Bookkeeping Solutions

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Josh J, 18th Aug, 2019.

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  1. Josh J

    Josh J New Member

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    I'm trying to figure out how to sort out bookkeeping for my rentals properties.

    I'm totally lazy and didn't communicate with the bookkeeper I have and now I have a problem of sorting out last year's statements for the accountant.

    Is there software that can automate most of this? I couldn't find anything that would import pdf statements from agents and allow me to enter these into accounting software.
     
  2. Trainee

    Trainee Well-Known Member

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    You have a bookkeeper and an accountant? How many ips do you have?
     
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  3. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Don't you get an end of year summary from your property managers? Is that good enough for your accountant? I'm not sure bookkeeping software is required if properties are in your own name?

    It would be great if systems like PropertyMe could do an export to Xero / Saasu / MYOB etc - but most people investing in their own names don't need that kind of detail.

    I use Saasu to track my property income and expenses, but only because properties are in a trust and I need to do books for it anyway. Certainly not automated - very manual process :(

    Perhaps ask your accountant what information they need and how they prefer to have it presented. I know some accountants on PropertyChat have spreadsheet templates for their clients to fill out.
     
  4. Josh J

    Josh J New Member

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    I have 7 properties and a business but no employees, just outsourcing. Properties in a trust/company structure.

    I have to have quarterly bas statements for the business.

    I would have thought there'd be a automatic pdf importer by now with AI and all that.

    I'll chat to accountant tomorrow and see what information is needed. The trials of quickbooks and reckonone were confusing.
     
  5. Josh J

    Josh J New Member

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    I have an accountant and had a bookkeeper but didn't communicate with bookkeeper and they no longer respond. Time to move forward from that,.
     
  6. Trainee

    Trainee Well-Known Member

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    Can't imagine a bookkeeper having issues with 7 properties. Easily doable in a spreadsheet if they are standard residential IPs.
     
  7. Pumpkin

    Pumpkin Well-Known Member

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    Are you doing daily accounting/bookkeeping? Most software will have bank feeds. So if your PM pays you monthly, you only need to allocate 12 payments.
     
  8. Michael Mitchell

    Michael Mitchell Well-Known Member

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    If you use a Property Manager, leverage them to be your book keeper for the properties they manage, what I mean by this is send them all the related expenses* to pay on your behalf so they appear on your owner ledger and statements and you're not having to do this work yourself and keep your own systems. EOFY they generate one statement which captures everything, you just forward that to your account. In times where there might be large expenses, simply pay that money to the PM so they can pay it on your behalf and the above still happens.

    *Eg. rates, water, levies, insurance, compliance stuff, repairs & maintenance, improvements, etc.
     
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  9. Dan Wood

    Dan Wood Well-Known Member

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    Does this include strata levies? Which can be a large sum. I assume they just wait for a deposit and pay on your behalf.

    I've got an email forward for rates, water that goes to myself and my PM .
     
  10. Michael Mitchell

    Michael Mitchell Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, most levies would be able to be paid with one month's rent or less and the invoices are also sent out 2-3 months before they're due so plenty of time to withhold trust money to build up sufficient balance to pay it. I more so meant things like bathroom re-waterproofing/min-reno's which can be $5-10-15k etc. in these cases where it would take too long for rent money to accumulate and the bills would pass their due date, the Lessor can make a payment to the Agent, it gets receipted as 'Owner deposit' (credit held in Trust) recorded against the Owner's ledger and then used to pay out etc.
     
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  11. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

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    We offer a resources to all clients. Excel. Update monthly for agent stmts and all matters paid personally etc. Review and check at year end.

    We also provide a CGT record keeping tool. Overpaying CGT later is otherwise likely.

    I am shocked how few property savvy accountants (or any other tax advisers) assist clients with saving tax by maintaining records
     

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  12. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    I married an accountant. Problem solved. :D

    The Y-man
     
  13. Pumpkin

    Pumpkin Well-Known Member

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    That's what my husband said. :p
     
  14. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    Airtasker is your friend - there's bound to be some bunny out there who'll upload all of the reports into Excel.