A daycare can print its own payroll and bill checks using a computer, a regular printer and blank check stock, as long as the payroll figures come from your payroll provider or accountant. They work out gross pay, withholding and net pay. You print the checks for those amounts, record them, and lock the blank stock away. A small center usually needs only a short monthly routine.
What checks does a daycare write in a typical month?
A childcare center has a short, repeating list of payees. The names change very little from month to month, which is why saving them once pays off.
- Staff pay for lead teachers, assistants and a cook or cleaner, usually every two weeks or twice a month
- Rent or a mortgage payment for the building
- Food and supplies: groceries or a food distributor, cleaning products, craft and classroom materials
- Utilities, internet and phone
- Insurance premiums, which are often quarterly or annual and larger than other bills
- Occasional parent refunds, such as an overpaid tuition week or a returned registration deposit
- Licensing fees, background check fees and training costs
Take a center with five employees paid twice a month. That is ten paychecks, plus rent, a food order, two utilities and an insurance installment, so around sixteen checks in a typical month. At that volume you want something you can pick up for an hour on bill-pay day, not a system you have to maintain.
How do you print payroll checks for daycare staff?
Printing the check is the easy part. Getting the right figures is the hard part, and that part belongs to a professional. Payroll involves tax withholding, filings and rules that vary by state, so your payroll provider or accountant should supply every figure you print.
A workable split looks like this. Your payroll provider or accountant gives you a pay summary for each period: employee name, pay period dates, hours or salary, gross pay, deductions and net pay. You print a check for the net amount and put the earnings detail on the stub, so the employee can see how the number was reached. The full process is covered in How to Print Payroll Checks at Home, and pay day itself in How to Print Checks for Multiple Employees.
Pay staff on the same days every period and date each check with the real pay date. Ask your accountant what payroll records you must keep and for how long.
Step by step: a monthly check routine for a daycare
- Collect what is due. Gather the month's bills and the payroll summary from your provider in one folder, so nothing gets paid from memory.
- Check each total against its source. Match every bill to its invoice and every paycheck to the payroll summary before you type a single amount.
- Enter the checks in your check printing software or spreadsheet. Use the payee name exactly as it appears on the invoice, and add the invoice number or pay period to the memo.
- Run a test print on plain paper. Hold it against a real check in front of a light to confirm the fields line up, and print at 100 percent (Actual size).
- Load only as many sheets of blank stock as you need, and print. Write down how many sheets you took from the locked box and how many are left.
- Review the printed checks against the source documents, then sign. If you leave the signature line blank, hand-sign each check.
- Record the check numbers, file the invoices and pay summaries, and put the remaining stock back under lock.
What belongs on the stub and memo line?
The memo line is short, so use it for one fact a person can scan: an invoice number, a pay period or a month. The stub has more room and is the right place for detail. If you are unsure what to put on the memo, read What Is the Memo Line on a Check?.
| Check type | Memo line | Stub detail | Where the figures come from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll | Pay period end date | Pay period, hours or salary, gross, deductions, net | Payroll provider or accountant |
| Rent | Month, such as October rent | Lease or unit reference if you use one | Your lease |
| Food and supplies | Invoice number | One line per invoice with number and amount | Supplier invoice |
| Insurance | Policy number | Policy period and installment number | Insurance bill |
| Parent refund | Refund and reason | Original payment date and amount, refund amount | Your tuition records |
How do you keep blank check stock safe in a childcare center?
Blank check stock is a fraud risk, and a childcare center has constant foot traffic from parents, visitors, substitutes and delivery drivers. Keep the stock in a locked drawer or cabinet in the office, not in a classroom or at the front desk, and let one person hold the key.
Count the sheets after each print run and write the number down. If a sheet jams or prints badly, do not toss it in the trash. Void it, record the check number as voided, and shred what is left. Never leave a signed check on the front desk; hand it over or mail it the same day. For more on what the paper itself is, see What Is Blank Check Stock?.
Common mistakes daycares make with checks
- Printing paychecks before the payroll figures are final, then voiding and reprinting
- Putting more about a child or family on a refund check memo than the record needs
- Letting one person enter, print, sign and reconcile every check with nobody else ever looking. Even in a small center, have the owner or director review the register and the bank statement
- Keeping blank stock in an unlocked drawer in the front office
- Skipping the record when a check is voided. A voided number should stay in your register marked as voided
- Not telling your payroll provider or accountant when a paycheck is voided and reissued, so their records no longer match yours
Check Writer 123 is a web app that suits this kind of low volume. Plans start at $9.99 a month for 20 checks after a 14-day free trial with no card needed, and you can save staff and vendors, put pay-period or invoice lines on the stub, and download a register report as a CSV for your accountant. Your payroll provider or accountant gives you the net pay; you pick the employee, enter the net amount, put the pay period on the stub and print. See pricing.
Putting it together
Treat check day as a recurring appointment: gather, verify, print, review, sign, record, lock up. Once the staff and vendor list is saved, the routine is mostly checking figures rather than typing. Keep every register export and invoice where your accountant can reach them.
For a shorter overview of how centers and shops use the tool, see check printing for daycares and small shops. To keep the records tidy afterward, read How to Keep a Digital Record of Printed Checks, and for rent specifically, How to Print Rent Checks for Your Business.