Accounting Software for Daycare Facilities

The day-to-day concerns of the average daycare center tend to focus, for the most part on discipline, child health and sickness, staff training, hygiene, building and playground safety, and providing parents with as much information as possible on how the facility is addressing each of these concerns. As a result, most daycare provider management software packages tend to also focus on capturing information necessary to especially address these items. So one issue that is often lost is incorporating important accounting software concerns into the mix. Often the best software packages for tracking daycare health and family information on children, preparing menus and tracking food programs, and scheduling activities are extremely inadequate as accounting software.

Many of these daycare management systems offer integrated accounting modules with their packages. However, these modules are extremely unsophisticated and offer very few options. Many simply accumulate the expenses and revenues and keep the checkbook balance. However, they do not keep a true double entry accounting system. Therefore, the true financial position of the facility cannot be ascertained from the financial reports. Profit and loss statements and simple balance sheets showing the assets and debts of the center cannot be produced. It is impossible to make

financial decisions without the proper education. These management systems operate woefully and, as a result, a center can plan on paying their CPA’s a premium to prepare year-end financial statements for banks or tax returns for our friends at the IRS or the local state department of revenue.

The solution to this problem is simple. Daycare facilities should utilize the operational management software systems for tracking day-to-day operations. However, a separate accounting package, such as QuickBooks, should be purchased to record all financial transactions.

The payments and balances due for each child would be tracked in the daycare management software system. However, these payments would be recorded as deposits in the accounting software and would affect the revenue and cash balances of the facility at that point. Also, the food program reimbursement calculations under federal and state food programs for day care centers would be tracked in the management software, but the actual purchase of food and the collection of revenue from the state and federal agencies would be recorded in the accounting package.

A proper blending of these two software packages offers the best alternative to provide the center with a complete picture of both its operational and financial situation. This is not a problem that is only found in daycare management systems. Most proprietary software packages are created to address the unique problems and concerns of the particular industry they are built to serve. Across the board, these packages focus so much attention to their industry that common financial reporting and documentation issues are not addressed.

So, as you research that perfect daycare management software that contains the perfect daycare accounting package, the best idea may be to only search for the best management software and then make a separate search for the accounting software that offers the options that are important to you.