5 Property Management Accounting Software Features to Consider

Balancing the books may not be the favorite part of your day, but it's what keeps your business going. As your business grows, you need rental property accounting software that helps you coordinate your accounts and provides a clear picture of your financial past and future. As you evaluate new property accounting software, look for a solution that helps you do the following:

1. Minimize Paperwork

Even before you get into the details of your business accounting, you need rental property accounting software that helps you manage your documents. Choose a solution that allows you to digitally file invoices, associate invoices and accounts receivable with a specific account, and enable online payments to reduce the amount of paper flowing in and out of your property management business.

2. Organize Accounts Receivable and Payable

According to the Small Business Accounting report cited in CPA Practice Advisor, "only 40 percent of small business owners feel they are extremely or very knowledgeable on accounting/finance." Whether you're an accounting professional or the manager of a small property management company, you need to be able to coordinate your accounts receivable and accounts payable.

Look for a software product that uses an online portal to manage tenant payments online and automatically adds items like late fees to an account. Streamline the accounts payable process by digitally storing all of the relevant documents in a single location in your property accounting software, rather than digging through piles of paper to find an invoice.

3. Manage Cash Flow

As you're growing your business, cash flow can be a concern. For example, if you are working on projects in several of your properties, you need to make sure that you can balance these large expenses with incoming funds. According to All Business, "many small business owners - especially those who are just starting out - find themselves dealing with upfront expenses and limited cash flow." Look for property accounting software that allows you to integrate information from accounting software such as Quickbooks, set up and monitor a portfolio or property level budget to keep track of incoming and outgoing funds, and generate financial reports quickly, so you know where your cash flow will stand.

4. Automate Payments

When you're juggling payroll, requests from vendors, and tracking owner-related finances, you need to keep your payments moving through your accounts. Automate owner withdrawals using an online system that informs owners of changes in their accounts and allows them to check their balance and withdraw funds. Work with a program that automatically calculates extra fees and manages commissions for employees. With calculations and payments that happen automatically after you set them up, you'll be able to smoothly manage employee payroll, vendor requests, and owner disbursements.

5. Balance the Books

No matter the size of your business, it's beneficial to work with property management accounting software to balance your books. Download bank statements, monitor and correct problems, match transactions and generate reconciliation reports that allow you to see what transactions have cleared and which ones have not. Look for property accounting software that helps you easily track fees and accounts and create statements that show the status of your finances.

When you're looking for property management accounting software to simplify your job and improve your business, look at Propertyware. With our integrated property accounting software program that incorporates data from Quickbooks, landlord information, vendor documents, and more, you'll be able to bring together documents into a cohesive accounting system. View a free online demo of Propertyware today.