September collects what June still has to earn
Registration opens in summer, and by the second week of September most of the season's money is either in the bank or committed to a monthly plan. The classes it pays for run until June. So the books carry unearned tuition as a liability and release it month by month as the season is actually taught, which keeps October from looking like a triumph and April from looking like a slump.
That liability earns its keep in ordinary moments, not just at year-end. When a family withdraws in November, the balance shows exactly what a fair refund is under your policy. When you wonder whether the studio can afford to add an acro class in January, the statements answer with earned revenue rather than whatever the account held on enrolment day. Building that discipline is the point of End-to-End Accounting: bookkeeping, payroll, financial reporting and tax filing under one roof, closed monthly on the studio's calendar.
From Jackrabbit to a ledger you can trust
Your studio software already knows the truth. Jackrabbit Dance, DanceStudio-Pro and Amilia track every family, class and charge, but the bank feed only sees processor batches, net of fees and blended across programs. We map the software's charge categories into QuickBooks Online so tuition posts by program, and registration fees, costume fees, competition entries, camp weeks and dancewear sales each keep their own line.
Payout reconciliation ties those batches back to gross charges, so processing fees appear as the real cost they are and a declined auto-pay becomes a follow-up on a list instead of a discovery in June. Supplier bills, from the marley order to the recital venue deposit, run through Dext with support behind every number.
Costume money and competition money are not tuition
A costume fee collected in October is not income the way tuition is, and treating it that way distorts both revenue and margin. We set the policy up front: either the studio acts as agent, collecting and forwarding at cost, or it buys and resells as principal with a stated margin, and the books apply one treatment all season. Deposits go out to vendors like Weissman or Revolution before the holidays and the garments arrive months later, so the ledger keeps the fee, the deposit and the delivery matched by season. On imported orders, the HST a customs broker charges at the border is recoverable as an input tax credit once the studio is registered.
Competition entry fees, charged per dancer per routine and remitted to organizers, follow the same in-and-out logic. Recital money is its own event: fees and ticket sales stay unearned until the curtain rises, while venue and production deposits sit as prepaids until the same weekend.
| Moment in the season | What the books should show |
|---|---|
| June to August: registration and first tuition arrive | A growing unearned-tuition liability, not a revenue spike |
| September: paid-in-full season tuition | Deferred on receipt, released across the ten teaching months |
| October to December: costume fees in, vendor deposits out | A pass-through or resale account that nets out at delivery |
| January to March: competition entries collected and remitted | In and out on one line, per dancer, per routine |
| April to May: recital fees and ticket sales | Held as unearned until the performance happens |
| June: recital weekend | Event revenue recognized; venue and production prepaids cleared |
| July to August: camps and intensives | Their own revenue and cost lines, earned week by week |
A faculty paid the way it is engaged
Studio payroll is layered. The director and the full-time front desk belong on T4 payroll with source deductions, vacation pay and stat holidays handled properly. Per-class teachers and guest choreographers are a facts question: who sets the timetable, who owns the choreography, whether the teacher can send a substitute, and who carries the financial risk all point one way or the other, and the CRA will rule on request through Form CPT1. We help you decide deliberately, paper the arrangement, and keep T4A discipline for the teachers who genuinely run their own businesses.
What the owner sees each month
Every close delivers the same short page: earned revenue by program, the unearned-tuition balance, payroll as a share of revenue, the costume account netting toward zero, and camps and intensives on their own lines in summer. It is the version of the studio a lender or a buyer would want to read, current every month instead of rebuilt every spring.
A solo teacher renting studio time by the hour may not need full monthly service yet; CPA Quick Support keeps a CPA on call at $99 a month for the questions that come up. For studios across Mississauga and the GTA ready for the full engagement, scope and fee are quoted in writing after a free 15-minute discovery call.
