Preneed sales are the defining accounting feature of the business: money is collected today, placed into trust or into an insurance product under state law, and earned only when the service is eventually performed. Books that treat preneed collections as income overstate the current year and leave no record of the obligation. At-need work has its own complication in cash advances — flowers, obituaries, clergy honoraria — which are paid on behalf of a family and are not the funeral home’s revenue.
Preneed as obligation
Collected money recorded against the contract it funds.
Trust reconciled
Balances and earnings tied to the contracts behind them.
Earned on performance
Revenue recognised when the service is delivered.
Advances excluded
Cash advance items as pass-through, never as income.
What we handle
- Preneed collections recorded as a trust obligation rather than as revenue
- Trust balances and accumulated earnings tracked against the contracts they fund
- Revenue recognised when the service is performed, with the contract released properly
- Cash advance items recorded as pass-through rather than as income
- Merchandise inventory tracked distinctly from service revenue
Common problems we fix
- Preneed collections taken to income, overstating revenue and understating obligations
- Trust balances that have never been reconciled to the contracts they support
- Cash advances run through revenue, inflating the top line and the tax on it
- No record of which contracts have been performed and which are still outstanding
We keep the books. You run the business.
Categorization, reconciliation, month-end close, and clean financial statements — with nothing left for you to chase.
View pricingHow It Works
Free review
We look at how your funeral homes books are set up today.
Fix the structure
Chart of accounts rebuilt around how your industry actually earns and spends.
Catch up
Anything behind gets cleaned up at a fixed quoted price.
Close monthly
Current, reconciled books every month — ready for your CPA.
Funeral Homes — Frequently Asked Questions
Do you understand funeral homes specifically?
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Do you work in my existing accounting file?
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Can you help if I am months behind?
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Bookkeeping built for funeral homes
Book a free consultation and we will tell you what your books need — and what it costs.
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- Solo or group
- Nationwide
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