Step 1Family billing
Billing, in the menu: one page each, from Invoices to Billing settings. Each page says in one line what it holds.
The pages, in order: Invoices, Payments, Bank deposits, Family accounts, Fee subsidy, Reports and Billing settings. The fees are the first part of Billing settings, and the CWELCC year is one of the Reports. Someone who records payments sees Payments, Families and Reports. The dashboard's to-do items open the right page.
Who may do what is set by an owner on Logins and access, in a person's access dialog:
- "Bills families (fees, invoices and payments from families)": an administrator who does the billing, with every change an owner can make here except reopening a closed month, the opening balances, sending the details for Zūm Rails and setting the payout days and the reserve, which stay with the owners.
- "Reads family billing": a bookkeeper (an administrator or an office staff member) who reads every family's account, invoices, payments and the reports, and changes nothing.
- "Records payments", under "Reads family billing": someone who records the payments families make outside KeepCount (e-Transfers, cheques, cash) and matches them to families. They never issue, credit, refund or reverse.
If you only read family billing, Invoices says so; if you record payments, Payments does. Anyone else who opens it reads "Family billing is for the owners, and the people an owner allows under Logins and access." KeepCount support can read family billing in a support session and never changes it.
In a demonstration, a line under each page's heading says the families, invoices and amounts are fictional and nothing is sent to anyone.
Step 2Settings
Billing settings: the payee and numbers printed on invoices, the monthly run's days, a monthly fee in a part month, and your CWELCC enrolment.
"On invoices": the payee name, your business or HST number, the address, and how invoice and credit note numbers start. Numbers are given when an invoice is issued, never to a draft.
"The monthly run": the month the run starts with, the day the drafts are made (the 15th unless you change it), the day they are issued and the day they are due. Sending by themselves is not a setting to tick: once you have sent two months yourselves, This month offers it, and its line there has "Stop it". The numbering, the part-month rule, the closed days and the returned payments are under "More". "Email each invoice to the family's payers when it is issued" is off until you tick it; the email says "You have a new invoice from" your organization, with the number, the month, the amount and the due date, then one sentence on how the invoice is paid (a pre-authorized debit already scheduled for it, with its amount, its day and the last four digits of the bank account; or that the family pays by pre-authorized debit and gets the amount and the day by email first; or, when neither is known, to pay the way it usually pays your organization), never a child's name, and a button that opens the invoice on keepcount.ca for 14 days. A demonstration never emails.
"Returned payments" has two settings. "When a family's payment is returned, add what KeepCount charges for it" puts one line, "Returned payment charges", on that family's next invoice at your cost: the amount on KeepCount's invoice with its HST, and no HST added to the family's line. "Returned payment fee" is your own fee, up to $200.00, added to the same line for each payment returned from the day you set it; leave it empty for none. When the fee is set here, the returned payment fee in your fees list is not invoiced as well. The line is on the draft, so you can change or remove it before you issue the invoice.
"A monthly fee in a part month" chooses how a child who starts or leaves mid-month is billed: the daily rate times the days of care, or the month's share of the days of care. The closure ticks say which closures a monthly fee does not bill (planned closures, say); the month's line then shows the days billed and the days closed.
"CWELCC": tick it if the centre is enrolled in the Canada-wide early learning and child care system, with the day it enrolled. "Save the billing settings" keeps them.
"Payments from earlier this year" is for a centre that moves to KeepCount during a year, and only an owner sees it. Choose the year and your previous app's list of that year's payments (its invoice transactions, a CSV or Excel file). KeepCount reads every row, leaves out the payments not paid (refunded or returned) and counts them, and records nothing until every row matches a family and a family member who pays, and the file's own total matches the rows to the cent. A receipt is for child care only: type each family member's late pick-up or returned-payment fees in those payments, if any, and "Save the fees"; they stay off the receipt. Then compare each family member's total with your previous app's report, tick that you did, tick that your previous app will not issue receipts for the year, tick that you took out any such fees or there were none, and "Use these payments on 2026's receipts" (the year you chose). Each family member then gets one receipt for the year, with a note of the months paid through the previous app. These payments are never on a statement, a deposit or the books. "Undo this import" asks why, and works until a receipt for the year is printed or a family opens its receipts with them; after that, a correction goes on an amended receipt.
Step 3The CWELCC figures
CWELCC figures: choose your service area and "Fill from the regulation's table"; the base fee on December 31, 2024 and any authorized agreement go beside it.
An enrolled centre may not charge a base fee above the lower of $22 a day and either the base fee it charged on December 31, 2024 (if it was enrolled that day) or, if it was not, the amount in the regulation's table for its service area (O. Reg. 137/15, s. 77.2(1) and (2)). A different base fee applies only where the Minister has authorized the local service system to agree one with the centre (s. 77.2(3)): enter it under "Authorized agreement".
