Wave + Nurseries & Childcare: Faster Bank Import
Nurseries manage parent fee payments, government funding allocations, staff wages, and supplier costs — often across multiple accounts. If you use Wave for your accounting, you need a fast way to get bank statement data into the system.
BankScan AI for Nurseries & Childcare Using Wave
BankScan AI converts any bank statement PDF to CSV formatted for direct import into Wave. Convert bank statements to spreadsheets to reconcile parent payments against invoices, track government childcare funding, and manage supplier costs.
The Nurseries & Childcare + Wave Workflow
Nursery owners collect fees from parents via standing order or childcare vouchers, receive government-funded hours payments from the local authority, pay staff wages (their largest cost), and manage food, supplies, and premises expenses. Bank statements must be reconciled to track which parents have paid, verify local authority funding received, and ensure staff payroll has cleared.
Key terms you'll encounter: funded hours, childcare vouchers, Tax-Free Childcare, occupancy rate.
How It Works
Upload any bank statement PDF
Supports all major banks. Saves 2-3 hours per month on parent payment tracking and government funding reconciliation for a nursery with 50+ children
AI formats for Wave
Output as CSV with Date, Description, Amount — Wave supports both single amount column and separate Income/Expense columns — dates in YYYY-MM-DD or MM/DD/YYYY.
Import and reconcile
In Wave, go to Banking > Connected Accounts > Upload a bank statement (CSV). Select the file, map columns to Date, Description, and Amount, then import. Wave's invoicing is tightly coupled with bank imports — when you import a bank deposit, Wave suggests matching it to outstanding invoices automatically.
Supported Banks
BankScan AI works with all major UK and US banks, including:
Wave Features for Nurseries & Childcare
- Wave ready — Output formatted as CSV matching Wave's expected column structure
- Smart integration — Wave's invoicing is tightly coupled with bank imports — when you import a bank deposit, Wave suggests matching it to outstanding invoices automatically.
- Built for Nurseries & Childcare — Saves 2-3 hours per month on parent payment tracking and government funding reconciliation for a nursery with 50+ children
- Software compatible — Output works directly with Xero, ParentPay, QuickBooks
Import Steps for Nurseries & Childcare Using Wave
As nursery owner, here's how to get bank data into Wave:
- In Wave, go to Banking > Connected Accounts > Upload a bank statement (CSV)
- Select the file, map columns to Date, Description, and Amount, then import
Common Import Issues
Wave's free tier has occasional processing delays on large files. Also, Wave uses MM/DD/YYYY by default which conflicts with UK DD/MM/YYYY — select the correct format during import.
Wave Import — Built for Nurseries & Childcare
Completely free with no paid tier for accounting features (monetised through payment processing). Popular with budget-conscious startups and side-hustlers.
Try Free — Wave + Nurseries & Childcare