EHPAD Accounting: EPRD, ERRD, CPOM and Tariff Sections Explained for Managers

Taking over the books of an EHPAD (a French residential care home for dependent elderly people) means entering a world where three payers share a single resident's bill, where the budget is not called a budget but an EPRD, and where a care assistant's salary must be split across several sections before it even reaches the income statement. For a manager used to an ordinary company, the vocabulary (CPOM, ERRD, GMP, PMP) looks opaque at first. This article puts each piece back in its place, so you can read your facility's accounts and hold your own with the supervisory authorities.

Direct answer. An EHPAD's accounting rests on three tariff sections (care, dependency, accommodation), each with its own payer: the regional health agency (ARS) funds the global care allocation, the departmental council funds dependency through the APA benefit, and the resident pays for accommodation. Once a CPOM is signed, the facility steers its budget through the EPRD (forecast) and the ERRD (actual), both grounded in cost accounting by section.

The daily rate charged for a resident is not a single block: it splits into three tariff sections, each with its own logic and funder. This is the heart of what makes an EHPAD's accounting different.

The challenge is not knowing these three boxes but filling them correctly. A single euro of cost, a care assistant's salary for instance, must be split across several sections using allocation keys. A wrong key, or one never updated, distorts the care allocation or the accommodation tariff, with a direct effect on cash flow.

As soon as an EHPAD signs a CPOM (a multi-year objectives and resources contract), which replaced the former tripartite agreement, with the ARS and the departmental council, it leaves the ordinary budget behind for a framework set out in the Social Action and Families Code (CASF).

• EPRD (forecast statement of income and expenditure). Drawn up at the start of the year, it sets out forecast income and expenditure, the anticipated result and its allocation. It is a steering tool, not a mere return.
• ERRD (actual statement of income and expenditure). Its year-end counterpart: it records what was actually received and spent, and underpins the management dialogue with funders.

These frameworks do not replace the usual accounting and tax obligations, they sit on top of them. A commercial EHPAD remains subject to corporation tax and the general accounting plan; a public facility applies the M22 budgetary and accounting instruction; a non-profit or voluntary-sector EHPAD follows the non-profit entities framework. In every case, the aim is an EPRD and an ERRD consistent with the general accounts and with the facility's real cost accounting. Used well, the EPRD is not a burden but a negotiating argument with the authorities, to defend a care allocation that matches the facility's real workload.

Two indicators come up constantly in exchanges with funders, and it pays not to confuse them.

• GMP (weighted average dependency) measures the average level of dependency of residents. It weighs on the dependency section: the higher it is, the heavier the autonomy-support workload, which influences the allocation and the tariff.
• PMP (weighted average care needs) measures the average level of care needs. It weighs on the care section and influences the global care allocation paid by the ARS.

Keep the logic in mind: GMP is about dependency, PMP is about care. Both measures drive part of the public funding; tracking them means anticipating how allocations will move.

A security deposit is not income#

The most frequent error we fix when taking over a file: residents' security deposits booked as accommodation revenue. They are third-party accounts, that is, debts owed to the resident. They must be recorded as such, tracked individually and returned under the applicable rules. Treating them as income artificially inflates the accommodation result.

Monthly billing and pro rata#

Accommodation billing follows a monthly rhythm. Special situations (absences, hospital stays, arrivals and departures mid-month) call for clear pro rata rules, otherwise recurring gaps appear between billing and actual occupancy.

VAT: no default rate#

Care and accommodation services for dependent elderly people largely fall under exemptions or special treatments. The matter is assessed case by case according to the facility's status and activity, rather than applying a rate by reflex.

In an EHPAD, staff costs are by far the largest line, and nursing staff make up the bulk of it. The sector's recruitment strain shows up as costly temp-agency use, high absenteeism and turnover, and constant pressure on the payroll. Steering this line means tracking actual headcount against residents, separating care-section staff from accommodation staff, and controlling the cost of temp work. It is joint work between payroll and management control.

One current development deserves attention: since 1 July 2025, 23 departments have been trialling the merger of the care and dependency sections into a single global allocation, a scheme provided for by the 2024 Social Security Financing Act and amended by the 2025 one. This is an experiment, not a rollout. If your facility sits in an affected department, the allocation keys between sections and the presentation of the EPRD change: better to anticipate. To go further on all these topics, see our chartered accountant for EHPAD and nursing homes page.

A representative example from our files: a voluntary-sector EHPAD of around 80 beds, after two loss-making years, produced its EPRD each year but with no real cost accounting behind it. Costs were split by section using old keys that were never updated. By rebuilding the allocation of staff costs by section and isolating the real cost of temp work, we showed that the care section was under-funded against the real workload, while the accommodation section was silently making up the difference. That diagnosis fed the management dialogue with the authorities. What recurs from one file to the next is this gap between a formally produced EPRD and genuinely reliable cost accounting. A solid forecast budget always starts there.