Bookkeeping

A clean chart of accounts for home care

The short version

A generic chart of accounts hides everything that matters in home care. Build one that splits revenue by payer and puts caregiver labor in its own cost-of-service line, and your P&L starts answering real questions — which payers pay, and what care truly costs.

Why the default chart fails agencies

Out-of-the-box charts lump all income into “Sales” and scatter labor across the statement. For an agency whose economics are payer rate minus cost of care, that’s the two most important numbers made invisible. You end up with books that satisfy a tax return but can’t run the business.

Split revenue by payer

Give each payer type its own income account — Medicaid, waiver programs, MCOs, VA, private pay. Now the P&L shows your payer mix and revenue concentration at a glance, and you can watch a program’s share (and its margin) move over time. That single change turns the income statement into a management report.

Put labor in cost of services

  • Create a cost-of-services (COGS) section for direct care — caregiver wages, payroll taxes on those wages, and mileage.
  • Keep office, admin, and owner overhead in operating expenses, separate from direct care.
  • This exposes gross margin — revenue minus the cost of delivering care — which is the number that tells you whether the model works before overhead.
Let NavSuccess handle itWe set up a home-care chart of accounts and keep it clean, so your reports actually mean something.

NavSuccess does this for home care & healthcare agencies — see Bookkeeping for home care.

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Common questions

How detailed should the chart be?

Detailed enough to answer your real questions — revenue by payer, direct care vs overhead — but not so granular that categorizing becomes a chore. Structure beats sprawl.

Can I fix my chart of accounts mid-year?

Yes, and it’s worth it. A careful re-map (with prior periods restated where possible) gives you comparable reports; a bookkeeper who knows home care can do it without breaking your history.

Does the chart change how I bill?

No — billing runs off authorizations and payer rules. The chart changes how you see the results, so you can manage payer mix and margin.

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