By Katie Kratzig, Business Development - Instant Software
“Accounting is the most important part of property management. Reports that are easy to generate, read, and understand are crucial for the property managers as well as the homeowners."
Trust Accounting. This is important to a manager’s reputation and regulatory compliance.
Simplicity. You shouldn’t have to be an accountant to understand the statements.
Reports. Reports are critical to the business - if something does not match, the accounting system must allow it to be easily rectified.
Customer Information. The ability to use customer information (e.g., birth dates) for marketing purposes is a favorite feature.
Ease of Use in Fixing Mistakes. When many people use the system, work orders can be entered twice and a vendor paid twice. It is important to easily go into the program and fix the work order or correct another person’s mistake.
Flow. Transactions must be easily traceable all the way from guest payments through to the operating end of company.
Accuracy. Homeowners care most about the accuracy of income – precise commissions, correct work orders, and all expenses from each reservation.
Homeowner Statements. Homeowners want their statements on time, and the format needs to be simple (understandable without any accounting experience). Gross rents must be clearly stated, and homeowners want to see the income and expense for each reservation. There needs to be explanation for expenses. Any miscellaneous expenses must be easy to attach to the reservation.
Homeowners Access. Homeowners like to access statements online. They want to see their bookings and work orders immediately (e.g., to make sure that products under warranty are not repaired at extra cost by other vendors).
Guest Statements. These need to be clear and easy to understand.
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