Property Accounting & Close (54)
about 23,422 hrs/yr
- Daily cash reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Daily cash reconciliation matches each day's deposits and disbursements in the bank portal with receipts and payments in the property ledger, catching errors while they are fresh.
- Bank feed review (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Bank feed review checks transactions imported from the bank into the accounting system, matching or coding each one and investigating unfamiliar debits.
- Bank reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Monthly bank reconciliation ties each bank statement balance to the GL cash account, listing outstanding checks, deposits in transit, and required adjustments.
- Security deposit bank reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) State law often dictates where and how resident deposits are held.
- Operating account reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Operating account reconciliation covers each property's main account, where rent comes in and bills go out, usually the busiest account the property has.
- Credit card reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Credit card reconciliation matches staff corporate card charges with receipts, property, and GL coding, and confirms the statement balance is paid on time.
- Merchant settlement reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Merchant settlement reconciliation matches card and ACH processor settlements with bank deposits, fees, chargebacks, and returns, so resident payments tie to the bank.
- Due-to/due-from reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) When one entity pays for another, both sets of books must agree.
- Loan reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Loan reconciliation ties the GL loan balance to the lender's statement, confirming principal payments, rate resets, and any loan modifications or extensions.
- Escrow reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Escrow reconciliation confirms tax, insurance, and reserve escrows held by the lender match the GL, including disbursements the lender made on the owner's behalf.
- Interest reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) On floating-rate loans especially, recorded interest must match the rate, balance, and day-count convention, and the lender's statement.
- AP cutoff review (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Invoices arriving after close may cover goods and services received before month-end.
- AR cutoff review (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) AR cutoff review confirms charges and payments land in the right period, including prepaid rent received before month-end for the following month.
- Security deposit liability reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Deposit liability reconciliation confirms the GL deposit liability equals the sum of deposits held on resident ledgers, with refunds and forfeitures properly recorded.
- Rent roll to GL reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Rent roll to GL reconciliation compares scheduled rent on the rent roll with rental revenue in the general ledger, explaining concessions, vacancy, and adjustments.
- Subledger-to-GL reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) At every period end, the AR, AP, deposit, and fixed asset subledgers must tie to their GL control accounts, and any difference is traced to the entry that caused it.
- Balance sheet reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Balance sheet reconciliation supports every account balance with a schedule: cash, receivables, prepaids, fixed assets, payables, accruals, deposits, and debt.
- Forecast update (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Each month the year-end projection is revised: actuals to date replace forecast months, and expected results for the remaining months are updated.
- Cash forecast (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) The property cash forecast projects the weeks ahead from expected rent collections, payables coming due, debt service, and planned capital spending.
- Capital reserve reconciliation (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Reserve reconciliation ties replacement reserve balances held by lenders or in reserve accounts to the GL, recording deposits, draws, and interest.
- Month-end close checklist (Monthly, about 432 hrs/yr) The close checklist tracks every month-end task by property (reconciliations, accruals, entries, reviews, reports) with owner, due date, and status.
- Period close (Monthly, about 432 hrs/yr) Period close locks the accounting month once all entries, reconciliations, and reviews are complete, so nothing more posts to it.
- Financial statement generation (Monthly, about 432 hrs/yr) Financial statement generation produces the balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and supporting schedules for each property and entity after close.
- Journal entry preparation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Adjustments, reclasses, accruals, and allocations reach the general ledger as journal entries, each with support attached and a description a reviewer can follow.
- Journal entry approval (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) JE approval has a reviewer other than the preparer confirm each entry's support, accounts, amounts, and period before it posts.
- Recurring journal entry (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Recurring JEs post the same entry every period, such as amortization, fixed allocations, or standing reclasses, from a template with start and end dates.
- Accrual calculation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Accrual calculation estimates month-end expenses incurred but not yet billed, such as utilities, contract services, and payroll, using history, contracts, and open POs.
- Accrual reversal (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) On the first day of each period, last month's accruals are backed out, so the actual invoice replaces the estimate without double counting.
