Finances are a common concern in homeowners associations. Most of the time, board members lack the skills and resources to properly manage bookkeeping. Unlike other accounting software, Quickbooks for HOA management aims at simplifying the process and making accounting easy for everyone. This is why it remains the preferred solution among many options. 

It can be hard to understand the value behind a solution and how it applies to real-life situations. So in this article, we’ll share everything you need to know about Quickbooks for HOA management. 

Why is it important to ensure the financial health of your HOA?

Maintaining your association’s finances healthy not only creates a sense of security but also prevents financial distress. ​​Therefore, the person in charge of bookkeeping must have analytical and organizational skills. Hiring a CPA (certified public accountant) or a property management company is also a great help. Using the right accounting method and an online tool is also crucial. 

If these three criteria are not met, chances are that you will face hardships. There are many risks that can negatively affect your HOA, for example: 

• Lawsuits
• Lacking reserve funds
• Incapacity to cover unexpected expenses
• Accounting mistakes
• Unmaintained common areas
• Frequent special assessments 

To avoid these risks, most HOAs implement accounting software to help them track expenses and to increase transparency.

What is Quickbooks?

Quickbooks is an accounting software used by over 3.4 million small businesses and organizations worldwide. It is a complete solution that provides financial-related features that allow you to:

• Track income and expenses with the balance sheet
• Create, send, and track invoices
• Manage bills 
• Generate financial reports
• Run payroll 

Quickbooks’ popularity is due to its user-friendly interface but it also has other benefits. 

What are the benefits of QuickBooks for HOA?

1. Popular choice among accountants and property management companies

When hiring an accountant or a management company for your HOA, it is important to ensure that they are comfortable with the platform you use. As Quickbooks has been around for more than two decades, most accountants & managers are familiar with it. This helps prevent mistakes and guarantees efficiency. It also decreases the time spent adapting to a brand-new platform.  

2. Secure and robust platform

With so many users, security is a top priority for Quickbooks. That’s why they rely on advanced security safeguards such as the VeriSign SecuredTM product. They also have many processes that ensure your data is safe and private.

3. Renowned company

Quickbooks was first introduced in 2001 by Intuit, a well-established American company that specializes in financial software. A decade on Quickbooks is the world’s number one best-selling accounting software. 

4. Affordable pricing

What makes Quickbooks so popular is also its affordability compared to other software. The platform provides all kinds of financial-related services at a reasonable price. 

5. Financial data accessible anytime and anywhere

Quickbooks is a cloud-based software which means your data is stored online. To access it, you just need to log in to the platform. You can do this on any device, at any time, and from anywhere. 

How can Quickbooks help with HOA financial activities?

1. Move away from messy spreadsheets

Board members working with spreadsheets risk making mistakes or inconsistencies. It also takes a lot of time to create and update them properly. On top of that, it quickly gets overwhelming to use several spreadsheets and tools for one single purpose. In this case, Quickbooks is ideal as it centralizes everything in one place and you don’t have to waste time entering data several times. 

2. Track dues easily 

Quickbooks for HOA management allows you to easily check whose invoice is paid and whose is pending. Residents can pay their dues online. They can also enter their credit card information to automate recurring payments. This functionality saves residents’ and board members’ time. It also allows faster payments and prevents oversight.

3. Hold budget meetings with real-time numbers

Having a clear picture of your association’s finances is essential to running efficient HOA meetings. Sometimes, board members spend hours before a meeting trying to get the right numbers. By using Quickbooks for HOA management, you can generate financial reports and balance sheets instantly. This gives you an easy-to-understand overview in a matter of seconds. This feature is also helpful when you are holding an HOA budget meeting online. Everyone can access the platform from their location and see the same information. 

4. Pay vendors’ bills on time

There’s nothing worse than losing track of vendors’ payments. Especially when it comes to large HOA maintenance projects. Paying bills on time is essential to keep your accounts balanced and to maintain your association’s reputation. Quickbooks has a bill management feature that allows you to pay bills online and even schedule payments in advance.

5. Make better decisions

As a board member, a large part of your role is to help your HOA make the best decisions possible. This task is practically impossible without a clear and reliable overview of your financial state. Funding large infrastructure projects is a common concern in HOA management.

Solutions like Quickbooks help take full control of your income and expenses. All the financial information is gathered in one place making it easier to make data-driven decisions that will help your community thrive. 

6. Helps conduct financial analysis for HOA reserve studies

As you may know, homeowners associations need to conduct reserve studies. This study assesses the financial state of the HOA as well as the state of common areas. This can be a complex and time-consuming process if you don’t properly keep track of financial records.

With Quickbooks integrated with your HOA software, every invoice, bill, and payment record is stored in the cloud. Making it easy for anyone performing the analysis to access this information and quickly understand the association’s bookkeeping.

7. Always ready for financial HOA annual audits

Depending on governing documents and state laws, some HOAs must conduct regular financial audits. Similar to reserve studies,  preparing for an audit can be an overwhelming task. The purpose of these reviews is to look for fraud and more importantly ensure accuracy.

Therefore, easily locating invoices and other financial records is essential. Solutions like Quickbooks help you with bookkeeping throughout the year making your HOA audit-ready at all times.

8. Easier taxes

Even though homeowners associations are non-profit organizations, they need to pay taxes. Again, this will depend on state and federal laws. This process can be tricky. By using Quickbooks you can easily track your income and expenses accurately. This makes filing and reporting taxes easier. All the records you’ll need are stored on the platform so you don’t waste any time searching for documents.

9. Easy collaboration

Last but not least, using QuickBooks for HOA management makes collaboration between different stakeholders easier. For example, an accountant, a management company, and board members have access to the same information simultaneously. It is also helpful when a new board is elected since it allows them to easily access previous records.

Quickbooks vs HOA accounting software

Nowadays, some companies provide accounting software made for homeowners associations. These solutions aim to tackle the specific challenges that HOAs face. They often include other HOA management features.

Having an all-in-one software that tackles HOA financial and management challenges is excellent. It’s true that Quickbooks wasn’t created for HOAs but it has been built to serve the needs of any small or middle organization.

While using Quickbooks on its own to run a community isn’t ideal, there might be another solution.

The solution? Integrating QuickBooks for HOA software

Quickbooks allows other companies’ software to integrate with its platform. This is called system integration. 

What’s exactly a system integration?

A system integration is the process of joining two or more systems together so that it becomes a single unified system. In simple terms, you will be able to use Quickbooks and the HOA software of your choice in one location without having to log in and out. 

Instead of building an accounting feature, some HOA software companies preferred to integrate with Quickbooks to benefit from its secure and complete capacity. 

Such a powerful integration allows board members to benefit from various HOA management features and Quickbooks at the same time. All in one single platform. 

Final points

Managing an association’s accounts can get quite complex. Quickbooks for HOA management simplifies this process by providing an easy-to-use interface, and powerful tools. 

Having the possibility to understand your accounts at a glance makes it easier to make the right decisions for the financial health of your community. 

To find out about Neigbrs by Vinteum’s QuickBooks integration, book your free demo and discover how we can help you to improve your community.