Two systems, two versions of the truth
Invoices come out of the nursery software on the first of the month. Your bookkeeper then puts them into Xero, either one by one or as a single total per month split roughly between fees and funding. Payments arrive in Xero through the bank feed. The nursery software shows parent balances based on payments someone marks there by hand.
A parent asks how much they owe. The nursery software says one figure, Xero says another, and the office cannot quickly tell which is right. At year end, the accountant asks for the funding income separated out from parent fees, and it takes a week.
Why the books and the nursery system drift
- Invoices are entered into Xero by hand or as a monthly lump sum.
- Credit notes and corrections are made in one system and not the other.
- Payments are recorded in Xero from the bank, and marked separately in the nursery system.
- Funding income, parent fees and extras are not coded separately.
- Nobody owns checking that the two agree until year end.
What the drift costs
Parents are told the wrong balance, and some are chased when they have paid. Bookkeeping time goes on retyping. The accountant spends time untangling income types, which you pay for. Management figures are unreliable until the books are fixed, so decisions about fees or staffing are made on rough numbers.
If either system is ever audited or queried, reconstructing the history is slow.
Nurseries feel this more than many small businesses because a single family's bill mixes three kinds of money: fees the parent pays, funding the local authority pays, and small extras. When all three land in Xero as one monthly figure, nobody can answer simple questions such as how much funding income came in last term, or which families are behind, without going back to the nursery system and rebuilding the numbers by hand.
The sync we build
- Each invoice and credit note in your nursery management system is sent to Xero when it is approved, as an individual invoice against the family's contact.
- Lines are coded to the income accounts your accountant chooses, for example parent fees, funding and extras separately.
- Payments reconciled in Xero from the bank feed are written back to the nursery system, so parent balances match.
- Corrections made in either system are flagged so they are made in both, or made once and synced.
- A daily check compares balances in both systems and lists any family where they differ, with the likely reason.
- Month-end summaries by income type are ready for the bookkeeper and accountant.
| Record | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice | Retyped or lumped in Xero | Sent individually on approval |
| Income coding | Mixed | Fees, funding and extras separate |
| Payment | Recorded twice | Recorded in Xero, synced back |
| Balance mismatch | Found at year end | Listed daily |
If your nursery software already has a Xero connection that is simply not switched on or set up right, we will tell you, and help set it up rather than build a new one. QuickBooks and Sage can be handled the same way.
Month end, afterwards
Invoices are approved in the nursery system and appear in Xero within minutes, coded correctly. Payments from the bank feed are matched in Xero and show in the nursery system the next day. The office tells parents a balance with confidence. The bookkeeper spends time on exceptions, not retyping.
At year end, funding income and parent fees are already separate.
Management figures become something the owner can look at mid month rather than a quarter late. When fees, funding income or overdue balances move, it shows while there is still time to act.
Getting there usually starts with the bookkeeper and accountant agreeing the account codes and a start date. From that date, every invoice follows the new route, and older balances are brought across once as opening figures, so there is no need to reprocess years of history.
Is this your bookkeeping?
- Nursery invoices are retyped into Xero.
- Parent balances differ between systems.
- Payments are recorded in two places.
- Funding income is not separated from fees.
- Year-end reconciliation takes days.