Building an HOA budget isn’t like doing a household budget. You can’t just look at what you spent last year and add five percent. Your governing documents probably have requirements about what needs to be funded. Your state likely has laws about reserve contributions. You’ve got capital projects coming up that need to be planned for. Insurance costs that keep climbing. Maintenance contracts that are up for renewal.

We start by working backward from when your fiscal year ends to figure out a timeline that won’t have everyone panicking at the last minute. We build templates that make tracking income and expenses throughout the year actually manageable. We review your governing documents and state regulations to identify requirements that are easy to miss if you don’t do this regularly. By the time budget season shows up, you’ve got a process that works instead of people scrambling to throw numbers together.

Getting people to pay their assessments should be simple. Send a bill, people pay it. Except that’s not how it goes. People forget. People hit financial rough patches. Some people just decide they’re not paying and dare you to do something about it.

If you don’t have a solid collections process—and it needs to be both consistent and legally compliant—small problems can turn into big ones fast. A few people not paying turns into a bunch of people not paying because word gets around that nobody’s enforcing it. Your budget falls apart because you were counting on assessment income that’s not coming in.

We stay on top of delinquency reports. Send notices that follow both your governing documents and state law—which aren’t always the same thing, by the way. When notices aren’t working, we bring in collection specialists who know how to handle this stuff properly. Your association stays financially healthy. Board members don’t end up being the bad guys chasing neighbors for money, which is how friendships and board participation die.

Paying bills sounds basic until you’re the one responsible for it in an HOA. Board members need to see what’s being paid and have enough detail to know it’s legitimate. Homeowners sometimes ask questions about where their fees are going, especially when assessments go up. If you can’t quickly show people what’s being spent and why, those questions turn into complaints and mistrust.

We process accounts payable with complete visibility. Board members get full autonomy to view and approve each invoice with the click of a button, our team identifies where this should be coded, and that it’s paid on time. Board members can view account balances at any time, and review past invoices easily. Homeowners ask, ‘Where’s the money going?’ There are clear records to show them. Nobody’s digging through boxes of paper receipts or forwarding email chains trying to reconstruct what happened three months ago.

Board members need to see what’s happening with association money. Not just once a year—regularly, so they can catch problems early and make informed decisions. But standard business financial statements don’t really work for HOAs because reserve funds must be tracked separately from operating funds.

We produce monthly financial statement packages using fund reporting accounting. Operating funds and reserve funds are clearly separated so board members can see what’s happening in each area. These statements are built for HOA accounting, not just generic business financials. When boards need to share financial information with homeowners, the reports are clear enough that non-accountants can actually understand them.

HOA tax returns are their own special thing. If you’ve been having your regular CPA do them, they might be figuring it out as they go, which means you’re paying them to learn on your dime. If a board member’s been handling it, they’re probably spending way more time on it than necessary and worrying whether they’re doing it right.

Same thing with audits. HOA audits have specific requirements that general accountants don’t necessarily know. Our team navigates HOA tax returns and audit prep constantly. We work with local CPAs who specialize in association accounting. When tax season hits or it’s time for an audit, we handle the preparation. Your board doesn’t spend weeks stressed about forms and deadlines.