Accounting HQ
Your books, closed
in camp categories.
Books closed, reconciled and reviewed every month, in camp categories, by a team that reads them before you do. You get one set of numbers for every way your camp makes money, from sessions to offseason rentals.
- Who it is for
- Owner-operated camps with more than one way of making money.
- On its own?
- Yes. This is our full monthly engagement. Camp payroll, tax, and advisory can be added to it or left out.
Showing for
Pick your camp type and this page will speak to it.
Bookkeeping and the close
A close on a calendar, not a guess.
Every deposit, refund, payroll run, and vendor bill is recorded in categories that mean something at camp: sessions, staff, food service, program, waterfront, maintenance.
We reconcile every account and close the month on a set schedule, then a Controller reviews it before it reaches you. In June, when the transactions triple, the calendar does not move.
- Monthly close on a set date
- Every account reconciled
- Reviewed before you see it
Invoicing and bill pay
Families pay easily. Vendors get paid on time.
Deposits, tuition installments, and refunds tracked against each family, so the deposit curve in your registration system matches the cash in the bank.
Vendor bills for food service, buses, trips, and repairs move through an approval you set, and get paid before anyone has to call.
Spend management
Controls that fit the fluctuating spending of camp life.
Summer means program directors buying craft supplies, trip leaders fueling vans, and the kitchen restocking twice a week. We set up cards, limits, and receipt capture that fit how camp actually spends.
Each purchase lands in the right program budget, so you can see what the waterfront or the trip program cost this session without a spreadsheet hunt.
- Cards and limits by role
- Receipts captured at purchase
- Spending by program and session
Profit by revenue line
Every revenue line, measured on its own.
Sessions, day camp, offseason rentals, retreats, the tuck shop, timber, and pasture leases each get their own line. You see what each one brings in and what it costs to run.
That is what lets you decide whether to add a session, raise a rate, or rent the property more in the fall.
Your team
Three people on your account, minimum.
A Fin Ops Specialist runs the daily transactions and is the person you text. A Controller owns your month-end close and reporting. A Director oversees the whole team and serves as your fractional CFO.
Behind them sit payroll, tax, and nonprofit specialists who already know how a camp earns and spends.
The standard
Five levels of financial statements. We start at three.
Not all books are the same, and most camps have never been told what level theirs are actually at. Here is the scale our client directors use. The first two levels are not services we offer, at any price. A camp making real decisions on a real budget deserves a floor, and this is ours.
01
Not offeredUnmanaged / DIY
Books kept when there is time
Transactions sit uncategorized or miscoded, bank and card accounts do not tie out, and nothing is reconciled on a schedule. The statements cannot carry a decision, a loan application, or a tax return without a cleanup project first.
02
Not offeredBasic bookkeeping
Categorized, but only cash is reconciled
Someone maintains the books and reconciles bank and credit cards. Everything else on the balance sheet - loans, prepaids, fixed assets, payroll liabilities - goes unreviewed. Good enough for a general sense of activity, not for a decision.
03
Full month-end close
Numbers you can trust directionally
An accountant runs a structured close every month and reviews every balance sheet account. Reconciliation depth follows materiality rather than line-by-line on everything, but nothing is left unexamined: no negative or unreasonable balances, no unresolved suspense accounts.
Where we start
04
Full business performance close
Numbers that can carry advice
Level 3 plus the full performance picture each month: timing adjusted so the statements reflect what was actually earned and owed, not just cash in and out, with budget-to-actual alongside it. This is the level where CFO and advisory guidance rests on something solid.
Most camps land here
05
Audit-ready
Numbers that hold up to outside scrutiny
Full documentation and a traceable audit trail behind every material transaction and judgment - accruals, estimates, reserves, revenue recognition. Supporting schedules reconcile to the general ledger and policies are written down and applied consistently, so an audit or a diligence process finds little to adjust.
For audits and diligence
Every engagement begins with an honest read on where your books sit today, and a plan to get them to the level the decisions in front of you require.
From a camp we work with
Financial consistency and executive leadership support
A camp that needed steady monthly books and a senior voice at the table, in their own words.
A team, not a system
Accounting Operations is the all-hands version: named people do the work, close the books, and review them every month. For a simpler camp, or one working on a tighter budget, Real-Time Bookkeeping is the automated alternative. Software keeps the ledger and we oversee it.
Related
The rest of Accounting HQ
Real-Time Bookkeeping
Transactions categorized as they clear, for smaller day camps and first seasons.
Camp Payroll
Payroll built for a headcount that triples in June.
Filings and Compliance
1099s, donor letters, and license renewals, with the due dates kept for you.
Next door
Advisory HQ
When the books are steady, the bigger decisions get easier. That work lives next door.
Next step
Start with your season, not a proposal.
Tell us how your year runs, which revenue lines you have, and where the books fall behind. We will tell you what a month with us looks like.