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How to use Alpha accounting

Short guides for each part of the system, plain-English meanings of the accounting terms used on screen, and how sign-in and roles work.

API and controls

New here?

Where to begin, and how to find your way back

The introduction explains in five short steps what Alpha does, what your role lets you do, how work moves from one person to another and where to get help. The guided demo walks you through five pages in about three minutes.

To find a record or a page quickly, press Ctrl + K (⌘ + K on a Mac).

Take the introduction Take the 3-minute guided demo

Guides

One short guide per journey. Take the tour opens the page and walks you through it.

Find your next step

For Everyone

Home answers one question: what should I do now? It shows one next step, the work waiting for you and your recent work.

Start with Your next step. It is chosen from your work: something to approve, something sent back to fix, or the main task of your role.
Waiting for you lists work colleagues prepared that needs your approval, longest waiting first. See all opens the approval queue.
Your recent work shows the last things you prepared and where each one is, with the reason if an approver sent it back.

Terms used: Maker-checker, Approval queue

Take the tour Open Home

Check the figures

For Everyone who can read the register

The finance overview puts the open items, their rand carrying value, the month-end close and recent ledger activity on one page.

The key figures show open premium lines and claims, their carrying value in rand and the rates that needed an exception.
The month-end close panel shows the period that is open for closing and what needs to happen next.
Recent ledger activity lists the latest posted events. The live register has every one of them.

Terms used: ZAR carrying value, Fallback rate, Period lock

Take the tour Open Finance overview

Keep track of your own work

For Everyone

My work shows what you prepared and where it is, what is waiting for you to approve, and what you did recently.

Needs your attention lists items an approver sent back, with their reason. Fix and resubmit opens the place to correct it.
Waiting for someone else lists what you validated or submitted. A different person must approve it.
Your recent activity is your own part of the audit history, newest first.

Terms used: Maker-checker, Approval queue

Take the tour Open My work

Set up a policy

For Finance preparer, Underwriting

A policy fixes the client, the account, the contract currency and the inception date that premiums use.

Choose New policy and enter the policy number and inception date.
Pick an existing counterparty and account, or describe new ones. The account must be in the policy currency.
Save. The policy and anything created with it are recorded in the audit history.

Terms used: FCY, Functional currency

Take the tour Open Policies

Capture and post a premium

For Finance preparer, Finance approver

Premiums are recognised at the policy inception date rate and need a second person to post them.

Choose New premium and pick the policy. The inception date and currency come from the policy.
Add a line for each product and cover with the gross amount and tax. Choose commission and binder rates from the approved lists.
Save a draft, then Validate. The system fetches the inception-date rate and shows the rand value.
A finance approver chooses Approve and post, or Reject with a reason. You can withdraw your own premium before it is posted.

Terms used: Recognition rate, Broker commission, Binder fee, Maker-checker

Take the tour Open Premiums

Record and allocate a bank receipt

For Finance preparer, Finance approver

A receipt settles open premium lines at the bank value date rate and separates realised FX.

Choose New receipt and enter the bank details exactly as they appear on the statement, including the value date.
Open the receipt and find the open premium lines by policy, product, cover or invoice. Enter the gross amount to allocate to each line.
Validate to see the server's calculation per line: commission, fees, net cash and the check against the bank amount.
Submit for approval. A different finance approver posts it, which records the cash, the journal and the realised FX.

Terms used: Allocation ratio, Net cash, Settlement rate, Realised FX, Value date

Take the tour Open Receipts

Register a claim and manage its reserve

For Claims preparer, Claims approver

Claims use the date reported for liability claims and the date of loss for all others.

Choose New claim, pick the policy, product and cover, and enter the dates and the claim currency.
On the claim, set or change the reserve with an amount and a comment. The class, dates, currency and rate date come from the claim.
Record a payment with its value date. A payment cannot be more than the outstanding amount.
A claims approver approves or rejects each reserve movement and payment.

Terms used: Claim reserve, Recognition rate, Realised FX

Take the tour Open Claims

Fees and remittance

For Finance preparer, Treasury

Commission and fees are calculated on the premium; binder fees stay blocked until the remittance is accepted.

Pick the premium to see its commission, binder and survey fee components.
Treasury records the rand remittance with the rate evidence it used.
The binder fee becomes eligible only once the remittance is submitted and the insurer has accepted it.

Terms used: Remittance, Binder fee, Survey fee

Take the tour Open Remittance and fees

Issue a statement of account

For Finance preparer, Finance approver, Auditor

Premium and claims statements are reconciled and issued separately, from approved bank profiles.

Choose the account; the original currency follows from it. Pick the statement type, period end, presentation and recipient.
Choose Preview and reconcile to see the rows, the balance, the USD equivalent and the rate route.
Submit for approval. A finance approver issues the PDF with exactly the previewed figures; if the balances have changed since the preview, preview it again. Once issued, the PDF can be downloaded and never changes.

Terms used: Statement presentation, Statement rate, USD rule, Bank profile

Take the tour Open Statements

Close the month

For Finance preparer, Finance approver

The close restates open items at the closing rate and locks the period once approved.

