Charter Senior Living has nearly quintupled its community count since partnering with Waxman Associates, Consero Global’s senior living accounting and finance division, for back office accounting, financial reporting, treasury, and cash management. CFO and CIO Patrick Mathews walks through how that partnership scaled alongside the business in a new case study, covering the close process rework, the moment the relationship got tested, and what he tells other senior living leaders weighing the same build versus partner decision.
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Download the Case Study (PDF)Growing Without Slowing Down
Senior living finance runs on constant motion. Resident payers and vendors shift across the portfolio by the week, and every new community or ownership change adds another layer of onboarding on top of a reporting bar that keeps climbing.
“This business is difficult. It moves 10 times a day every single week. We’re always chasing the next Move In.”
Patrick Mathews, CFO & CIO, Charter Senior Living
Recruiting an internal team large enough to absorb that pace would have meant months on the sidelines before a single close ran smoothly. Charter chose a partner built to move at its speed instead.
The Case for a Partner That Already Knows the Business
A generalist bookkeeping firm can learn Charter’s chart of accounts in a few weeks. Reading a community’s resident payer mix the way a senior living specialist does takes years in the industry, and that gap shows up the moment a deal closes or a lease changes hands.
“It’s very important that the team can understand the complexity of the business, especially when it gets down to the way the revenue stream can operate.”
Patrick Mathews, CFO & CIO, Charter Senior Living
| In House Accounting Department | Charter with Waxman + Consero |
|---|---|
| Scalability: Hire and train new accountants who don’t know the business each time a portfolio is added | Scalability: Resources on tap to step into a community fast, at any point in time |
| Community transitions: Operational teams get pulled into onboarding the books | Community transitions: The Waxman team absorbs the transition, so local teams rarely feel the stress |
| Continuity: Knowledge walks out the door when someone leaves | Continuity: Team structured to bring people in and get up to speed fast |
| Industry knowledge: Generalist accounting | Industry knowledge: Senior living native, deep familiarity with operational complexity and reporting requirements |
| CFO involvement: In the weeds on daily bookkeeping and financial close | CFO involvement: Freed to work on FP&A, asset management, and capital planning |
Scaling takes more than closing the books on time.
Consero pairs a curated technology stack and automation powered by AI with a finance team that already knows this industry’s rules. For Charter, that combination turned the back office into infrastructure for growth.
What the Partnership Delivered
With the close running reliably, Charter’s finance leadership spends its time on investment activity, capital planning, and investor relationships instead of production accounting. The arrangement has also held up under real pressure, which Mathews says is where its value actually gets tested.
“I lean on them more as a trusted thought partner than just an accounting team. That’s a very different perspective than I’ve had in the past.”
Patrick Mathews, CFO & CIO, Charter Senior Living
Built to Handle Growth, Not Just Close the Books
Mathews’ advice to other senior living CFOs starts with a question: who do you want to be? Past a certain size, he says, a portfolio stops being something one or two people can track by instinct, and someone has to own the consistency that keeps it running.
“If you’re trying to be the best senior living operator, spending your time building accounting policies isn’t what’s going to get you there. There’s real value in working with a team like Waxman that knows how to step in, partner with you, and take a lot of that burden off your plate.”
Patrick Mathews, CFO & CIO, Charter Senior Living
See how Consero supports senior living operators, or get the full case study below for Mathews’ complete account, including the trust tested under pressure story and the delivery model behind it.
Free Case Study
How Charter Senior Living Scaled to Nearly 75 Communities Without Building Accounting In House
Get Patrick Mathews’ full account of the partnership with Waxman Associates, Consero’s senior living accounting and finance division, as a PDF you can share with your team.
Download the Case Study (PDF)
