund tag where relevant.
  • For every AI suggestion, record whether you approved, fixed or ignored it and the reason.
  • Before every VAT or compliance output, check the date range and source records.
  • After each module, export or screenshot the required evidence before resetting the simulator.

Instructor Delivery Notes

  • Start each class with a five-minute recap of the accounting concept before opening CherryMoney.
  • Use one trainer demo account projected to the class and one separate student account for each learner or team.
  • Keep a visible mistake in the dataset so students practise review rather than simple data entry.
  • Mark students on reasoning and evidence, not only screen completion.
  • For AI modules, require students to explain why the suggestion is right or wrong.
  • For VAT modules, require students to trace figures back to source records before accepting totals.

Assessment Framework

The course is designed so universities can mark both technical accuracy and accounting judgement.

Assessment Area Evidence
Course requirement Formative quizzes after each module.
Course requirement Simulator task evidence: screenshots, exported PDFs or CSV files, and short written reflections.
Course requirement A capstone assessment where learners run a complete finance cycle from setup to reporting.
Course requirement Pass criteria: accurate records, correct VAT treatment, clear audit trail and plain-English explanation of decisions.

Detailed Marking Rubric

Use this rubric for module portfolios and the capstone assessment.

Area Weight Standard
Accounting accuracy 40% Records are entered in the right place, values are correct, VAT treatment is appropriate and corrections use credit notes where needed.
Workflow completeness 25% The learner completes the full workflow rather than isolated steps: setup, record creation, review, export and evidence.
Evidence quality 20% Screenshots, PDFs, CSV files or report exports clearly prove the task was completed in the simulator.
AI review judgement 10% The learner explains when AI suggestions were approved, fixed or ignored and why.
Professional communication 5% The learner explains outcomes in plain English suitable for a client, treasurer, founder or trustee.

Capstone Scenario Bank

Universities can assign different scenarios to students or teams so final work is comparable but not identical.

Sole Trader Launch Month

A new consultant must set up clients, issue invoices, record expenses, review AI coding and prepare a simple month-end pack.

Two invoices One payment record Five expenses Expense report AI review note

Limited Company VAT Quarter

A small company has UK sales, EU goods sales, purchases and a credit note. Students must prepare a VAT breakdown and explain Boxes 1, 4, 6, 7 and 8.

VAT breakdown EU goods invoice proof Purchase evidence Credit note reversal Compliance checklist

Community CIC Grant Project

A CIC receives restricted grant income, spends against a project and reports to trustees and funders.

Grant record Restricted fund expense tags Donor or stewardship report Governance role matrix

Accounting And CherryMoney Glossary

Plain-English definitions students can use while learning accounting workflows through the software.

Term Definition
Client A customer or organisation that receives quotes, invoices or payment requests.
Product or service A reusable invoice line item with description, price and tax assumptions.
Quote A proposed price or scope document created before billing.
Invoice A customer-facing request for payment with line items, dates, totals and VAT treatment.
Credit note A correction document that reduces or reverses an issued invoice or purchase record.
VAT breakdown A trace from VAT Boxes 1-9 back to source invoices, expenses, purchases and credit notes.
Restricted fund Charity or VCSE money that must be used for a specific purpose.
Audit trail A record of important actions, approvals, corrections and report publication.
AI suggestion A system recommendation that must be reviewed before being accepted.
Ask Cherry CherryMoney finance guidance that uses available business context to explain records and suggest the next reviewable step.
Open Banking Permissioned access to bank-account data through an approved provider. Data access is separate from payment execution.
Reconciliation Matching bank activity to accounting records and resolving differences before reporting.
Cherry Analytics The management reporting and FP&A workspace used for deterministic KPIs, commentary, forecasting and group analysis where enabled.
Forecast event A dated planning event such as a hire, purchase, capex item, debt movement, tax payment or seasonality change.
Elimination journal A balanced group-only adjustment that removes intercompany activity from consolidated management reporting without writing back to source ledgers.
Stellar FX anchor An observed FX quote used as evidence for a reviewed planning assumption, not a future executable rate or hedge.
VRP or AutoPay Controlled recurring-payment capability that depends on provider support, consent, limits and admin configuration.