Pick the earliest open period. The closing date is always the period end, and periods are closed in order.
Choose Validate close to see the open items as at the period end, unrealised FX by currency, the reconciliation and the snapshot hash. Validating again replaces the earlier run.
A finance approver chooses Approve and lock period. Nothing more can be posted into a locked period.

Terms used: Revaluation, Closing rate, Unrealised FX, Snapshot hash, Close run, Period lock

Take the tour Open Month-end close

Approve or reject work

For Approvers

Everything prepared and validated by a colleague waits here for a second person.

Filter by type, or show only the items you can approve.
Open the reference to check the full record and its history.
Approve to post or issue it, or Reject with a reason the preparer will see. Items you prepared show why you cannot act on them.

Terms used: Approval queue, Maker-checker

Take the tour Open the approval queue

Trace a transaction in the live register

For Everyone with register access

The register lists every recognition, settlement, reserve, payment, remittance and revaluation.

Filter by reference, policy, product, cover, currency, type, event or date. The address bar keeps the filters.
Choose a reference to see its timeline, with the posting batch and rate evidence for each event.
Export CSV downloads every row that matches your filters.

Terms used: Live register, ZAR carrying value, Posting batch

Take the tour Open the live register

Investigate the audit history

For Auditor, Administrator

Every action is recorded with who, when, how, what changed and the evidence used.

Filter by record type and ID, person, action, channel, date or correlation ID.
Open Details on a row to compare the record before and after, and follow the supporting evidence.
Use Everything in this request to see all actions that shared a correlation ID, and Export CSV for working papers.

Terms used: Correlation ID, Idempotency key, Rate evidence

Take the tour Open Audit history

Check rate evidence

For Everyone with register access

Every exchange rate the ledger used is kept with its source, dates and a fingerprint of the provider's response.

Filter by provider, currency, rate type, source or requested date.
Badges show whether the main provider, a backup provider or a manual override supplied the rate, with the reason.
Copy the payload hash to quote it in a working paper or a support request.

Terms used: Rate evidence, Fallback rate, Manual override

Take the tour Open Rates and evidence

Review access, providers and bank details

For Administrator, Treasury

Read-only views of who can sign in, the approved rate providers and the approved bank profiles.

Users and roles lists everyone with their roles and last sign-in. Roles are assigned in Microsoft Entra ID in production.
The provider registry shows the order in which rate providers are tried.
Bank profiles show which bank details statements will print for each currency.
Go-live readiness checks sign-in, secrets, rates, periods, bank profiles and maker-checker cover, with one fix for each problem.

Terms used: Bank profile, Fallback rate, API key

Take the tour Open Users and roles Provider registry Bank profiles Go-live readiness

Glossary

41 terms used on screen, in plain English. Each term has its own link.

A

Allocation ratio#: How much of a premium line a receipt settles: the gross amount allocated divided by the line's gross premium. Commission and fees are shared out using the same ratio.
API key#: A secret that lets another system use this application's API with limited permissions. It is shown only once, expires, and can be revoked at any time.
Approval queue#: The list of prepared items waiting for an independent approver, such as premiums, receipts, claim movements and payments, statements and month-end close runs.

B

Bank profile#: The approved bank details for a legal entity and currency, with the dates they apply from and to. Statements only print bank details from the approved profile in force.
Binder fee#: A fee for binding authority, calculated on the premium. It is recorded when calculated, but stays blocked until the ZAR remittance is submitted and the insurer has accepted it.
Broker commission#: The share of the premium the broker earns, usually a percentage of the gross premium. When a receipt is net of commission, the broker keeps this amount and pays over the rest.

C

Claim reserve#: The amount set aside for what a claim is expected to cost. Reserve movements increase or decrease it in the claim currency and are revalued at month-end while the claim is open.
Close run#: One attempt at closing a month. It restates open items, produces the close reports and must show no unexplained difference before a different Finance user approves it.
Closing rate#: The exchange rate at the end of a reporting period. Items still open at month-end are restated at this rate.
Correlation ID#: A reference attached to every request and response. Quote it to support so they can find exactly what happened.

F

Fallback rate#: A rate taken from the next approved provider because the main provider could not supply one. The reason is kept on the rate evidence.
FCY#: Foreign currency: the currency a policy, premium, claim or payment is agreed in when it is not rand (ZAR). FCY amounts are kept exactly as agreed and exchange-rate movements never change them.
Functional currency#: The currency Alpha South Africa keeps its books in, which is South African rand (ZAR). Every foreign-currency amount also gets a ZAR value so the accounts can balance.

I

Idempotency key#: A unique reference sent with a request so that repeating it, for example after a double click or a dropped connection, does not create a second record.
Import batch#: A set of rows uploaded together from a spreadsheet or CSV file. Each row is checked, valid rows become drafts, and the drafts still need approval.
Import template#: A spreadsheet with the right headings, an example row and instructions for one type of record. Fill it in and import it; the example row is skipped.

J

Journal#: A balanced set of ZAR debit and credit lines for the general ledger. Each journal links back to the transactions that produced it.

L

Live register#: The append-only list of every recognition, allocation, settlement, revaluation, remittance and reversal. Earlier events are never changed; corrections appear as new events.

