Perpetual care funds are a legal obligation in most states, requiring cemeteries to maintain a segregated fund whose income supports the long-term maintenance of the grounds. The accounting for these funds is more complex than standard revenue tracking: contributions need to be recorded separately from operating income, fund earnings need to be tracked and reported, and disbursements need to be documented against the appropriate maintenance activities. General accounting software handles these requirements poorly because it is not designed around the regulatory framework that governs cemetery trust funds. CemSites includes dedicated perpetual care tracking tools built for those specific requirements.
Pre-need escrow accounts introduce similar complexity. Funds collected against future burial services must be held in escrow and reported according to state regulations that vary significantly across jurisdictions. CemSites cemetery trust accounting software tracks escrow contributions, earnings, and disbursements within a dedicated record structure separate from operating accounts, producing the reports that regulatory bodies require without manual compilation. Cemeteries that want to understand how the trust accounting and perpetual care tools apply to their state's specific requirements can discuss that directly with CemSites during a demo.
