Boarding billing without the month-end scramble

Why month-end hurts

At most barns the charges are recorded in several places: board in the accounting software, extras on a whiteboard, farrier and vet visits in a text thread, supplements on the feed chart. At the end of the month someone gathers them up, and what is not found is not billed. Then an owner asks what a line means, and the answer takes another hour.

Three kinds of charges

• Recurring board: the same amount every month, per stall or per kind of board.
• Recurring add-ons: blanketing, turnout, a supplement, a training package. They repeat until someone changes them.
• One-off services: a farrier visit, a vet call-out, a trailer trip, a bag of shavings.

Recurring charges should bill themselves. One-off services need a quick way to be recorded at the moment they happen.

Record it where it happens

The person holding the horse is the right person to record the charge, on a phone, against the horse. The system knows who owns the horse, so the charge lands on the right statement. Shared ownership is a split on the horse's record, set once, not a calculation every month.

Statements owners can read

One statement per owner, with each horse and each charge on its own line, dated and described in plain words. Owners who can see their statements and invoices in a portal call less, and online payment, once you switch it on, saves a trip to the office.

The policies stay yours

Deposits, late fees, a horse that arrives mid-month, what happens when one leaves: decide them, write them down, and let the system apply them the same way every time. Your accountant confirms how each charge is taxed.

A checklist for the first month on a new system

• Every horse has an owner, or owners with their shares.
• Every recurring charge is on the horse, with a start date.
• Last month's balances are carried over and checked against your books.
• Staff know how to record a one-off service on a phone.
• One trial statement is checked line by line before any go out.