Accounting software for HOAs that keeps every fund straight

What makes HOA accounting different

General small-business software can be bent into shape for an association, but it isn’t built around the three things that make HOA books their own kind of problem:

• Funds. Operating money pays for this year; reserve money is set aside for roofs, paving and pools. Owners, lenders and auditors expect to see them separately, and money moved between them is a transfer — not income, not an expense.
• Assessments receivable, by home. Dues are billed to every home. The books need to know, for each home, what was charged, what was paid and what’s still owed — and keep that history across fiscal years, because arrears don’t reset on January 1.
• A board that reads the numbers. Volunteers who aren’t accountants approve budgets and spending. Reports have to be clear, consistent month to month, and easy to check.

KeepHOA is double-entry accounting underneath, with those three things built in. You record payments and expenses in plain words; the debits and credits are kept for you.

The reports your board and accountant ask for

Every report comes straight from the books, for any period, and prints or downloads as a PDF:

• Balance sheet by fund — what each fund has and owes.
• Income statement — income and expenses for the period and the year to date, per fund.
• Budget vs actual — every line against the budget the board approved, with the variance.
• Cash position — each bank account’s balance and when it was last reconciled.
• Receivables aging — what each home owes and for how long.
• Reserve summary — contributions, transfers, interest and spending from the reserve.
• Trial balance and general ledger — for the accountant.

The board packet puts the ones you choose into a single PDF with a note from the treasurer, ready to send before the meeting.

Reserve funds, kept apart

Reserve cash usually sits in its own savings account. In KeepHOA the reserve fund has its own balance, its own share of each assessment if you split dues between funds, and its own report. Moving money from operating to reserve is recorded as a transfer, so the operating fund doesn’t look like it spent money it only set aside.

Year-end without the scramble

Close each month once it’s reconciled; a closed month can’t be changed by accident, and a copy of the books as of that close is kept for good in your Google Drive’s version history. At year-end, closing the year carries every balance forward and starts income and spending from zero. The accountant gets the trial balance, general ledger, chart of accounts and each home’s balance as CSV files.

Books you can trust later

Posted entries can’t be quietly edited or deleted. A mistake is voided and re-entered, so there’s always a trail — and every change is recorded with the name of the Google account that made it. A completed bank reconciliation is locked. When a treasurer hands over, the next one inherits books that explain themselves.

General information, not accounting, legal or tax advice. Filing and audit requirements for associations vary by state and by governing documents; your accountant can tell you what yours are.