Financial Red Flag ?

We have all board members on the signature card of the Bank.

We do not use or own credit cards or atm cards. All bills are paid by check or paid by the individual Director (thinks like postage, etc.) and reimbursed by check once the receipt is submitted. Although banks do not require 2 signatures, our association requires two signatures on every check.

Financial accountability isn't about the people who have access, it's about the procedures in place to enable utilizing that access.

I say follow you intuition. We had a situation where only one board member...the president handled everything...for 26 years. I moved in. Questioned this procedure. Ended up hiring an attorney. Investigation started...president immediately dropped dead. That was in 2008 and TEN MILLION dollars still remains unaccounted for to this day.

1)Ask to see the annual audits. Go over them closely and take them to an accountant if needed. Not the HOA accountant of course. Ask to see the bank statements and canceled check records.

2)Embezzlement is rampant across America in the HOAs.

I can't mention the name of the book on here but it was recently released. Inside is a list of how financials should be handled. I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from this book.

You may very well have honest board members with poorly constructed business practices but in the event that isn't what your dealing with, the sooner you uncover the truth the better. I would also think honest board members would want everything out in the open so no one could ever look in their direction when questions arise about money. Transparency is as much for their protection as it is for yours and the other members.

Good Luck!

Lets say you ask 1,000 people to guard a pile of money, you keep poor records, and no one cares about it or even checks to see if its still there.... for decades. Let me know how many people don't take some.

Many people who live in HOA/condo don't have the education to know what to look for to catch someone stealing. Those 10 cases you mention are the dumb criminals. Good criminals never get caught and no one ever figures it out.

The managing broker is the one who owns the mc. I'am in close contact with the treasurer who is getting no check ledger only just acct. # made up by the mc company to I.D. which account the money came from( acct# 1390,1445, ect. ect.) no report shows how much money is in each acct. nor on the monthly packet to the Board is there items referencing what the expenses are for - just vendor names/amounts. The treasurer does a monthly recon but has no idea how much money is on hand just things being payed. Again I e-mailed the pres. about be more transparent in the financial program/procedures but was told this is no problem! The Pres. appointed a new ACC person who recently went on SSI to that position! Our CC&r'S allow the ACC to be paid for their time at a resonable rate determined by the Board(three BOD members voted her in). We do not get a annual Profit/loss statement that shows month/month expenses nor carry-over,reserve amount use-if not the full amount roll over then it must be recorded and replace according to the R.C.W - just an est. of the budget for the next year at our annual meeting. Our due's are the highest in the area and we don't have a pool or clubhouse. The last Pres.(who is an accountant) left during mid-term due to health reason's - but still can be seen exercising around the community daily. Some-thing just doesn't feel right. Any-more suggestions for getting more checks and balances in the system and more transparency?

Owner controlled but no interest from the other owners - the few of us concern have a long road ahead to change things.

And that, unfortunately, is probably why the president has been able to get away with this set up. Then again, where the hell are the rest of the board members????

If they're ok with this set up, there's a problem and you may have start a drive to get them all out. Be sure you have homeowners lined up to take their place and are willing to work, because you'll have to do some work to sort things out.

You really should get a copy of the financial records - starting with the property manager contract to see what he/she is and isn't supposed to do. You will need an independent auditor to look things over - and you'll have to pay for that. Since they aren't cheap, you and the homeowners who do care need to figure out how to light a fire under the rest so all of you can demand answers. If you don't get them, you may have to talk to an attorney about other options.