By Evelyn Dufford, CMCA, PCAM
Here we are midyear, yay! By now, we’ve got the financial for the 1st half of the year. This is a great time to reflect and start our planning for the rest of the year.
First thing to look at is the year to date budget verses actual comparison Income and Expense report. How are we doing there? Are we over budget on anything that needs to be questioned? Or do we know the cause of the number variance. Is the cause reasonable and is it something we should note for planning next year’s budget?
Second thing to look at is the balance sheet. How’s the cash flow? Is the operating account ok? Do we have more in a checking account that we need at the moment? Do we have the reserve account set up? What’s the balance of the accounts receivable? This is the amount of assessments we haven’t collected yet. Do we have outstanding bills in the account payable that we can’t pay because of cash flow?
Third thing to look is the list of account receivable. Are we doing everything reasonable to collect the past due assessments? Are we using payment plans, collection companies and placing liens? Talk to your manager regard the best strategies of your collections.
Fourth thing to look at is the Reserve Study. Are we on track? Did we do or have plans to do everything we need to this year? Are we going to postpone any projects? Should we start bidding projects for next year?
Fifth and final thing to look is at the Board meeting minute’s book. Do we have them all in place and signed? Did we do all the actions that were voted on this year? Do we have the draft from last year’s meeting ready for the next annual meeting or budget meeting?
As we round the corner on summer, we start to look at next year and the budget process. My hope is that each year we get better at the planning and execution of our plans. But just like life itself, things don’t always go according to the plan. I hope the review will help with the execution part and if nothing else let us remind ourselves that we are doing a good job as a volunteer for our community.
I encourage you to sign up for the Budget seminar we have planned for September 13th. Thank you for reading and as always, feel free to contact me at evelynd@associationserviceswa.com with questions or comments.
