A credit note is a financial document issued when an original invoice needs to be adjusted. In Academy, credit notes are generated automatically when an enrolment is cancelled, refunded, or when a credit withdrawal is processed. Each credit note is linked to the original invoice it relates to, providing a clear audit trail for your finance records.

Credit notes can be viewed, filtered, and exported from the Transactions section, and individual credit notes can be downloaded as PDF documents.

Note: to access credit notes, you must have either the Finance or Finance Admin role.

This is managed via the user profile, under the Finance & Sales tab. For more information, visit our help article on Managing Sales and Finance Permissions. 

Accessing Credit Notes

Navigate to Sales & Finance in the left-hand panel, then select Transactions. The Transactions section is organised into several views:

Select Credit Notes from the left-hand sub-menu to see all credit notes. The number of credit notes is displayed as a badge next to the menu item.

Understanding the Credit Notes Table

The credit notes table displays a summary of each credit note. You may need to scroll horizontally to see all columns.

Credit Note Action Types

Each credit note shows under ‘Action Type’ the way in which credited amount was handled.

Viewing a Credit Note

To view the full details of a credit note, click the View button next to any credit note in the table. This opens the credit note detail page.

A Download Credit Note button is also available at the top of the page, allowing you to download the credit note as a PDF document.

Searching and Filtering

The credit notes view includes several tools to help you find specific credit notes.

• Search bar – search by document number, purchaser name, or other details.
• Billing Entities dropdown – filter credit notes by a specific billing entity.
• Filter icon – click to access advanced filtering options, organised into two categories:
  • Transaction Attributes – filter by document number, transaction type, transaction status, payment status, total amount, payment method, purchase order number, transaction date, issue date, due date, or payment date.
  • Purchaser Attributes – filter by the purchaser’s first name, last name, email address, or customer name.

Exporting Credit Note Data

To export credit note data, click the Export button in the top-right corner of the credit notes table. This exports all credit notes currently displayed, taking into account any active filters.

To customise which fields are included in the export, click the Report Fields button. This opens a panel where you can select or deselect fields across five categories:

• Transaction Information – document number, transaction UUID, order type, transaction type and sub type, transaction action, related invoice, total programs and enrolments purchased, purchase order number, currency, and billing entity.
• Dates – transaction date, issue date, due date, and payment date.
• Financial Details – subtotal, discount, discount percentage, subtotal after discount, tax percentage, tax, total credit applied, total amount, and Stripe fee details.
• Payment Details – payment method, payment status, and transaction status.
• Purchaser Information – purchaser name, preferred name, email address, customer code, and customer name.

Click Done to save your field selections, then click Export to generate the export file.

Downloading Individual Credit Notes

To download a single credit note as a PDF, open the credit note by clicking View, then click the Download Credit Note button at the top of the page. This generates a PDF version of the credit note that can be saved, printed, or shared with the customer.

Related Features

Credit notes are closely linked to several other features in Academy:

• Refund Requests – when a credit note has a Withdrawal action, part of the amount may be transferred to a refund request. Refund requests are managed under Sales & Finance > Refund Requests.
• Credits On Hold – when a credit note has a Transfer or Withdrawal action, the credited amount (or part of it) is transferred to a credit on hold. Credits on hold are managed under Sales & Finance > Credits On Hold.
• Original Invoices – each credit note links back to its original invoice via the Original Invoice Number field. Click the invoice number on any credit note to view the original invoice.

Required Permissions

To view and export credit notes, a user must have the Finance Admin role assigned.

To check or update a user’s role, go to User Admin, select the user, then navigate to the Finance & Sales tab.