The senior living industry has the wind at its back. Occupancy keeps inching up while new supply takes its time, so growth depends on sharper execution and expanding the portfolio with new communities. Finance drives progress when consolidated reporting is trusted, the story stays consistent, and the numbers arrive while there’s still time to act. Cloud accounting paired with software assisted living organizations use makes this feasible without building a bigger back office.
Why scale now (and why operators want to be ready)
Demand is building faster than supply. Industry data shows U.S. senior housing occupancy climbing again in Q3 2025, with assisted living up to roughly 87% and independent living topping 90% — while new inventory growth sits near record lows. That math favors operators who can add communities and tighten operations, not those waiting on ground-up builds.
The demographic wave is no longer theoretical. The 80-plus population begins accelerating meaningfully in 2025 and keeps climbing through 2030, creating durable, need-based demand in the exact years most operators are planning expansion.
Also consider that capital is active, but selective. M&A volumes are on a record pace, with investors leaning into acquisitions while construction remains expensive and slow. Sellers with compelling numbers command attention; buyers who demonstrate a track record of improving operations, raising occupancy, and controlling costs are more attractive to sellers and lenders.
Plus, workforce pressure hasn’t gone away. Staffing costs remain a top concern, which makes faster reads on unit economics and labor efficiency more valuable to margin protection.
Combined, the opportunity is real and near-term. Is your organization ready to capitalize?
What the CFO needs from the finance stack
CFOs tell us they want a single, reliable place where the numbers arrive on time and are consistent. A cloud-based, multi-entity general ledger helps because intercompany transactions, eliminations, and roll-ups work like regular workflows rather than side projects. Structure is also important. When the chart of accounts and dimensions reflect how senior living actually operates — community, level of care, payer, service line — portfolio comparisons no longer require exports and email threads.
Visibility should follow how leaders think. Most teams prefer an executive view that opens at the portfolio level and drills into communities without detouring through spreadsheets. Cash fits that pattern as well: a reliable morning read from bank connections, a clean AR aging, and a DSO trend you can influence beat a weekly scramble every time. Planning belongs on the same dimensional backbone so “plan vs actuals” becomes a short conversation, not translation gymnastics.
Governance maintains the credibility of the entire system. Role-based approvals and an audit trail reassure auditors and lenders. Clinical details (PHI) remain within care systems; finance receives only the essential signals — counts, levels, dates, and dollars — aligned with HIPAA standards.
The finance-hub model
Think of finance at the center with timely data flowing in from the systems that run the day.
Care and operations platforms such as ALIS pass resident census, level-of-care updates, and billable services into the GL’s dimensions. Billing and collections post charges, adjustments, and receipts with the right tags. Time-and-attendance contributes actual hours and overtime mix by department or cost center. CRM adds committed and likely move-ins and move-outs. Bank connections keep the cash picture current throughout the week. When those streams land cleanly, leaders see the portfolio first, then the communities, and only then the transactions — no swivel-chair accounting required.
What software assisted living software should contribute to finance
Software assisted living organizations use quickly proves its value when it clarifies finances rather than complicates them. Census and level-of-care data should be integrated into the dimensional model so revenue integrity appears in the same system you use to close. Dashboards should reflect an operator’s perspective: occupancy, revenue per occupied room (REVPOR, net of concessions), labor per resident day, and care-line margin with clear trends. When outliers are obvious and the explanation is just a click away, the tools are doing their job.
Planning should close the loop. Budgets and rolling forecasts that use the same dimensions as the GL keep conversations grounded; there’s no separate spreadsheet universe to reconcile later.
A CFO’s playbook for scale
Scaling successfully shows up as consistency and dependability. The finance team hits the same marks every month, leaders see the same story every week, and new communities plug neatly into the model. Four pieces make that possible:
- Close and consolidate on a clock
When dimensions and the chart are well designed, intercompany and eliminations go smoothly. Month-end occurs as scheduled, lender packets are straightforward, and everyone trusts the roll-up. That dependability frees up time for making decisions instead of reconciling. - Unit economics on one page
Most teams run the business from a single portfolio view that drills into communities. Occupancy, revenue per occupied room (REVPOR, net), labor per resident day, and care-line margin live together with short trends. The value isn’t the chart; it’s the shorter meeting and the clearer call on where to focus. - Working capital with a steady cadence
Cash feels more stable when inputs are consistent. A morning check of bank connections, a clean AR aging, and a collections rhythm aligned with targets keep “where’s the money” out of the weekly fire drill. Performing billing completeness checks before statements go out prevents surprises later. - M&A readiness baked in
Whether you are buying or being underwritten, a standard chart and dimension set, controls that travel with roles, and a fast first roll-up make you easier to evaluate and easier to integrate. That readiness pays off on both sides of the table.
Everything here gets easier when a cloud finance hub, like Sage Intacct, pulls care, billing, T&A, CRM, and banks into one dependable view.
Integrations that matter
It’s tempting to integrate everything. It’s smarter to integrate what drives decisions. From care and operations, that usually means census, level of care, and service detail coming from your software assisted living (e.g., ALIS, PointClickCare) mapped to dimensions. From billing and collections, it’s charges, adjustments, and receipts with payer context. From time-and-attendance, it’s hours and categories aligned to departments or cost centers. From CRM, it’s a short horizon of expected move-ins and move-outs. From banks, it’s balances and cleared activity. When those pieces arrive on time and in the right shape, the rest of finance runs smoother.
Where Sage Intacct and BT Partners fit
Sage Intacct lines up with how senior living runs, with multi-entity at the core, dimensions that mirror communities and care lines, and integrations you can count on. The technology is only half the story, though. Through our experience in this space, BT Partners brings the experience, design, and the discipline — we’re talking chart and dimension architecture, software assisted living software locations use, role-based controls, lender-ready reporting packs, and the kind of support where you never hesitate to call. Together, it feels less like new software and more like a finance hub that scales properties without scaling headcount. Reach out.
