Do you manage a commercial or residential property, and you find yourself with not enough time? You most likely prioritize handling tenant requests, managing leases, and ensuring the business operates well. Unfortunately, the accounting work always winds up on the bottom of your to-do list.
You need help. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend big or learn anything complicated to benefit from property management accounting software. Here’s a closer look at what this software is and how it can help you manage your properties more effectively.
The Importance of Property Management Accounting Software
UnitConnect is a property management accounting software that has all the features to alleviate your workload. The smart accounting software for landlords will help track your lease terms, manage vendors, track expenses, help you regularly communicate with tenants, invoice and collect rent, and all your accounting needs.
Property accounting software helps ensure your budget is in the black, and your expenses get paid on time.
Key Features of Software
UnitConnect offers five key accounting features in its software to keep you well-organized and to help you track your money.
Tracking Property Expenses
To support your business operations, you need a general ledger. It is the primary accounting tool for all property managers. This platform tracks all financial transactions for the company.
The interface is straightforward and easy to use. Enter your vendor’s account and the amount due. You can also upload copies of your invoices and notes so that you have evidence for any financial audits.
UnitConnect can also pass through expenses that should be charged to the tenant. When you set up a vendor on the software, you can link the vendor to a tenant’s account, so the charges are automatically passed on.
Automatic reconciliation of recurring bills such as mortgage payments or utilities is easy to set up in the system. The software can also print checks and generate financial statements such as an income statement.
Billing Tenants
How many tenants do you oversee in your commercial or residential properties? If it is more than one, then you will undoubtedly need support tracking all the different lease terms. Each lease will have different billing dates and invoicing requirements. The software can help you capture all the critical lease details, including security deposit amount, insurance expiration date, and pro-rata share.
UnitConnect allows you to bill your tenants, schedule reminders, and keep you organized by tracking all the charges and payments. Most property managers have recurring charges, and the software can also accommodate these. For example, you can set your Common Area Charges (CAM) to recur every month as part of the utility bills.
The system can also capture rental increases and other annual expenses.
Budgeting and Reporting
Property management accounting software can help you set a budget at the start of your fiscal year. It will track your progress and provide accountability. With UnitConnect, property managers can connect all expenses and profits into one easily-understandable platform.
It is likely your budget does not change dramatically from year-to-year. Therefore, the software allows you to copy your budget from the previous fiscal year. It’s simple to edit it to adjust to the current situation.
Do you have to present to investors or lenders? Do you need to show the net operating income or growth from quarter-to-quarter? The software can calculate and provide professional financial reports that will impress your boss and bankers alike.
You can export the data in Excel or a PDF. Some of the most common reports property managers produce from the software include income and expense report, rent roll, tenant profile, and the budget versus expense report.
Managing Users
Every property manager has a team to help keep the trains on track. The property accounting platform can provide transparency to your employees and your investors on the business operations’ health. It also allows property managers to delegate and share responsibilities and tasks with staff.
UnitConnect has different user-level permissions based on the user’s role. For example, can an assistant input data from invoices for you? That user may not need access to run financial reports, though.
Tenant Portal
In the twenty-first century, having a digital online portal for tenants is a requirement, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. You must have a software that allows tenants to pay online and remain safely, socially distant from you, your staff, and other tenants.
Property management accounting software can do more than accept rent online. UnitConnect accepts rent payments from Automated Clearing House (ACH), and credit cards. It can also improve your communication with tenants. The tenant portal can become the one-stop-shop for all their needs.
For example, bills and invoices can be stored digitally for tenants to access. Information such as the signed lease agreement and any amendments to leases can be uploaded. They can also submit maintenance requests through the portal. The software will act as a project management tool, allowing you to assign tasks that come into the portal to staff. You can also provide updates to tenants on maintenance requests through the portal.
The Benefits of Property Management Software
The most important part of being a property manager is your relationship with your tenants. Therefore, it is important you have enough time to spend with all of them and to answer their questions. After all, if you don’t prioritize this, tenants are likely to feel unsatisfied and leave bad reviews on the property.
But how do you find that extra time in the day to do everything? A property management accounting software provides needed help. Instead of spending hours analyzing spreadsheets to create a financial report, the software can automatically generate a report in seconds.
If you have a lot of tenants, you most likely worry about missing maintenance requests and questions. UnitConnect acts as a coordinator, streamlining the process and reminding you when something is coming up. With a good property accounting software, you can track every aspect of property management.