M

Maker-checker#: A control where one person prepares a transaction and a different person approves it. Nobody can approve their own work.
Manual override#: A rate typed in instead of taken from a provider. It needs a reason, supporting evidence and approval by a second person.

N

Net cash#: The money actually expected in the bank: the gross amount allocated minus the amounts the broker keeps, such as commission.

P

Period lock#: When a month-end close is approved, the accounting period is locked and nothing more can be posted into it.
Posting batch#: A reference that groups the ledger entries and journal written together by one posting, so they can be traced and reconciled as one unit.

R

Rate evidence#: The stored record of where an exchange rate came from: the provider, quote direction, requested and used dates, retrieval time and a fingerprint of the provider's response. It cannot be changed once used.
Rate limit#: The most requests one key or application may make in a minute. Above it the API answers 429 and says how many seconds to wait.
Rate snapshot#: The provider's rates for one day, stored once and never changed. Every later lookup for that day reads the snapshot, so all items of the day use the same rate.
Realised FX#: The exchange gain or loss that becomes final when an item is settled: the rand value at the settlement rate minus the carrying value of the part that was settled.
Recognition rate#: The exchange rate used when a transaction is first recorded. Premiums use the policy inception date, liability claims use the date reported and all other claims use the date of loss.
Remittance#: The rand payment passed on to the insurer for premium collected. Binder fees stay blocked until the remittance is submitted and the insurer has accepted it.
Revaluation#: The month-end step that restates open foreign-currency items at the closing rate and records the difference as unrealised FX.

S

Settlement rate#: The exchange rate on the bank or payment value date. It gives the rand value of the cash received or paid; the difference from the carrying value is realised FX.
Snapshot hash#: A fingerprint (SHA-256) of a close run's figures, taken when it is validated. It proves that the figures approved are the figures that were checked.
Statement presentation#: How amounts are shown on a statement of account: in the original foreign currency, in USD, or in both.
Statement rate#: The approved exchange rate on the statement date, used to show USD amounts on a statement of account.
Statistical entry#: A record of the gross premium or claim amount in the contract currency. Statistical entries are only ever added to, and settlement, fees or exchange movements never change them.
Subledger#: A detailed ledger that sits below the general ledger. The FCY subledger tracks open items in foreign currency; the ZAR subledger tracks their rand values, settlements and exchange differences.
Survey fee#: A fee for surveying the insured risk. It is kept as its own component with its own basis, payee, cash direction and status.

U

Unrealised FX#: The exchange gain or loss on items still open at month-end: the rand value at the closing rate minus the previous carrying value. It can change again until the item is settled.
USD rule#: How USD amounts are worked out on statements. USD items are shown as they are; other currencies are converted through ZAR using approved statement-date rates.

V

Value date#: The date the bank credits or debits the money. Receipts and payments use it to find the settlement rate.

Z

ZAR carrying value#: The rand value an open foreign-currency item is currently held at in the books. It starts at the recognition-rate value and is restated at each month-end until the item is settled.

Signing in and roles

You are not signed in.

Microsoft sign-in

Sign in with your Alpha Microsoft account. Your roles come from Microsoft Entra ID. A session lasts up to 10 hours and ends after 60 minutes without activity.

Development sign-in

For testing only. Choose one of the seeded people; the session works in the same way as a Microsoft one. It is switched off in production.

Read-only demo (this site)

Used until Microsoft sign-in is set up. You can look at every page, but nothing can be saved, approved or exported.

Your roles decide which pages and buttons you see, and the server checks them again on every request. Nobody can approve an item they prepared, whatever their roles.

Role	Typical work
Finance preparer	Captures policies, premiums, receipts, fees and statements, and prepares the month-end close.
Finance approver	Posts premiums and receipts, issues statements and approves the month-end close.
Claims preparer	Registers claims and prepares reserve movements and payments.
Claims approver	Approves claim reserve movements and payments.
Underwriting	Sets up policies and reads premiums.
Treasury	Approves remittances and looks after bank profiles.
Auditor	Reads the register, statements, transactions and the full audit history, and can export them.
Administrator	Can do everything, including viewing people, rate providers and system settings.

Getting help

Every error message shows a reference for support. Quote it when you ask for help, so the exact request can be found in the audit history.

If a page or button you need is missing, ask an administrator to check your roles. In production, roles are assigned in Microsoft Entra ID.

The question-mark buttons next to terms on every page show the same definitions as the glossary, and Take the tour at the top of a page walks you through it again.

For how the ledger, the accounting rules and the API work, see API and controls.

Role

Typical work

Finance preparer

Captures policies, premiums, receipts, fees and statements, and prepares the month-end close.

Finance approver

Posts premiums and receipts, issues statements and approves the month-end close.

Claims preparer

Registers claims and prepares reserve movements and payments.

Claims approver

Approves claim reserve movements and payments.

Underwriting

Sets up policies and reads premiums.

Treasury

Approves remittances and looks after bank profiles.

Auditor

Reads the register, statements, transactions and the full audit history, and can export them.

Administrator

Can do everything, including viewing people, rate providers and system settings.