Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected

A funeral home creates one document for every family it serves that records, item by item, what was chosen and what it cost. Most owners think of it as the contract. Federal rules call it the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected, and in a sale it becomes the most useful single record in the building. This definition is part of our operations hub.

What goes on a Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected?

Each good and service the family chose with its price, the cash advance items listed one by one, the total cost, and up to four mandatory disclosures. The FTC does not prescribe a form or a caption.

The rule text is in 16 CFR Part 453. If a price for a cash advance item is not yet known, a good-faith estimate is allowed, followed by a written statement of actual charges before the final bill is paid.

The FTC’s compliance manual, Complying with the Funeral Rule, adds two practical points. The content can sit on the firm’s contract or any other document given at the end of arrangements. And the categories “should generally correspond” to the General Price List (GPL), so a family can compare the two.

When must the family receive the statement?

At the conclusion of the arrangements discussion, before the family leaves. Handing it over at the funeral or mailing it later does not meet the requirement, according to the FTC’s guide.

For arrangements made by phone, the guide says to deliver the statement at the earliest possible date and to make a reasonable attempt before final disposition. The FTC’s consumer guidance on the Funeral Rule frames it from the family’s side: a written statement “after you decide what you want, and before you pay.” The Rule itself does not regulate when payment happens. Packages remain legal, but when a family picks one, the statement must still list each good and service inside it, along with the package price.

How is the statement different from the GPL?

The GPL is the menu, given to anyone who asks about arrangements in person. The statement is the order, prepared for the one family that made arrangements, showing only what it chose.

That difference decides what each document can prove. A GPL shows what the firm offered and at what list price on a given date. It says nothing about how many families bought a viewing, how often embalming was approved, or whether discounts were routine. The statement answers all three, one case at a time. Read together, they show whether the prices on the menu are the prices families pay.

Retention follows the same split. A price list must be kept for one year after the last time it was handed out, while each statement must be kept for one year from its own arrangements conference. A buyer who wants to test a three-year trend therefore needs the firm’s own archive, not just what federal law requires it to keep.

Why does the statement matter in a funeral home sale?

Because it is the only record created for every call that shows what the family actually bought. It connects call volume, revenue per call, cash advances, and compliance in one place.

A case register says a call happened. The statement says what kind of call it was and what the firm earned on it. That is why buyers verifying call volume sample statements rather than relying on the register alone.

These forms are routine, which makes gaps telling. In its January 2026 paperwork notice, FTC staff wrote that 87% or more of funeral providers gave written documentation of arrangements before the Rule existed. Staff estimated about three minutes to record prices on a standard form and referred to “the standard two-page form shown in the compliance guide.” A firm that cannot produce signed statements for recent calls has a records problem a buyer will price.

How do buyers, sellers, and lenders use the statements?

Sellers use them to prove the numbers, buyers to rebuild the numbers, and lenders to confirm that reported earnings were real cash.

Sellers should keep statements complete, signed, and indexed by case number for at least three full years plus the current year. The federal retention period is one year from the arrangements conference under §453.6, and state rules vary, but buyers ask for more history than either.

Buyers use a sample to rebuild revenue per call by disposition, with cash advances removed. That is how the second number in the Four-Number Funeral Home Valuation Screen is defined. They also read embalming reasons, package itemization, and the cash advance disclosure, using the procedure in our Funeral Rule compliance audit for buyers.

Lenders care through the quality-of-earnings work. Under the SBA’s SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026, a QoE is required for initial acquisitions and business expansions priced at $3 million or more and must include a cash proof covering the trailing 12 months and the last two fiscal years. Statements are the bridge between a case and the deposit that proves it. Our guide to funeral home accounting for cash advances and preneed explains how the books should carry these amounts.

How do you reconcile statements to reported revenue?

Sample statements across dispositions, separate the firm’s own goods and services from cash advances, then compare the result with the seller’s figures and the bank.

1. Draw 30 or more signed statements from the last 12 months, spread across burial, cremation with services, and direct cremation.
2. Total each statement’s goods and services separately from its cash advance items.
3. Compare each priced line with the GPL version in effect on the arrangement date.
4. Trace each total to the invoice and the deposit, insurance assignment, or preneed release.
5. Recompute revenue per call without cash advances and compare it with the seller’s reported figure.

What mistakes make statements a liability?

Lumping, lateness, and missing disclosures. Each is easy to fix going forward and hard to explain after a buyer finds it.

• Broad categories. The FTC guide says a statement listing only “Services,” “Facilities,” and “Automotive Equipment” would violate the Rule.
• Late delivery. A form signed at the service or mailed afterward fails the timing requirement even if its content is perfect.
• Silent markups. A firm that adds a charge to cash advance items, or keeps a rebate on them, needs the “We charge you for our services in obtaining” sentence next to those items.
• Prices that drift from the GPL. Software templates often lag a price change, so statements quote last year’s numbers.
• Preneed changes handled informally. When survivors add items or owe more, the FTC expects price lists and a new statement, not a handwritten note on the old contract.

For how the Rule as a whole treats these documents, see our FTC Funeral Rule definition.