ElderCare Accounting FAQ

1.  What is ElderCare Accounting?

2.  What are some examples of how the services work?

3.  Why is ElderCare Accounting important?

4.  What does this cost?

5.  What do I do if I am interested in this service?

If you have any other questions, please contact us.

1.  What is ElderCare Accounting?

We have seen a number of circumstances where the finances of an older person have become too complex for them to handle.  We have also seen cases where someone (a third party care- or service-provider or even a family member) takes advantage of the older person and transfers significant money from their accounts.  Problems seem to be most common when some, or all, of the elder person's immediate family are located in another town.  The elder person tends to want to maintain their independence, and the remote family members often seem to want to believe everything is fine until they are faced with chaotic financial circumstances or worse. 

We developed the ElderCare Accounting services to address these issues.  There are three components to ElderCare accounting.

1.  Accounting Services - These services are built around the WJH Accounting Online services and the Intacct web-based accounting application.  These tools allow us to create the exact services to fit an individuals' or families' circumstances.  With the web-based tools, we can create a process where remote family members have access to information about an elder person's accounts or even have control over disbursements from the accounts.

2.  LifeRecords - LifeRecords® is a personal information organizer designed to help organize important personal financial records and estate planning documents in one convenient location.  We recommend that our older clients strongly consider LifeRecords or an equivalent option as a way of collecting and storing their important information.  For more information see the LifeRecords FAQ page.

3.  Financial Plan Consulting - These services provide a team approach to not only aiding in the development and monitoring a financial plan, but also coordinating the investments that are part of the implementation of the plan.  See the information about financial plan consulting here and investment coordination by clicking here.

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2.  What are some examples of how the services work?

The service is customized for each client, but the follow examples show how it can work.

• The mother of three children has a debilitating disease and is no longer able to handle her own finances.  The children are in three different states.   One daughter agrees to handle her mother's finances.  All income and all bills are mailed to WJH.  Our staff inputs the bills into the Intacct application, deposits all income into the bank, and enters the deposits into Intacct.  On a monthly basis, we queue the bills to be paid in Intacct and the daughter receives an e-mail asking for approval to pay.  For those bills she approves, we print the checks (with an electronically applied signature) and mail the payment.  All of the other children can see the Intacct account at anytime and can follow the transactions if they want.  (Note that there are numerous other options.  For example, the daughter could receive the income and deposit those items while we receive only the bills.)

• A second example would be a mother who is still capable of making her own decisions, but is worried about her finances and wants someone looking over her shoulder (or perhaps other family members feel that she needs the oversight).  The mother could continue to receive income and deposit the income.  She could also receive bills and forward those to WJH.  We would pay the bills and the mother (and, perhaps someone else, if needed) would have approval for the bill payments.  We would print and mail the payments, reconcile the bank account, and also watch for unusual activity in the account.  Again, her children could view the account and transactions online.

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3.  Why is ElderCare Accounting important?

The reasons are as varied as the individual circumstances.

• As stated above, we have seen cases where someone has taken advantage of the elderly person.  Sometimes this a family member, but often it is someone who is providing a service and overcharging. 

• We have also seen cases where a charity, political organization, book club, or some other entity has called and received a donation or subscription from the individual without there being much thought given to the action.   And, of course, once they get that first check they keep calling back.

• Perhaps most important, is the sense of security the services can provide to both the elderly person and family members.  

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4.  What does this cost?

Since each case is different, we need to provide a quote for the service based on individual circumstances.  The cost varies depending on the number of sources of income, the number of checks written per month, and the number of approvers in the system.  A rule of thumb is that it will cost a minimum of $200 per month.  The costs can be significantly higher if there is a lot of account activity.

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5.  What do I do if I am interested in this service?

Contact us at WJH.  We will setup a meeting (or teleconference) to answer your questions and collect the information we need to determine the mix of services and provide a fee estimate.

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