Association management software can save money for you and your clients. Whether you’re managing a large portfolio of properties belonging to a homeowner association (HOA) or a smaller condominium association (COA), using association management software helps increase efficiency while lowering costs. It’s one of the best tools available to any HOA/COA manager.
An association is similar to a business in many ways. Associations have income, expenses, and savings that need to be maintained in order to ensure the organization’s long term success. When an HOA/COA can save money, it can upgrade facilities, provide better services to residents, and invest more into the association reserve fund for emergency expenses. There are several ways for associations to save money, but one of the easiest and most effective is to use association management software.
If you’re wondering how association management software can save money for your clients, the features listed below are just some of the great reasons to start using HOA/COA management software like CINC Systems.
Collect Fees and Assessments Online
As the old saying goes, time is money. Whenever you can save time, you’ll be able to free yourself up for more tasks and thereby work more efficiently overall. Increasing your efficiency as an association manager means you can take on more clients or expand your existing services with the clients you already have.
One of the best ways to save time as a manager is to use association management software to collect HOA/COA fees and assessments online. With software like CINC Systems, you can create an online web portal where residents can pay their dues electronically. This means payments are automatically deposited into your clients’ accounts, so there’s no need for you to deposit physical checks at a bank.
Additionally, collecting payments online using association management software enables you to generate a list of which residents have paid their fees on time and which ones still owe. This makes it much easier to enforce collections because you’re not wasting time creating a list by hand. Associations love this feature because it means overdue fees can be collected more quickly.
Process Work Orders Electronically
In addition to fees, association management software enables you to process work orders for your clients online. Create a member portal where residents can submit work orders electronically and even include photos of the work that needs to be done. Then, as manager, you can organize these work orders by project category, submission date, or priority.
Organizing work orders electronically means you can group the work more efficiently. For example, you can schedule an electrician to come in and handle all electrical repairs on the same day instead of making multiple calls. Consolidating repairs can help the association save money. Plus, residents love it when repairs are performed more quickly. Increasing resident morale for your clients will help you retain their business.
Pay Bills Automatically
HOAs and COAs often have monthly bills for utilities as well as services like landscaping, security, and regular maintenance. Depending on the size of the organization, these upkeep costs can become complicated and difficult to track. When a bill slips through the cracks, the association must pay late fees or other penalties.
With association management software, you can set up automatic bill pay. Whenever a bill or invoice comes in, it will automatically be paid from the client’s accounts. This ensures that they never incur any late fees. It also helps you ensure that the association’s current expenditures are accurate, which is vital for setting budgets.
Send Electronic Invoices
Another way to help your clients save money with association management software is to use electronic invoices. When someone owes money to the HOA/COA, you can generate an invoice which can be sent to the recipient electronically via email. Then, the recipient can pay it online instead of sending a check.
When an association is owed money, every day that they don’t receive payment can impact the organization’s money. By using association management software to send electronic invoices, you can help ensure that your clients are paid as quickly as possible.
Go Paperless
Association management software can also save money for HOA/COAs by allowing them to go paperless. By automating many aspects of association management, HOA/COA software dramatically reduces the need for paper and printing. For example, financial reports can be emailed to the HOA/COA’s board instead of printed out and sent by mail.
Going paperless means the association can spend less money on office supplies, printing services, and mailing services. Your HOA/COA management business can cut these costs, as well. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Automate HOA/COA Accounting
Accounting best practices are crucial to the success of an HOA/COA, but some managers feel overwhelmed by these tasks because they don’t have formal accounting training. With association management software, you can automate many important accounting tasks and reduce accounting errors.
For example, association management software usually includes general ledger features. This means you can balance your clients’ books with the click of a button and help ensure that they’re remaining within the target zones of their budget. Using association management software means your clients won’t need to hire a CPA to handle the day-to-day finances.
Prevent Fraud
Similarly, association management software can save money for an organization by preventing fraud. Using real-time bank integration, you can sync your client’s various accounts to your software dashboard. Then, you can monitor these accounts in real-time from one convenient site.
This allows you to see transactions as they occur in the moment. If you notice expenditures that seem unusual, you can flag the transaction immediately. This helps you stop potential fraud or other forms of financial abuse, which can be very expensive to recover from if they’re not caught early.
Save Money with CINC Systems
Using association management software can save money for your organization as well as your clients. It’s one of the best investments you can make. To see how HOA/COA management software can help your business, click here for a free CINC Systems demo.
