Bookkeeping for aged care providers

What the books involve

• Resident fees: daily care fees, accommodation charges and charges for additional services invoiced to each resident or their family, with payments matched and overdue accounts listed for the finance team.
• Care funding: monthly government funding payments reconciled against the payment statements they relate to, with any difference listed for the provider to look into.
• Accommodation deposits: lump sums paid on entry recorded as amounts held for each resident rather than as income, with any deductions and the repayment on departure traced to that resident's record.
• Agency and contract staff: invoices from nursing and care agencies checked against the shifts on the roster before payment, and coded so agency costs show apart from other staff costs.
• Running costs: food, continence aids, medical consumables, laundry, cleaning and maintenance contractors entered as bills, with costs tagged to each home where the provider runs more than one.
• Home care services: where a provider also delivers care in clients' own homes, those invoices and funding payments recorded apart from residential income, so each service line can be reported on its own.