At Cedar Management Group, we understand that financial security is a very serious matter. We’ve created standards of procedure to protect the funds of all of our communities, both large and small. We take great effort in protecting both the association’s accounts payable process and receivables process.
Payable invoices are reviewed on every level from approval to payment. The Association manager reviews the invoice from the vendor before submitting to the Board for approval. Once the Board has approved, the Accounts Payable administrator processes the payment. Finally, an Operations Manager reviews the payment before signing the check or signing off on the funds transfer. At each level, the person involved checks the invoice against the budget, or if the expenses was unplanned, that the transaction was approved properly.
Invoices go through several team members before being paid. This ensures all protocols are followed correctly, and a fourth person then reconciles the bank statement so there is no overlap.
Before monthly financial reports are given to our Board members, they are first reviewed by multiple team members. At the end of the month, a member of our accounting staff double checks to make sure the Balance Sheet accounts reconcile and verifies the Income & Expense statements for budget variances. From there, the Accounting Manager generates the financial reports, ensures all required reports are included, and checks them for accuracy. The reports are then sent to the Community manager who reviews them and shares them with the board.
As with the accounts payable process, our receivable process also goes through many levels of verification to make sure it is handled properly. During community onboarding, the Accounting Manager verifies the amount of assessments paid by the owners. When it is time to invoice the assessments,, an accounting team member applies the charges and sends the invoices to the Community manager to verify the amounts are correct. Proofs are sent to the Board for approval and then sent to the owners. When payments are received, a staff member in Accounts Receivable processes the payments and a Collections Manager handles the collection of overdue funds.
Reports of payments received, outstanding accounts receivable, and collection statuses are included in the monthly report provided to the board.
Should the Association’s governing documents require it or the Board request it, Cedar is more than happy to work with an independent CPA to conduct an audit of the Association books.
Cedar Management Group is fully bonded and insured. In addition to our company, we also review each association’s coverage to make sure they have proper coverage for the community and the board of directors.