Bookkeeping Standards for PM

If I were hiring a property manager for the responsibilities you mentioned, I would expect him or her to provide accurate reports as specified for the board's review as part of the job description. There is no reason for you to have difficulty with the information she provides when it should be a simple process of generating a variety of reports automatically from whatever software she is using. If this PM cannot clean up her bookkeeping act, find someone else to do it.

I would fear that her "sloppy" (your descriptive word) bookkeeping would also carry over to "sloppy" correspondence and communication with her other duties and responsibilities. And, I don't know if there are published standards for you to follow, but using generally accepted accounting procedures and having proper decision making information available so as to fulfill your fiduciary responsibilities as a board member should be sufficient.

Arizona does not require any kind of license to be an HOA property manager. Therefore anyone, no matter how little experience or training they may have, can call themselves a property manager.

I am not an accountant but I do recall from my college accounting classes years ago that under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP's) that one never alters a previous entry. The proper procedure is to enter a correcting entry. If this bookkeeper is unaware of such basic principles I would be worried about what else they do not know and what else they are doing wrong.

Thank you for all your advice. Since my original posting, the remaining members of the officers on the board have decided to consult the last treasurer who is a retired accountant. He has indicated there is nothing wrong with the managers procedures. I still disagree and have decided to not run for reelection for another term. The officers have decided to hire an accounting firm to do a "compilation" for $200 that would cover the last two years. I cannot believe $200 would buy me anything of use. I cannot find out what this involves but one site says that its "compilation" will not comment on adherence to GAAP if they do one. While I have decided to disengage with the HOA board, I am curious about what a "compilation" should be and what sort of report it would involve. A compilation is said (by the attorney our manager uses on our behalf) to meet Arizona HOA law requirements even though I read the law as requiring a "review". What is the difference?

I am convinced that our manager is not providing us with proper reports and procedures since I have found errors in each month's reports since December of last year. However, I no longer have the confidence of the remaining officers and so must resign. I still want to be as knowledgeable as possible since I expect things to "blow up" at some point.