Charges and settlement
Understand the financial path created by an access rule without moving Program or report ownership out of Fishing.
Some access arrangements create a charge from actual usage; others are seasonal commitments. Accesses & Landowners makes the reason, responsible owner context, and status understandable to the operation. It does not make the Fishing Program or its report into a financial ledger.
Common charge paths
| Arrangement | What it means operationally |
|---|---|
| Owner balance | Usage accumulates in a bill for the agreement and its current cadence period. Trailhead alerts Finance when an automatic period is due. |
| Guide pays at access | The preparation reminder tells the primary guide to bring money, and the guide records the real personal payment in the field. No unpaid owner balance is created. |
| Seasonal commitment | A dated agreement creates one season amount rather than a charge per crossing. First and optional second payment dates are available only here, and each date gets its bill in SettleWise two weeks ahead. |
The agreement answers which terms apply; the fee rule answers how an amount is calculated, when it applies, and who handles payment. A crossing should be recorded whenever it actually happens, while the rule determines whether and how often a charge follows.
Payment alerts and communication
Each Owner balance agreement has its own weekly, every-two-weeks, monthly, or manual payment cadence. When an automatic cadence period becomes due with an amount owed, Trailhead sends Finance a deduplicated internal alert. A manual cadence waits for Finance to review the balance.
Trailhead does not send owners a WhatsApp settlement acknowledgement or a periodic settlement statement. The internal alert tells Finance that a payment should be executed; it does not move money.
For Guide pays at access, the primary guide's preparation reminder identifies the access, direction, expected amount, and currency so the guide knows to bring money before the field day. The guide's personal expense and reimbursement stay separate from the owner balance.
Season agreement bills
Two weeks before each payment date of a season agreement, Trailhead creates the bill in SettleWise for the landowner, due on that date. With one payment date the bill is the whole season amount; with two dates each bill is half.
A bill only charges what is still owed. Anything Finance already billed or paid for that agreement in the same season is subtracted, and when nothing is left no bill is created. A payment date that has already passed is left to Finance.
When the landowner agrees a new date, update it on the agreement: an unpaid bill moves to the new due date, and a bill that already has a payment stays as it is. Nobody is notified when the bill is created; SettleWise's usual due-today alert reminds Finance on the payment date.
Linking a bill to its agreement
When Finance bills a landowner by hand in SettleWise, it can choose the access agreement the bill pays. Each agreement shows how much of its season amount is already billed or paid this season. A linked bill counts for that agreement, so Trailhead never bills the same payment twice. Bills for anything else, such as horse rides or boat rental, stay unlinked.
Paying works as usual: Finance pays the bill from SettleWise, and the payment follows the agreement the bill is linked to.
Payment history on the access
The access panel has a Payments tab. It shows each season with its season amount and what was billed, paid, and owed; every bill with its status, due date, and the date it was paid; and payouts made straight from a register for that access. A separate list shows the landowner's bills and payouts that are not linked to any agreement, such as payments made before bills could be linked. Anyone who can open the access panel sees it, including Operations and the Head Guide.
Keep the financial boundary clear
Trailhead keeps the operational context: the access, beat, Program, field date, and rule that explain why a charge path exists. SettleWise is responsible for money execution, payment, accounting, and final financial truth. When a guide pays in the field, the guide's own expense or fund reconciliation belongs with the appropriate people and finance follow-through.
Fishing still owns the account of the day. Do not use a charge status to substitute for a report, and do not use a report to settle an owner balance.
What good looks like
Operations can answer which crossing created the responsibility, which terms applied, and where it is in the settlement path. The field team can complete the required operational step without being asked to recreate commercial terms or accounting decisions.