Why HOA Bookkeeping as a Service Is a Gamechanger

HOA bookkeeping plays a critical role in maintaining a financially healthy community and typically falls on the shoulders of volunteer board members.

While some HOAs might hire a third-party management company to handle the day-to-day management of their association, many will opt to self-manage. Not only does this save thousands of dollars in annual management fees, but for a vast majority of small to medium-sized neighborhoods, board members are more than capable of handling these tasks.

Yet, self managed HOAs run by volunteers face regular turnover within their ranks, as board members usually serve in their roles for a few years or so at most, depending on their association bylaws. If your HOA Bookkeeper moves or resigns early, you may be left with systems that need to be learned from scratch by the next person to take on the job.

Turnover can cause disruptions or, worse, lead to errors that damage your financial well-being and your reputation.

While passing one volunteer’s financial management system on to the next person might be doable, it’s not necessarily the most efficient approach, and it might be making HOA management more difficult than it should be.

HOA management software offers a digital solution that can help streamline, automate, and standardize your bookkeeping practices, all while giving board members tools for better financial transparency and ways to connect and communicate with their residents.

HOAs can also minimize the impact of turnover by investing in bookkeeping as a service with reputable financial experts. Experienced HOA bookkeeping professionals, such as those at PayHOA, offer you the ability to outsource your accounting needs without paying the hefty cost that comes with hiring a third-party management company.

Investing in HOA software and bookkeeping as a service frees your volunteers to focus on other critical management tasks and to have more time to engage with residents’ needs.

Minimize Turnover Woes with HOA Management Software

Most HOA members aren’t professional accountants outside of their volunteer roles. The expectation that they become overnight financial experts is unrealistic and unproductive to the management needs of your community.

The best accounting software offers HOAs a way to digitize and standardize their accounting systems regardless of who’s currently filling that role, which can make turnover less disruptive, helping volunteers adapt to the job more quickly.

PayHOA’s financial management software offers an array of budgeting, accounting, and financial reporting features to improve accuracy, transparency, and accessibility.

Key PayHOA accounting features include:

• Automated financial processes such as accounts payable and bank reconciliation
• A customizable chart of accounts with a built-in template option
•  Real-time accounting reports including general ledger, budget, profit and loss, budget vs. actual, and many others for improved transparency and accuracy
• Tax preparation tools for maintaining tax compliance and e-filing 1099 or 1120-H tax documents
•  All-in-one integrated budgeting and financial management tools such as bulk digital invoicing and dues collection, secure online payment processing, vendor management and invoicing, budget analysis, tools for communicating with homeowners, and more

While the benefits of the right accounting software for HOAs are clear, an HOA bookkeeper will still need to set up and learn the software—and, ultimately, they’ll still need to oversee the finances throughout the year.

Software will certainly ease the burden of a financial manager. Yet, HOAs may also decide to outsource their accounting needs by investing in bookkeeping as a service, in order to maximize effective bookkeeping practices and focus their volunteers’ resources where they’re most needed.

Bookkeeping as a Service for HOAs

Your volunteers don’t have to take on the financial management of your community alone.

HOAs can optimize their bookkeeping practices, ensuring accurate output by coupling the automation and integration of HOA software with bookkeeping services such as those offered by PayHOA.

PayHOA’s professional Bookkeepers have years of specialized experience and are familiar with the most effective HOA accounting practices. This allows them to provide unique insights and knowledge that can bolster the financial health of your neighborhood with consistent results.

In addition, using PayHOA’s bookkeeping as a service allows you to avoid delays, setbacks, or missteps that might come with volunteer turnover.

Benefits of PayHOA’s bookkeeping services include:

Reconciliation of accounts – Monthly reconciliation means you’re not playing catch-up. We compare your bank statements and financial records to quickly catch potential errors.

Simplifying the process – Switching from one accounting system to another—even Excel—can feel needlessly complicated for most people. At PayHOA, our philosophy is to “keep it simple.” Our financial experts know these systems inside and out and can help simplify your bookkeeping processes.

HOA chart of accounts – Keeping your HOA chart of accounts up to date is critical in order to maintain financial transparency and accountability. Yet this task can feel intimidating for some volunteers, who may still be learning to use HOA software or worry they’ll make a mistake. When you use PayHOA bookkeeping as a service, our experts help keep your chart of accounts up to date, so that each transaction is accurate and current, relieving the pressure from your team so you don’t have to go it alone.

Tax filing – Tax season can be a stressful time for everyone, and that stress is compounded when you’re managing a financially complex HOA. The fear of IRS audits doesn’t have to keep you up at night. PayHOA can help manage your tax filing and keep you IRS compliant.

Compliance and forms for non-tax-exempt HOAs – Not all HOAs are designated as tax-exempt nonprofits. As a result, you may need to file form 1120H with the IRS, as well as submit Basic Ownership Information (BOI) reports to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network within certain deadlines. PayHOA can help ensure these documents are accurate and submitted on time.

Level Up Your Community’s Finances with Bookkeeping as a Service

PayHOA understands that HOA board members need every tool at their disposal to keep their neighborhoods financially healthy and thriving. Volunteers live busy lives and can’t be expected to gain the skills of a CPA overnight. Not only that, but regular turnover of volunteer Bookkeepers can lead to inconsistencies and a rigorous re-learning process without the right systems in place.

PayHOA software provides an added layer of stability, consistency, and adaptability, with automated accounting and reporting features to help ease the transition between members.

Even with the plethora of benefits financial software can provide, your members are dividing their time between a multitude of tasks managing the neighborhood. Leveraging PayHOA’s bookkeeping as a service along with our software gives you the best of both worlds.

Rely on our experts to keep your HOA’s accounts accurate and compliant and to ensure you always have a clear understanding of the state of your finances. Use PayHOA software to help you manage the rest.

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As an HOA manager, PayHOA offers you an all-in-one software platform to replace all those fragmented tools so accounting, communications, payments, documents, violations, and owner requests can all live in one place. PayHOA is the single portal where you can connect directly with the needs of your homeowners. Your residents can use PayHOA to make online payments, view their payment history and important documents, submit requests, and access important updates, streamlining management for your whole community. Try a 30-day free trial today or contact us at info@payhoa.com to learn more.