What is the best HOA accounting software for a 36 unit condo association

Hello,

I am a newly elected treasurer of a 36 unit condo association. In the past all the accounting was done manually with excel spreadsheets. Can anyone recommend a good accouting software for posting payments, sending invoices, keeping track of everything. Thanks in advance!

Honestly, you might just want to stay with the status quo.

For the first 20 years or so, the treasurers for our self managed association did our accounting with spreadsheets. At that point a new treasurer wanted to modernize and got the board to agree to purchasing accounting software. She bought a copy of probably the most popular small business accounting software (can't name here, but synonymous with "fast tomes"). She had an accountant friend help her get it set up, and it worked well for the task. She spent two years as treasurer, and then I took over that role (for four years). My background is in computers and I have worked with/supported/administered/programmed accounting software in the past, so I had no trouble taking over and even made some improvements to her procedures, especially regarding invoicing. We didn't actually send invoices, but generated them internally so we could track payments and quickly report on delinquencies. In general, reporting was the big benefit over the spreadsheet method. Reports like budget vs. actual, balance sheets, P/L statements, etc. were easy to generate so with accounting software, we actually had comprehensive year end reporting, where past treasurers using spreadsheets for the most part didn't do much reporting at all.

Unfortunately, after I stepped down, there were no board members with experience in accounting or using accounting software. Because of this the next treasurer reverted to using spreadsheets because no matter how well procedures were documented, they couldn't handle using the software. This was in an HOA of 65 standalone homes with an annual budget of around $35k.

I've been treasurer for a 130 unit association with monthly payments and assist the treasurer in my current association of 83 lots with one annual payment.

We use spreadsheets. Prior to that, they used pen and paper.

Some people are more computer literate than others and even going to spreadsheets can be challenging to them.
You need to keep it simple and easy enough for those who will serve after you.

Makes budgeting more difficult. Requested Assessments would have to be higher to offset the discount (which could be seen as an expense in the budget model).

I see this like stores marking their product up by 20% then offering a 20% off sale.

David

Show me where it it illegal and more then one state.

Jack,

I was talking about the discount (not the payment).

Not knowing how many might pay in full to obtain the discount, the board should budget as if everyone will pay in full.
The discounts would be considered an expense of the Association and the budget would have to be adjusted, or assessments raised, to cover that expense.

Additionally, the proper way to do this would be for everyone to pay the full amount (because most governing documents specify expenses are shared equally - or based on a percentage of ownership) and for the board to write checks to those who paid in full.