Propra offers a comprehensive service accounting module for property management, enabling accrual-based accounting down to the unit level. Seamlessly integrating lease information, maintenance tracking, and owner and tenant records already in the platform, it simplifies managing receivables and payables. Propra accounting enhances efficiency with real-time updates, accurate record-keeping, detailed financial reporting, and automation for recording rent charges, deposits, maintenance billing, and more.
This article provides an overview of Propra Service Accounting and how you can get started.
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Activating Accounting in Propra
A user with a Books Admin role can activate accounting. To activate accounting, click on Accounting on the left-hand menu, then click Let's Get Started.
Chart of Accounts
The set up will start off with offering a standard Chart of Accounts. You can customize the chart of accounts at any time. Don’t worry about creating a set of accounts for every property; our system automatically keeps records for each property by owner so you always have independent financial records.
Owner-operators can ensure that the business’s administrative transactions are not mixed with a portfolio’s transactions by selecting the company name as a property when posting transactions.
Financial Settings
After creating the Chart of Accounts, you can define your Financial Settings:
Company Information: Enter your fiscal year end and GST/HST information, if applicable.
Account Mapping: Designate which accounts will be used for transactions related to accounts payable, operating bank, GST etc. Used by the system when posting automated and batch transactions available under Tasks.
Fee Mapping: Assign revenue accounts to various lease fees for your rent roll.
Charges Mapping: Customize charges that users can apply to tenant and/or owner records.
Maintenance Billing: Enable automatic billing for maintenance requests to ensure that accounting expenses for labor and material costs are recorded upon completion. Set your labor rate, apply material markups, and customize account mapping based on request category.
Accounting Tasks: Define which fees contribute to management fee calculations and specify whether to track this revenue for your business. Customize cheque printing and income payout options to suit your needs.
Navigating Accounting
Accounting has six additional menu options across the top:
Tasks: where all the accounting activities are available
Accounts: where you access the chart of accounts
Receivables: where you manage accounts receivables and any money received
Payables: where you manage accounts payable and any payments made
Charges: where you can review, approve, or decline charges submitted
Reports: where you generate financial reports
Tasks
Consolidation of all the regular accounting activities in one easy place to navigate. Here you can:
Run rent roll for residential and commercial tenants
Process monthly condo fee collection
Print cheque runs
Record pre-authorized debit entries for rents and condo fees
Manage recurring entries
Create invoices for tenants or condo owners
Create special levy invoices for condo owners
Create rental owner income payouts
Perform account reconciliations
Create GST/HST remittances
Import transactions
Manage property budgets
Record fund transfer between properties
Accounts
Where the Chart of Accounts live. Propra provides a customizable template chart of accounts, eliminating the need to create new accounts for each property or owner. The system automatically maintains independent financial records for each property by owner, ensuring accurate and streamlined financial management.
Receivables
Keep track of all funds to be collected in Receivables. The following tasks will have their resulting transactions posted in Receivables:
Commercial and residential rent roll
Condo fees and special levy
Create invoice and multi-unit invoice
The accounting feature works cohesively with all of the other features in Propra. This ensures that transactions are made correctly and quickly. The following automated transactions will also populate in Receivables:
Security deposits for new leases: When adding a new lease for a property our system recognizes that a new lease with a security deposit amount has been added and automatically makes the accounts receivable transaction for the security deposit.
Retained funds to apply to rent: When issuing a deposit, if funds are retained to apply to outstanding charges, such as rent, a credit receivable transaction will automatically be posted.
Approved charges: charges applied to owners or tenants from their Financial pages will automatically be posted according to the Charges Mapping.
Outstanding charges can be selected to apply a deposit against, ensuring you know what has been collected and what hasn't.
Learn more: Receivables
Payables
Keep track of all money to be paid in Payables. The following tasks will have their resulting transactions posted in Payables:
Enter bill
GST remittance
Income Payout
Management fees
The accounting feature works cohesively with all of the other features in Propra to ensure that transactions are made correctly and quickly. There is the option to automate maintenance billing. Once a maintenance request has been resolved and marked completed, a payable is posted for the time spent and any material costs that were entered by the operator or other users.
