A funeral file with five payments hiding in it
A cremation service next Thursday. The crematorium fee is due before the date. The celebrant will invoice after the service. The organist is paid on the day in cash, as she prefers. The newspaper notice was placed by phone and the invoice will arrive in a few weeks. The florist is sending the bill direct to you rather than the family. The family also asked you to arrange catering at the wake, which you have agreed to pay and recharge.
Each of those is a disbursement, a payment you make on the family's behalf. They are written on the file, in the funeral management system in part, and in the accounts package when the invoice arrives. At the end, when the final account is drawn up, someone goes through the file to make sure nothing has been missed. Sometimes something has.
Why third-party payments slip
Disbursements are awkward because they happen at different times, from different suppliers, in different ways, and they have to end up on one account for the family.
- Some are paid before the funeral, some on the day, some weeks after.
- Invoices come by post, email and sometimes not at all.
- Suppliers do not always put the deceased's name on the invoice.
- Cash payments on the day are recorded on a slip, if at all.
- The final account is drawn up before every invoice has arrived.
Many funeral management systems let you list disbursements on the estimate. Fewer track each one from expected, to invoiced, to paid, to recharged, with the supplier invoice matched to it.
When a disbursement is missed
If a disbursement is missed on the family's account, your firm has paid for something that is not recovered. If it arrives late, you may need to send a second account to a family who thought everything was settled, which is uncomfortable for everyone and can feel insensitive, however politely it is done.
Inaccurate estimates are the other risk. Families are rightly sensitive to the difference between the estimate and the final account. Disbursements that change or are forgotten on the estimate are a common reason the two differ.
Disbursement tracking per funeral
What we build tracks each third-party payment from the moment it is agreed to the moment it is on the family's account.
- When the arrangement is made, disbursements are added from your list with the expected amount: crematorium or cemetery, minister or celebrant, organist, doctor's fees where they apply, notices, flowers, catering and anything else.
- Each has a status: expected, booked, invoiced, paid, recharged. The file shows at a glance what is outstanding.
- Supplier invoices arriving by email are read, and the supplier, amount and deceased's name or reference are matched to the funeral. Anything unclear goes to a person.
- Payments made are recorded, including cash on the day, with a receipt photo if needed.
- Before the final account is issued, the system shows any disbursement still expected, so you can wait, estimate or chase.
- Disbursements and payments are pushed to Xero, Sage or QuickBooks, coded as you prefer.
| Disbursement | Typical timing | What the system tracks |
|---|---|---|
| Crematorium fee | Before the service | Booked, paid, receipt matched |
| Celebrant or minister | After the service | Expected, invoice matched, paid |
| Organist | On the day | Cash payment recorded with slip |
| Newspaper notice | Weeks after | Expected until the invoice arrives |
How disbursements are presented to families and treated in your accounts, including any tax treatment, is for you and your accountant. We build to your approach.
Drawing up the final account
Two weeks after the funeral, the arranger opens the file to prepare the final account. Every disbursement shows as paid and matched except the newspaper notice, which shows the expected amount. You decide to wait a week. When the invoice arrives, it is matched automatically, and the final account goes out complete, once.
Are disbursements a worry?
- Disbursements are tracked on the file cover or a spreadsheet.
- You have sent a second account because an invoice arrived late.
- Supplier invoices are matched to funerals by hand.
- Cash payments on the day are not always recorded.
- Final accounts differ from estimates because of disbursements.