"Fill from the regulation's table" fills a site's figures from the tables of s. 77.2 as e-Laws prints them, read on October 15, 2026. Choose the program first: before and after school has its own table, and each fee says which program it is for.
"Paid closures", lower on Billing settings once the CWELCC box is ticked, takes each site's region (the municipality or district board that manages child care) and the closed days families may be charged for. Checks warns when a site's closures on the calendar go over; it never stops an invoice.
Step 4Fees
Fees, the first part of Billing settings: each fee your parent handbook lists, with its amount, its kind, the age group and whether it is still offered.
The parent handbook lists the base fee and any other fees, the payment methods and when fees are refunded or credited (O. Reg. 137/15, s. 45(1)(a)(iii) to (iii.0.2)). Add each of them here: the child care fees by age group, a registration fee if you charge one, a last month's deposit, a late pick-up or late payment fee, a returned payment fee, an optional item.
A fee that is stopped stays on the invoices it is on and is no longer offered. "Download CSV" exports the list.
Step 5A new fee
"Add a fee": the name families read on the invoice, the kind, the amount and how it is charged, the program, the age group and the sales tax.
The fields: Name (as families read it on the invoice), Kind (child care fee, registration fee, last month's deposit, late pick-up, late payment, returned payment, an optional item or service, another charge), Amount, Charged (a month, a week, a day, a half day, an hour, once), a daily rate for part months, the Program (full day, or before and after school), the Age group, the Sales tax, the Site and whether it is offered. "The new price applies from" sets the month a new price starts; tick "A correction" to fix a price typed wrong instead.
The CWELCC check spreads a registration fee over the child's days of care in a year ($500.00 over 250 days is $2.00 a day) and checks a last month's deposit at its price a day.
Step 6Family accounts
Family accounts: one account for each family, with who pays, the children billed to them, the balance and the status.
The account number (1001 and up) is printed on invoices and statements, and a payment's reference can carry it. "Add a family account" makes a new one. The balance is what the family owes, or its credit. Search by a payer's name or the account number.
When a child stops care and the family still holds a credit from CWELCC credit notes, this page lists it with the date 60 days later by which it is paid back (O. Reg. 137/15, s. 77.2(6)).
Step 7A family account
A family account: who pays, the children billed to the family, the site and a note for the office, then the recurring fees and the statement.
"Who pays": each payer's name and email, and "Pays". "Add a payer" adds a second one (a separated parent, say); with two, a share for each splits every invoice, and each invoice shows each payer's part. A payer who is also the child's family member in KeepCount sees the invoices under Billing on their family page. Where a payer's link to the child is set not to show the other guardians, that payer reads only their own name on the invoice, in the app and in the emailed link; the other payers' parts show their percentage and amount as "A payer". A payer you type in without a sign-in has no link, so nothing hides the others from them.
"Recurring fees": each child's fees with the day they start. The month's draft is made from them and from each child's schedule, first day and last day. "End it" stops a fee from a day; "Remove" takes off one added by mistake.
"Statement": what the family owes or its credit, line by line, with "Print the statement", "Record a payment" and "Pay the credit back".
Step 8The month's drafts
Invoices: the month's drafts, one for each family, with the summary line, "Make the drafts" and "Issue n drafts".
The month's arrows show the months before and after. On or after the run day, the page opens on next month.
The run makes the drafts on the run day; "Make the drafts for" a month makes them now. Each draft comes from the family's recurring fees and each child's schedule, first day and last day. "Add a one-off invoice" is for anything else: choose the family and the period, then add its lines from the fees.
"Issue n drafts" issues every draft that is not held, not marked "fees changed", and passes the CWELCC check. Nothing is sent to families yet: print an invoice to give it, or tick the email under Settings. Search by family, child or number; "Download CSV" exports the month.
"<Month> is different" changes a month for one family or for many, with a reason, before you change each draft by hand. It is on This month and on Look over and send (every family at a site, or at every site), and on a family's account (this family). For every family: bill fewer days (the centre is open; the fee comes off at the daily rate), the centre is closed on some days (only with the box ticked: the days go in the site's calendar as closures and are not billed), or a discount. For one family: bill only the days picked, a discount, or another amount for one child's care (less than the fee). A discount is an amount for each child or a percentage of the care fee, for the month only or from it on until you end it. The reason is chosen from a list; "Something else" takes a few words the family does not see. "See what it changes" shows, before anything is kept, what happens in numbers and each family before and after; for every family "Change <Month>" asks once more. The drafts change and keep it when they are made again; an invoice already sent gets a credit note instead, which is not emailed. This month lists the month's changes, each with "Undo the <Month> change" while none of its invoices is sent, and a discount that runs on has "End the discount". At a CWELCC centre, a discount or another amount lowers the base fee revenue you report to your service system manager (the Ontario CWELCC funding guideline, Part 2 (c)); it does not raise your CWELCC funding, and the dialog says so under its sentence.