Outstanding payables can be selected to apply payments to, ensuring you know what has been paid and what is still owing.
Learn more: Payables
Charges
Any one time charges that are pending review to be approved or declined. Options for charges available to your users can be configured with specific amounts, accounts, and approval limits in your account's Financial Settings.
Learn more: Setting Up and Approving Resident Charges
Reports
Find all the important reports in one place. Reports can be produced by property or consolidated for an owner:
Income Statement by property, owner or consolidated
Balance Sheet by property, owner or consolidated
Trial Balance by property or consolidated
Property Statement of Account
GST Return and detailed by transaction
Deposits
Property Receivables
Property Payables
Rent Comparison
Property Rent Roll
Property Unit Fees
Property managers also have
Trust Liability
Income Payout
Use Bundled Reports to easily generate multiple report packages at once. Once generated, simply review and share as needed.
Learn more: Reports
Your First Accounting Cycle
Once accounting is activated, here are suggested next steps:
Review and Update Your Data
The accounting tasks use data from your property, owner and lease records when creating transactions and batches so it’s important to ensure your records are up to date. Below is a guide to help you identify and address if there are is any data missing or not up to date that will be used in accounting processes. Taking the time to review data before you get started will reduce the risk of mistakes that may end up taking more time to correct later.
Before Entering Transactions
How do you want your universal chart of accounts structured?
Review Chart of Accounts. To find what you already have set up, go to Accounting > Accounts for the account listing or go to Accounting > Reports and run the Chart of Accounts report.
Add or edit any accounts in the Accounts tab.
Are all the accounts mapped for the accounting tasks, lease fees, maintenance billing, and charges?
Review and confirm your Financial Settings.
When will you get started?
Determine a cut-off date that works for your business. Most customers select the first of the month as a or the day following an income payout to owners as a starting point.
Before Posting Rent Roll
Are current leases records set up with appropriate fees? Are condo units updated with the appropriate fees and owners?
Review leases and ensure tenant information and fees are accurate. Create a report bundle with the Property Rent Roll report and generate a report for all properties as of the cut-off date to review lease information currently in the system.
Learn more: Creating a New Lease, Adding a Resident to an Existing LeaseReview condo unit information and ensure unit fees and unit factors (if applicable) are accurate. Run the Property Unit Fee report for your condo properties or review the All Units tab on condo properties.
Learn more: Updating Condo Fees for All Units
Do tenants have preferred payment methods for their fees? Are you using a PAD system?
Use the tenant table to see current preferred payment methods and the amount or run the Rent Comparison Report for all properties to see current rent amount and preferred payment methods for tenants.
Update the preferred payment method for a tenant under Financial obligations on the Financials tab on their record
Do condo owners have preferred payment methods for their fees? Are you using a PAD system?
Use the owner table to see the current preferred payment methods and the amount.
Update the preferred payment method for a tenant under Financial obligations on the Financials tab on their record
If you are a third-party property manager, are management fees set up for your owners?
Ensure your Financial Settings indicate what fees are included in management fee calculations.
Run the management fee batch process for your start date and review/export what is generated to see if it calculates as expected. Do not post.
Update management fees on the Financials tab of the owner record. If managing more than one asset for the owner with different fee structures for each asset, update the management fee on the Assets tab for each property/unit, as required.
Before Processing Payments, Running Financial Reports, and Completing Reconciliations
What properties belong to which physical bank accounts?
Set up groups under Manage Groups on the Account Reconciliation task.
Do you have carry-forward balances as of the cut-off date?
Enter or import outstanding A/R balances for any tenants or owners as of the cut-off date.
Enter or import outstanding A/P balances for any vendors, suppliers, or contractors as of the cut-off date.
Enter or import account balances for non A/R and A/P accounts as of the cut-off date.