Financial Core
The general ledger, fund accounting, and fiscal management layer for the Civic platform — every module that posts financial transactions routes through Financial Core.
Availability
GL Posting
PSAB Compliant
Precision
Purpose-Built for Canadian Municipalities
How It Works
The identity journey, step by step
From first registration to golden record resolution — how a resident's identity evolves across the platform.
Manual Journal Entry
An accountant creates an adjusting journal entry for an accrued expense.
How it works
The accountant opens the journal entry screen, selects 'Adjusting Entry' type, enters the accrued liability (credit) and expense (debit) lines with the correct COA segments, adds a description referencing the vendor invoice, and submits. Because the entry exceeds $10,000, it routes to the CFO for approval. Once approved, it posts to the GL and the balance updates in real-time.
Step 1 of 5
Purpose & Scope
What this module owns
Clear ownership boundaries prevent duplication and ensure every capability has exactly one authoritative home.
Owns
15Delegated to
7Payment collection
Accounts payable processing
Accounts receivable / billing
Payroll processing
Property tax calculation
Budget planning/preparation
Procurement
These capabilities are handled by dedicated modules and consumed via stable API contracts — keeping boundaries clean and ownership unambiguous.
Core Capabilities
What it does
4 capability groups comprising 7 discrete capabilities — each with API surface, business rules, and data ownership.
Multi-segment account structure with validation rules, FIR-aligned natural accounts, and roll-up hierarchy for reporting.
Segmented COA
Multi-segment account structure: Fund – Department – Program – Object – Project – Sub-Project.
Account Types
Asset, Liability, Equity, Revenue, Expense, Statistical.
Segment Values
Each segment has its own code table (e.g., Fund: 01=General, 02=Water, 03=Sewer, 10=Capital).
Account Combinations
Validation rules for valid segment combinations; block invalid combos.
Natural Accounts
Pre-built object codes aligned with FIR (Financial Information Return) schedule lines.
Hierarchy
Roll-up hierarchy for reporting (e.g., Object 5110 → Salaries → Personnel → Operating Expense).
Double-entry bookkeeping engine with journal entries, batch posting, recurring entries, sub-ledger integration, and inter-fund support.
Journal Entries
Standard, adjusting, closing, correcting, statistical, reversing entries.
Debit/Credit
Double-entry bookkeeping — all entries must balance (debits = credits).
Sub-Ledger Posting
AP, AR, Payroll, Tax, Utility Billing modules post summarized or detailed entries.
Batch Posting
Group multiple journal entries in a batch for review and bulk posting.
Recurring Entries
Template recurring entries (monthly, quarterly) with auto-generate on schedule.
Approval Workflow
Journal entries > configurable threshold require approval (via workflow-automation).
Real-World Scenarios
Who uses this, and how
3 persona-driven scenarios showing how Financial Core works in practice — from resident registration to privacy compliance.
Treasurer
Inter-Fund Transfer for Capital Project
The Treasurer needs to transfer $500,000 from the General Reserve Fund to the Capital Fund for an approved road reconstruction project.
Steps
- 1Treasurer opens the inter-fund transfer screen
- 2Selects source fund (Reserve Fund - 04) and target fund (Capital - 10)
- 3Enters amount ($500,000) and references the Council resolution approving the transfer
- 4System creates balanced entries: debit Reserve Fund, credit Capital Fund with due-to/due-from entries
- 5Entry routes for Council authorization (above threshold)
- 6Once approved, entries post and both fund balances update immediately
Outcome
Funds are properly transferred with full audit trail linking to the Council resolution. Reserve balance is updated, and capital project budget reflects the new funding.
View scenario
Department Director
Budget Overspend Alert and Response
The Public Works budget for winter maintenance is 90% consumed by February due to heavy snowfall.
Steps
- 1Financial Core detects the winter maintenance account has reached 90% consumption
- 2gl.budget_warning event is emitted
- 3Notification-engine alerts the Public Works Director and the CFO
- 4Director reviews the budget variance dashboard in reporting-analytics
- 5Requests a budget transfer from general contingency to cover projected shortfall
- 6Transfer is processed through Financial Core with Council approval
Outcome
Early warning prevents surprise overspend at year-end. Budget transfer is properly documented with full approval trail.
View scenario
External Auditor
Year-End Financial Audit
External auditors need to verify GL postings, bank reconciliations, and fund balances for the annual audit.
Steps
- 1Auditors access read-only trial balance API for all funds
- 2Review journal entry detail for selected accounts with source module references
- 3Verify bank reconciliation reports for all accounts
- 4Validate fund balance integrity — no unauthorized cross-fund postings
- 5Confirm TCA amortization entries match the asset register
- 6Generate PSAB-compliant financial statements from the reporting module
Outcome
Clean audit opinion. Auditors confirm full PSAB compliance, proper fund segregation, and complete audit trail for all financial transactions.
View scenario
Internal Architecture
How it's built
3 architectural layers comprising 18 components — from API gateway to data quality engine.
3 layers · 18 total components
Financial Core
Every module owns a single bounded context, exposes stable APIs, and can be composed into any Civic product — that's the architecture that scales.
Krutik Parikh
Creator of Civic
Data Model
Entity Architecture
6 entities with 5 relationships — the authoritative schema for this bounded context.
Entities
Select an entity to explore its fields and relationships
API Surface
Integration Endpoints
15 RESTful endpoints across 4 resource groups — plus 8 domain events for async integration.
/api/v1/gl/journal-entries
Create journal entry
/api/v1/gl/journal-entries/{id}/post
Post approved journal entry
/api/v1/gl/accounts/{accountString}/balance
Get account balance (period or YTD)
/api/v1/gl/accounts/{accountString}/transactions
Get transactions for account
/api/v1/gl/trial-balance
Generate trial balance
/api/v1/gl/journal-entries/{id}/reverse
Reverse a posted entry
Ecosystem
Products that depend on this module
18 Civic products consume Financial Core — making it one of the most critical platform services in the ecosystem.
ERP
This IS the core ERP financial module — GL, fund accounting, COA
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Accounts Payable
Invoice posting to GL, cheque/EFT payment recording
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Accounts Receivable
Revenue posting to GL, receipt recording
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Property Tax
Tax levy posting, tax receipt posting, write-off posting
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Utility Billing
Utility revenue posting, consumption cost posting
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Budget Management
Budget loading into GL, budget vs. actual reporting
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HR & Payroll
Payroll expense posting (salaries, benefits, deductions, remittances)
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Procurement
PO encumbrance, invoice matching, payment posting
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Receipting
Receipting module posts to GL on cash/cheque/CC receipt
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Asset Management
Capital asset acquisition, amortization entries, disposal entries (TCA)
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Grant Management
Grant revenue recognition, expenditure tracking against grant budget
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Recreation
Program revenue, facility rental revenue, pass sales
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Parking
Meter revenue, permit revenue, fine revenue
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Court / POA
Fine revenue, victim surcharge, court costs
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Cemetery
Interment fees, monument fees, perpetual care fund
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Stormwater
Stormwater levy revenue, infrastructure costs
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Transit
Fare revenue, fuel costs, maintenance costs
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Digital Payments
Payment settlement posting to appropriate revenue/receivable accounts
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Technical Specifications
Performance, Compliance & Configuration
Availability
GL Posting Latency
Balance Query
Trial Balance
Year-End Close
Precision
Audit Trail
PSAB Compliance
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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