Step 9A draft and the CWELCC check
Open a draft: its lines by child, the tax and the total. A draft above the CWELCC cap says so, with the arithmetic and what to change.
The lines: each fee, the child, the quantity, the amount and the dates. "Add a line" adds a fee; "Change" on a line changes it, and an amount that differs from the fee needs a memo saying why ("3 days in September"). "Make the run's lines again" redoes the lines from today's schedules and fees. "Hold" keeps a draft back from "Issue n drafts"; "Release" lets it go. "Delete the draft" removes a draft, which has no number yet.
The CWELCC check compares each eligible child's base fee with the cap in force for the period (s. 77.2). A draft above it is not issued with the others. "A note on the CWELCC average" is not a refusal: the invoice can be issued. "The family's fees or days changed since this draft was made" asks you to make the lines again.
Step 10An issued invoice
An issued invoice: "Print the invoice", "Issue a credit note" and "Credit and redraft". What is credited shows under it.
The invoice shows the family, the period, the day it is dated and due, its status, and what has been credited on each line. "Print the invoice" prints it to give to the family. A fee subsidy shows the funder's share and the family's.
"Credit and redraft" is for an invoice with a mistake: the credit note is issued now for what is left of each line (a last month's deposit stays as it is), and the new draft's lines are worked out again from today's schedules and fees. Check the new draft, then issue it.
Step 11A credit note
"Issue a credit note": why, an amount on each line up to what is left of it, and a memo the family reads.
The reasons: a closure, the child left, an overpayment, fee subsidy approved, a CWELCC adjustment, a mistake on the invoice, or something else (say what). The memo is printed on the credit note ("Closed October 14 for a water main break"). A second credit for the same lines asks why it is another one.
With "The child left" chosen on an invoice with a base fee, the dialog says to record the child's last day and use "Credit and redraft" instead: the new draft bills the days of care up to that day by the centre's part-month rule. A credit by the days missed can differ from it by a few dollars, and the books' checks then list the invoice.
A credit note has its own number and prints like an invoice. What it credits becomes the family's credit when the invoice was already paid, and the next invoice uses it first.
Step 12Record a payment
"Record a payment": the amount, the day, how it came, who sent it and the reference. KeepCount suggests the family and says which invoices it pays.
Payments shows the month's payments: who paid, how, the amount, what it paid for and its status (not matched, to deposit, at the bank, reversed). Each payment pays the family's oldest invoices first; what is left is the family's credit for the next invoice. "Pay a different invoice first" changes the order for one payment.
In the dialog: the amount, the day it was received, how (Interac e-Transfer, cash, cheque, bank transfer, debit card, credit card, other), the sender as the bank shows it, and the reference (an e-Transfer's reference or a cheque's number is required). KeepCount suggests the family from the sender's name and the amount owed ("Pays INV-00412 $200.00 of $476.67 (part)"). "Keep it to match later" puts it on To match with the sender's name.
To match lists money received with no family yet, oldest first; after 10 days each one shows under Needs you. "Link to account" or "Choose the family" matches it. A payment opened from the list has "Print a receipt"; an owner or an administrator who bills families can also undo a match or reverse a payment, with the reason.
Step 13Match the bank's file
"Match the bank's file": choose your bank's transactions file. Each money-in line shows what KeepCount suggests, recorded with one tap.
Download the transactions from your bank's website as a CSV file and choose it here. If the columns are not found, the "Columns" choice names the date, the way dates are written, the description and the money in.
Each money-in line says what it probably is: recorded already, a deposit you made, or a family by the payer's name or the amount owed. "Record the payment" records it with the bank's date and the e-Transfer's reference; "Record as not matched" puts it on To match; "Leave it out" skips it.
Step 14Bank deposits
Bank deposits: the cash and cheques to take to the bank, the month's bank deposits, money paid back, and the deposits you hold.
"Cash and cheques to take to the bank": each one waiting, with a tick; the day deposited and the slip number go with "Record the bank deposit". An e-Transfer or a bank transfer reaches the bank on its own and is its own deposit.
"Bank deposits": the month's deposits with what each payment paid for. "Undo" takes back a slip recorded by mistake (it is kept, marked undone).
"Deposits held": each last month's deposit, with "Use the deposit" (on an invoice) and "Pay it back". A deposit goes back to whoever paid it. A family's credit is paid back the same way from its statement.
Step 15Fee subsidy
Fee subsidy: the funders, each child's approval from its first day, the funders' payments, and a month's claim to print.
