Description
Includes ©STRATACCOUNT software for managing the Operating and Contingency Reserve Funds and for Generating Financial Reports.
The Treasurer’s role is to help Council to make decisions related to the financial affairs of the strata, and although the duties of the Treasurer are not defined, in stratas which are self-managed, they usually include all or most of the following:
- Prepare a draft annual budget for Council’s review and approval by owners;
- Establish and maintain bank and investment accounts;
- Collect strata revenues and pay strata expenses;
- Maintain strata accounts and prepare and present financial statements;
- Provide advice to Council regarding Depreciation Report funding plans;
- Invest contributions made by owners to the Contingency Reserve Fund (CRF); and
- Arrange for adequate strata insurance.
Often owners are reluctant to accept the job of Treasurer because they think they do not have knowledge to keep track of all this information and how to advise the council about it.
Moreover, if the strata has a management company, the Treasurer may feel unsure about what the responsibilities and duties of the property manager really are, how to interpret the sort of information supplied by the company, and directions the Council needs to give to the manager in the management of the strata’s financial affairs.
However, bookkeeping and the preparation of financial statements for stratas does not need to be complicated. Most strata corporations are simple, non-profit organizations. Unless there are commercial factors which affect the strata’s income and expenditures, councils don’t have to worry about the “accruals” that are necessary to allocate profits to different time periods, or “double-entry accounting”, or complicated balance sheets. All that is usually needed is an accurate and complete record of revenues received, and payments made, each month.
This important addition to the VISOA library demystifies many of these issues and provides a comprehensive guide including extensive information on where to find answers to common questions and on other useful reference material.
It also includes ©STRATACCOUNT, a simple Excel accounting package developed by the author to help strata Treasurers maintain the strata’s books and to prepare financial statements which conform to SPA requirements. Although it presupposes some degree of computer skill, it does not require accounting expertise or prior familiarity with Microsoft Excel.
The publication is written by Dr. Cleveland S. Patterson, an Emeritus Professor of Finance and a former member of VISOA’s Board, who wrote the companion volume Management of the Contingency Reserve Fund.
