Strategic planning for senior living: Better spend, better outcomes

Many senior services organizations are overspending, and they don’t even know it. The costs associated with manual purchasing and payables processes; delayed reporting and fragmented workflows are common examples of those hidden costs. In the senior care and skilled nursing sectors, ineffective procurement systems silently erode margins, increase risk and undermine performance. Financial leaders must find ways to tighten controls, improve transparency and streamline operations without adding complexity or administrative burden. These efforts are essential to effective strategic planning for senior living, ensuring that financial operations support long-term sustainability and better resident outcomes.

Addressing these challenges requires both structural change in workflow and the use of modern tools. By shifting away from paper-based purchasing and siloed approval chains, organizations can gain real-time visibility into spending, reduce inefficiencies and enhance compliance across the board. Solutions like Sage Intacct are built to support this transformation, offering automated workflows and centralized oversight designed specifically for multi-entity environments like senior services.

As part of Baker Tilly’s Senior Services Financial Leadership Series, the first session titled “Best practices for expense management and procurement controls in senior services” explores practical solutions for gaining visibility, improving workflows and tightening internal controls, equipping finance teams to lead with greater confidence and clarity. This article highlights key takeaways from that session, featuring proven strategies and real-world examples of how a tool like Sage Intacct can help senior services organizations improve efficiency, oversight and financial performance.