With that in mind, your HOA, community manager, and management company should all have internal controls for handling association funds to protect the community’s assets. Also known as the basis of accounting, the accounting methods dictate the timing at which you record your association’s financial transactions. There are three accounting methods to choose from — Cash Accounting, Accrual Accounting, and Modified Accrual Accounting. Civil Code Section 5300(b)(1) requires that the annual operating budget distributed to the membership every year follow the accrual basis.

An Accounts Payable Report and Accounts Delinquency Report must also accompany the ledger. It’s important for any homeowners association to keep up-to-date on their payments to vendors. After all, you wouldn’t want to develop a reputation as a bad creditor. There are three main methods of bookkeeping that HOA management companies use.

Auditing Your HOA’s Financials

For instance, even though there are three accounting methods, California law directs that HOAs should use the Accrual Basis when preparing their pro forma operating budget. A CPA will compile your financial records and apply basic accounting principles to make sure your financials have been kept properly. If necessary, they may take extra steps to adjust any entries before compiling and preparing your financial reports.

• The Modified Accrual Basis of Accounting, also known as the Modified Cash Basis, uses an amalgamation of the Accrual and Cash methods.
• To make a great plan, it is important to have all the information possible.
• HOA Accounting Services is pleased to offer a new payment processing center online.
• If the homeowners can see what their money is going towards, they will be more agreeable and open with the board of directors.
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• The Accounts Payable Report lists all of your association’s unpaid expenses.

Many HOA finds it easier to record revenues when earned but to wait to record their expenses until they have made the payment. For smaller, self-managed associations, there might be trouble getting financial statements completed on time. If so, it is https://www.bookstime.com/blog/hoa-accounting relatively inexpensive to hire an accountant as needed to prepare balance sheets. Doing this ensures that all the information will be completed in a timely manner. It also removes the need to take time out of community volunteers’ busy schedules.

Modified Accrual Accounting Method

A review includes everything described above in compilation, but also includes a more analytical look at your association’s financial records. This report comes with “limited assurance.” The CPA guarantees that there is no material modification needed upon your receipt of the report. The key is to ensure that your HOA or condo association is receiving the most efficient features and services for its needs. When you have the most effective systems in place, the financial management service for your HOA or condo ends up paying for itself.

Send an email to service@hoa-accounting.com along with your property address or your HOA account number in the subject line. We use state-of-the-art Vantaca software which is a nationwide leading provider of fully integrated financial accounting software and property management software to the community association and real estate industry. Even if no such requirements apply to your association, it is one of the HOA accounting best practices to perform an audit or review on an annual basis. In doing so, you can get a better grasp of your financial condition and make more informed decisions. Also known as the Statement of Income and Expense, the Income Statement shows you the association’s revenue and expenses for the period (usually a month or a year). It deducts your total expenses from your total revenue to arrive at a net profit or loss.

A More In-Depth Look at HOA Accounting

One of the community manager’s primary goals should be to protect the association’s assets with financial procedures of checks and balances, to minimize risk of errors and losses. The optimal level of internal control is when no one person has responsibility or access to more than one function of the financial operation. An example would be to ensure that neither the accounts hoa accounting payable department (the person who writes the checks) nor the accounts receivable department (the person who enters the money received) reconcile the bank statement. Though reports are a major facet that helps you track and begin the path to a financially respectable HOA, all this reporting will be for naught if you do not properly manage your bank accounts and assets.

Furthermore, HOAs must file taxes, which is nearly impossible when you don’t have your community’s expenses organized from the very start. To help you out, here are the HOA accounting standards you must consider. Much like a business, a functioning community incurs costs and earns revenue. As such, it’s important to set up HOA accounting standards to maintain accurate financial reporting.

Otherwise known as a check register, this report consists of information such as the check’s recipient, the check date, and a description of the expense. It should also outline the check numbers, chart of accounts numbers, and any related invoice numbers. Your accounts payable report details all of your association’s payables. This report has a receivable counterpart, usually known as the account delinquency report, which shows all of the money owed to the association. Any CPA you choose to look over your records is required by professional standards to issue you one of three different reports.

• HOA Accounting Services facilitates the CPA annual review process and reduces their effort.
• Click on the employee names shown on the Contact Us page to see more about their related work experience and education.
• Do you have a library of prior financial statements you can view online?
• We will acknowledge receipt of your request and forward it to the appropriate party.
• Our staff provides the highest quality customer service available through innovation, technology, speedy response times and efficient problem solving.
• There is also a multitude of services available from CSM to help homeowner’s associations organize and prepare their own financial statements.

These documents will be available to everyone in the community, most of which do not have advanced accounting degrees. For an HOA financial statement to be effective, proper preparation is key. Making it too complicated alienates people and hinders community relations. If you are having trouble preparing community financial statements, the professionals at CSM are standing by to answer all your questions. We have years of experience working with thousands of residents across the United States.