Understanding financial policies and procedures

May 20, 2014 | Aged Care Management

It can be tough to understand financial policies and procedures when running an aged care facility, especially when also dealing with regular operational concerns.

When facilities are managing growing resident numbers and dealing with staff concerns, having a clear idea of what policies and procedures are required is extremely helpful.

Creating a policy

A policy is a statement that covers a number of principles relevant to the business – essentially a guide designed to provide an overview of the various rules a facility should have in place.

When creating a policy, it should align with facility goals and any long-term plans, reflect the facility culture and, most importantly, be flexible.

As aged care facilities continue to grow staff numbers, it can helpful if the document is easily understood by everyone. This save issues further on, especially when it comes to educating new staff on the policy.

The supporting procedure

Designing and implementing the supporting procedure is equally important, as it provides instructions on how to abide by the policy. Commonly, these procedures detail the necessary activities required to complete tasks and include comprehensive guidelines.

A procedure should commonly be factual and simple, written in an easy to understand list style, and include references or links to related documents. Any forms that need to be filled out should also be linked here to make to it easier to understand and complete.

The benefits of policies and procedures

These documents need to become a staple of aged care facilities, as having centralised policies and procedures in place that detail future plans and company culture are extremely important.

As facilities continue to grow, operations are substantially easier if the correct documents have been put in place early. Certainly, with resident numbers climbing, it's a good idea to handle these types of tasks now.