- Prepaid expense schedule (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) The prepaid schedule tracks payments made in advance, such as insurance premiums, service contracts, and permits, and amortizes each over its coverage period.
- Prepaid amortization (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Prepaid amortization expenses the monthly portion of each prepaid item, reducing the prepaid balance until it reaches zero at the end of the coverage term.
- Fixed asset addition (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) A fixed asset addition records capital purchases such as roofs, HVAC units, appliances, and renovations, with cost, placed-in-service date, useful life, and depreciation method.
- Fixed asset depreciation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Each month, every fixed asset is expensed over its useful life, with separate book and tax depreciation methods where the owner requires both.
- Construction-in-progress tracking (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) CIP tracking accumulates costs for capital projects not yet in service, then moves them into fixed assets once the project is complete.
- Capital project accounting (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Capital project accounting tracks budgets, commitments, invoices, retainage, and change orders for each project, and reports spend against budget to owners.
- Intercompany charge (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Intercompany charges record costs one entity pays for another, such as shared payroll, insurance, or management services, with matching due-to and due-from entries.
- Management fee calculation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Management fee calculation applies the management agreement's formula, usually a percentage of collected income with defined exclusions and a minimum fee, to each property every month.
- Management fee billing (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Fee billing posts the calculated management fee as expense to the property and income to the management company, then pays it from the property's operating account.
- Property tax accrual (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) The property tax accrual records each month's share of the annual tax bill, based on the latest assessment or estimate, and is trued up when actual bills arrive.
- Insurance accrual (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Insurance expense is recognized monthly, from prepaid amortization or from estimated premiums on policies billed in installments or subject to a premium audit.
- Mortgage/debt payment posting (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Debt payment posting splits each mortgage payment into principal, interest, escrow, and reserve deposits using the lender's statement, and posts each part to the right account.
- Utility accrual (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) The utility accrual estimates the month's utility cost when bills arrive after close, using the prior bill, usage trends, or current rates.
- Payroll allocation to properties (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) At close, payroll allocation charges site staff wages, payroll taxes, and benefits to the properties they serve, by assignment or tracked time, as each management agreement permits.
- Corporate overhead allocation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Overhead allocation spreads corporate costs such as accounting, IT, and regional management across properties or funds wherever the agreements allow reimbursement.
- Income statement variance analysis (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Variance analysis identifies why income and expense lines differ from budget and prior month by more than the materiality threshold the owner has set.
- Budget-to-actual variance commentary (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Variance commentary is the written explanation owners receive for each material budget variance, citing specific transactions, timing differences, or events.
- Property-level reporting (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Property-level reporting produces each property's monthly package (financials, rent roll, aging, occupancy, leasing activity) for site managers, regional staff, and owners.
- Portfolio consolidation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Fund and portfolio statements combine property and entity financials, eliminating intercompany balances and the management fees charged between related entities.
- Cash flow statement (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) The cash flow statement shows operating, investing, and financing cash for each property and reconciles net income to the change in cash.
- Owner distribution calculation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Distribution calculation determines cash available to owners: operating cash less reserves, payables, deposits held, and the minimum balance the management agreement requires.
- Owner distribution payment (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Distribution payment sends approved owner distributions by ACH or check, splitting them among owners by ownership percentage and recording each transaction.
- Tax package preparation (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) The tax package gives the owner's tax preparer year-end financials, the fixed asset rollforward, depreciation, 1099 data, and property tax details.
- 1099 owner reporting (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Owner 1099 reporting issues Forms 1099-MISC to owners for rents the property manager collected on their behalf, using owner ledgers and tax IDs on file.
- Budget import (Monthly / Daily, about 372 hrs/yr) Budget import loads the approved annual budget by property, account, and month into the accounting system for variance reporting throughout the year.
- Audit support (Annual / Periodic, about 46 hrs/yr) External auditors request schedules, reconciliations, invoices, leases, and bank statements.