Good record keeping--along with a constant and detailed knowledge of expenses, income, profit, and loss--is the first step toward profitable management of a child care center. Good record keeping is especially important in a center that provides "drop-in" or occasional care because income may fluctuate greatly as a result of the variable number of children using the center. This guidebook for effective record keeping, one in a series on the subject of military child care centers, is based on the experience and actual operating procedures of the program at Fort Lewis, Washington. It is hoped that the system for record keeping, as well as the financial planning and management techniques explained in this guide, will provide the center's director with answers to the following basic questions: How can I plan a financially sound child care center? How should I budget when income from parent fees controls center expenditures? How should I establish fees and charges that will provide adequate income but not be more than parents can afford? How can I control major expenses so that the center is not wasting its limited funds? On a daily basis, what kinds of records should I keep in order to monitor income and expenditures? and, finally, How can I tell, before it is too late, that the center's expenses are exceeding its income? (MP)