Given the current circumstances, a lot of emphasis is given to cost cutting in the business world. The real estate industry is no exception, given the competitiveness of the industry it is important for real estate businesses to cut cost and be competitive in the market. Outsourcing can be a good option to reduce cost. Back office tasks such as accounting, though important but time consuming can be outsourced to specialized service providers. Outsourcing accounting services for real estate can prove to be extremely helpful in not only saving cost but also in enhancing the financial reporting of the organization.

Some of the key accounting tasks which can be outsourced in real estate bookkeeping are as follows:

Tenant Accounting – Lease setup, move-ins, move-outs
Accounts Payable – Entry of POs, invoice entries, utilities payments and disbursements processing
Accounts Receivable – Monthly rent run, Processing rent receipts and Collections
Bank, Credit card reconciliations, Month end accruals
Monthly operating reports, Variance analysis, Financial and Operations dashboards
Real Estate Tax, Insurance, Mortgage Escrow Reconciliations
Tracking RR escrow funding, RR escrow reconciliations, and RR reimbursement requests
Prepare budgets, Financial analysis and Cash flow forecasting
Year-end finalization, Audit support, Fixed asset schedules, CAM reconciliations
Rent Roll Analysis – Covering financial analysis, tenant analysis, location review etc

Popular real estate bookkeeping/accounting packages

Below is the list of accounting and related software commonly used in real-estate industry

Yardi-Voyager, Genesis
Timberline Property Management
MRI (by Intuit Real Estate Solutions)
Spectra Property Management
QuickBooks and Quicken
Avid Payable
RealPage – OneSite
QuickBase
The Property Manager
Propertyware
Appfolio

Real estate bookkeeping outsourcing involves the accountant to work with great care, accuracy and follow certain strategies and principles. The accounting knowledge, level of detail required in accounting, and compliance to statutory laws is much higher than standard accounting work. Additionally most firms report financials at entry level, property level and at investor level, there by necessitating a multi-level, complicated accounting structure.

Therefore it is essential for you to make sure that the firm which you engage with is a reliable one and has good track record with previous clients. Gather information regarding the background of the company and do a reference check to avoid any kind of dispute in the future. Money is a precious asset and you cannot just invest into any incompetent outsourcing firm. Outsourcing accounting firms are great time and energy saver, if selected with acute diligence and great deal of consideration.

About

OHI is a thirteen-year-old real estate services company working with 50+ commercial and residential real estate developers, funds and property management companies across USA. Our deep expertise in real estate accounting, financial analysis, lease administration and asset management has helped clients cut associated costs by 40-50%. We currently provide these services to a portfolio of 75000 units across clients.

We invite you to experience finance and accounting outsourcing through us.