> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.eosb.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# How money flows
> Every movement of money on the platform — into the trust, to and from the fund manager, on costs and out to employees — with who starts it and who confirms it.
## Two places money sits
For each employer's trust, money is held in one of two places:
| Place | Held by | Comes in from | Goes out to |
| - | - | - | - |
| **The trust** (trust bank account or trust wallet) | Trustee | Employer payments; money the fund manager returns | The fund manager; employees' benefit payouts |
| **The fund manager's cash account for that trust** | Fund manager | Trustee transfers; investment income | Asset purchases; expenses; returns to the trust |
The fund manager keeps a **separate cash account per trust**. Money never moves between trusts.
Every arrow has two people: one who **starts** it and one who **confirms** it. Nothing counts until it is confirmed.
## 1. Employer funding: into the trust
The employer pays the trust in one of two ways.
The employer pays outside the platform, then uploads the evidence. The trustee checks it against the trust's bank statement.
Expected within **2 days** of submission.
The employer moves money from its wallet to the trust wallet, confirmed with a one-time code. There is no trustee step: the wallet provider settles it.
The money passes through the payment aggregator in two legs and only counts once it lands in the trust wallet. The platform reconciles wallet payments with SmartPay every night. See [SmartPay e-wallets](/concepts/e-wallets).
Confirmed funding is posted to the employer's ledger as a **funding receipt** and raises the **funding ratio**.
## 2. Trustee to fund manager
The trustee sends money it does not need to keep in the trust to the fund manager, to invest.
**Rules**
* The trustee can only send **employer-funded cash**: payments it has confirmed and not yet sent on.
* A bank reference cannot be reused for another recent transfer.
* Once logged, a transfer cannot be edited or reversed by the trustee. If it is wrong, the fund manager rejects the recognition.
* The fund manager is expected to recognise within **2 days**.
**Recognition statuses**
| Status | Meaning |
| - | - |
| Pending recognition | Logged by the trustee, not yet confirmed by the fund manager. |
| Recognised | Confirmed. The money is in the fund manager's cash for the trust. |
| Outstanding receipt | Part arrived and is usable; the rest is still expected. |
| Pending trustee approval | The fund manager recognised a different amount as final. The trustee must agree. |
| Rejected | Not booked. |
| Reversed | A recognised amount was taken back out. |
Money that reaches the fund manager without a logged transfer is recorded as a **manual recognition**.
## 3. Expenses and budgets
The trust's running costs — trustee fees, fund management fees, audit, bank and investment costs — are paid from the fund manager's cash for the trust. Two controls apply.
**The budget.** The fund manager cannot spend at all without an approved budget for the trust. It sets an amount for each cost category. The employer, the trustee and the administrator can each decide it; **the first decision settles it**. A newly approved budget **replaces** the old one (which becomes **Superseded**), and expenses already posted count against the new one. Expected decision: **5 days**.
**The threshold.** Any single expense above **SLE 100,000** also needs the trustee's approval, even within budget. Expected decision: **3 days**.
A posted expense can be **reversed** by the fund manager; the trustee is notified.
| Budget status | Meaning |
| - | - |
| Draft | Being prepared. |
| Pending approval | Waiting for the employer, trustee or admin. |
| Approved | In force. Authorises spending. |
| Rejected | Not approved. The fund manager can revise and resubmit. |
| Superseded | Replaced by a newer approved budget. |
| Cancelled | Withdrawn by the fund manager before a decision. |
| Expense status | Meaning |
| - | - |
| Draft | Saved, not submitted. |
| Pending OTP | Waiting for the fund manager's one-time code. |
| Pending trustee approval | Above SLE 100,000; waiting for the trustee. |
| Posted | Paid; cash debited. |
| Rejected | The trustee refused it; not paid. |
| Reversed | A posted expense was taken back. |
## 4. Fund manager back to the trust
The fund manager returns money for one of four purposes: **benefit funding** (so the trust can pay leavers), **investment income**, **sale of assets**, or **mandate wind-down**. It can return no more than it holds for that trust.
The trustee is expected to confirm within **2 days**.
## 5. Benefit payout: out to the employee
When an employee is terminated, the trustee approves the final settlement with a one-time code, and the administrator pays it from the trust to the employee's verified payout account — in full, or in parts. Expected within **1 day** of approval, because someone is waiting for their money. See [The employee lifecycle](/concepts/employee-lifecycle#5-termination-and-settlement).
| Payout status | Meaning |
| - | - |
| Pending OTP | Waiting for the administrator's one-time code. |
| Processing | Sent to the payment provider. |
| Succeeded | The employee has been paid. |
| Failed | The payment did not go through. Nothing was paid; try again. |
| OTP expired | The code was not entered in time. Start again. |
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