"Add a funder": its name, your service agreement's reference, and the absences a year it pays for (Checks warns past it). "Record an approval": the family, the child, the funder, the first day, the last day if known, what the family pays a month, and the funder's case number. An invoice shows each funder's share and the family's.
"Record a funder's payment" when the money reaches the bank. "A funder's claim" prints a month's claim for one funder.
Step 16The reports
Reports: what each family owes by age, who paid what, the deposits for your accountant, the journal for your bookkeeping, and more.
"Owed, by age": each family's balance, not yet due, 1 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90 and over 90 days.
"Who paid what": each child by month for a year, by the month the care was for or the month the money came in, as a CSV.
"Deposits held": every last month's deposit held on a day you choose. "Year-end receipts" is the last step of this guide.
"Deposits": for the accountant, one view of six columns (date, type, payer and child, what it was for, amount, deposit), each bank deposit tied to the bank, anything that needs you on top.
"For your bookkeeping": the journal between two days as a CSV, or a file for QuickBooks Online or Xero, with your own account codes (enter them under "Your account codes" first).
"Month in numbers": for a month or any period up to a year, what was billed (care fees, other charges, tax), the money in and out, and what families owed at the start and end. Each figure is a total of the journal for those dates; it prints, or downloads as a CSV.
"For the municipality": base fees by site, age group and month, what was invoiced against what was collected (fee subsidy shown), and the children and their days of care, up to two years.
"CWELCC year" shows a site's year month by month: service days, what the invoices earned and what was collected, against the expected base fee revenue offset in your region's letter, which you enter.
Step 17Close the month
Settings, then "Closing a month": the checks, then "Close" the month once it has ended. Its entries in the books are then locked.
The checks: each invoice equals its lines, nothing is billed twice, and the books tie for each family, the deposits held and each bank deposit. A failing check shows under Needs you and here; "Check again" runs them again after a fix.
Months close in order. Anything recorded later for a closed month goes into the first open month. Only an owner can reopen the last closed month.
Needs you also lists a CWELCC credit still owed 45 days after a child left, a family's credit unused for 30 days, and money waiting to be matched for 10 days.
Step 18Payments with Zūm
Settings, "Payments with Zūm": each office or centre's state, and the details an owner sends to start Zūm's application.
Zūm Rails is the payment processor: it takes the debits from families' banks into the centre's wallet at Zūm and pays the wallet out to the centre's bank. The owner sends the office or centre, its Interac email, its address and the name families see on their bank statements (15 letters, digits or spaces at most). KeepCount support then sends them to Zūm; Zūm asks the owner for the rest directly.
Once the wallet is set up, "Wallets and payouts" shows what is in the wallet, the next payout and the last payouts. A new wallet never applies on one person's word: a second KeepCount support person approves it, or an owner or an administrator taps "Confirm the new wallet" and it applies 48 hours after it was entered. The owners and administrators are emailed when one is entered and when it applies, and payouts to a new wallet wait seven days.
The processing fees are on keepcount.ca/pricing.
Step 19Approve the debits
Payments, "Pre-authorized debits": each run of debits waits for "Review and approve", with every family's amount, invoices and checks.
The run lists each family account, the payer and children, the invoices it pays, the amount, and the checks ("All passed", or what held it back). "Families with no debit in this run" and "Changes since the last run" are listed under it. "Print" prints the run; "Approve" lets it go to the bank on its day. Where two people bill families, the person who last issued or changed an invoice in the run cannot approve it alone.
Recording a payment the family made another way cancels the debit for that invoice, unless you keep it. A debit that comes back from the bank shows under "Returned payments" on the family account: why, the returned payment charge and fee added to the family's next invoice when you have set them (Settings), and the Interac request KeepCount sent the payer for what is owed. KeepCount never debits it again by itself. A family whose bank is not in Zūm's list, or whose account has more than one payer, pays by Interac request instead: "Send an Interac request" on the family account.
Step 20Every payment through Zūm
Payments, "Payments through Zūm": the month's debits, Interac requests, returned payments, payouts and money paid back, what is to come first.
Each line has the day, what it is, the family or office, the amount and its status. Each payout to your bank is one bank deposit: Reports, Deposits, "Open the payout's lines" shows every payment in it and what each paid for.
Money paid back to a family through Zūm goes to the parent's bank or by Interac, never more than the payments in the wallet that have cleared.
Step 21Year-end receipts
Reports, "Year-end receipts": each payer's receipt for the year, with the fees paid for each child, your name, address and business number.
"Print all n receipts" prints every payer's receipt; "Print" on a row prints one. A receipt changed since it was printed says so: print an amended one. Money paid back comes off the payments of the parent it went to. A paying family member prints their own from Billing on their family page.
A receipt for one payment, on request: "Print a receipt" on the payment.