MSTS112 MANAGEMENT FEES & BILLING -...

MSTS112 MANAGEMENT FEES & BILLING Copyright © Mystrata Pty Limited 2012

Version 1.0 (May 2013)

STUDENT WORKBOOK

MSTS112 Management Fees and Billing V1.0

OVERVIEW This paper will show students how to create and work with management agreements, disbursement tracking, and other various ledger accounting processes.

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

Create a management agreement Configure disbursement settings Invoice (and track) management fees

EXAMINATION To receive credit for completing this paper you must successfully complete an examination at the end of the session.

All questions are multiple choice There are no trick questions You must obtain a mark of 60% or higher in order to pass This is an open book examination

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COURSE OUTLINE CONTENTS

Management Agreements, Fees and Disbursements ................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

1.0 Initial Setup .......................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Set-up Management Agreements ....................................................................................... 9

1.2 Maintain Management Agreements ................................................................................. 18

1.3 Management Fee & Disbursement Invoicing .................................................................... 30

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1.0 INITIAL SETUP

1.0.1 SETUP FEES

The first step in our setup is to input Disbursement fee rates. This window can be found at My Business > Agreements > Setup Fees.

• Disbursement Fees are broken into ‘Groups’ consisting of

• Clicking ‘Edit’ can change the rates for each item; some items will also have different options for the Lot type.

Note: You must setup the disbursement fees even if your company may not be charging a fixed disbursement amount, as; in the future these fees will be used as your ‘standard disbursement

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fees’ for all of your properties. You will be able to customise these fees at a property level; this will be explained in a later section.

1.0.2 MODIFY FEE

You can change the details of the fee being charged by selecting it and clicking the ‘Modify Fee’ button. This will open a pop-up where you change many aspects of the selected fee.

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CHANGING A DISBURSEMENT ACCOUNT CATEGORY

Strataware automatically assigns Account categories for all disbursements. You can change these if you wish by clicking the green picker icon, this will open your chart of accounts in a pop-up window for you to choose a more appropriate or custom category.

This new category will now be used in your ledgers. Once you have selected the modify fee option you can 'cycle' through each item without having to leave the window by using the 'Back and Next' buttons.

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Note: Be sure to click the OK button after any changes as leaving the screen prior to this will not save any modifications done to disbursements. You can also customise the category again once you have 'assigned' your agreement to a building.

There is also a 'Restore default' option if you select a incorrect category.

1.0.3 GENERAL SETUP

Event tracking is an automated section of Disbursement fees that can automatically record and bill a specified event when it occurs. Note: We will be exploring billing in a later chapter.

There are eight events that can be tracked automatically, these are:

1. Printing 2. Sending of Emails 3. Cheque Printing 4. EFT Payments 5. Direct Debits 6. Print Levy Notice 7. Print 1st Arrears Notice 8. Label Printing

Each of the abovementioned events can be associated to a Disbursement fee using the ‘magnifying glass' icon.

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• Each time an event is triggered, the system will record and bill the associated fee. • Each event can be enabled individually by clicking ‘Enable’. • Each time an event occurs you can set the system to prompt the user with a choice, to

create a billing item for the respective event or to just record it without charging.

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1.1 SET-UP MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS

In this section we can create one (or more) ‘Agreement Templates’. These agreement templates can then be further customised and ‘Assigned’ to your buildings.

Navigate to My Business > Agreements > Setup Agreements.

Note: A maximum of 6 templates can be created.

1. Agreement templates are listed here. 2. Details of the agreement selected are shown here such as the Managers details. 3. Management and Disbursement setup. 4. A reminder for when the agreement expires can be entered here. 5. Hourly rates for the staff. 6. Tabbed section for different panes for the selected template.

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Australia - QLD Note: If you have selected the radio option for 'Member of SCA' in Company Info you will see a radio button giving an option to use an ‘Industry Association Agreement’ also the Industry standard terms tab will now be available.

To create a new template, click the ‘New’ button in the command bar.

Start by entering a ‘Title’ name for the agreement. You may also set a Heading for the title page of the agreement from a list of items, or you can free type in this field.

1.1.1 TYPE OF AGREEMENT

This option is important, as once you have created and saved your template, this option cannot be changed.

TYPES AVAILABLE: • Standard Services, Additional Services & Itemised Disbursements.

Example - A set Management fee plus extra service costs billed as needed and ALL disbursements charged out individually as per your rates in disbursement fee setup.

• Standard Services, Additional Services & Fixed Disbursements. Example - A set Management fee plus extra service costs billed as needed and a fixed amount for disbursements. Note: This type also allows an option to charge out a fixed amount for disbursements and also additional disbursements as needed.

• All inclusive Services & Disbursements. Example – A fixed amount for Management fees and also Disbursements.

• Company Title Agreement. Example – This type will allow you to set either fixed amounts or itemised for both fees.

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Note: This last option should only be selected if you are proficient in the strataware system. By selecting this option will need to manually setup ALL aspects of this agreement template.

1.1.2 MANAGEMENT FEES

Select the term from the drop down box.

The setup for Management Fees has two main options;

1. ‘Fixed amount per property per annum’ this allows you to set the amount per property. Then set the Cycle of the billing and the Annual increase if any.

2. ‘Fixed amount per Lot per annum’ (see image below). This selection will enable new options to the right where you can now set fixed amounts for each type of lot that may be available.

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1.1.3 DISBURSEMENT FEES

Dependant on the type of the agreement, different options will be available in the ‘Disbursement Fee Set-up’ drop down.

For example, by setting the agreement type to - Standard Services, Additional Services & Fixed Disbursements, you can then choose (from the ‘Standard Disbursement Fee Set-up’ drop down) either;

• Fixed amount per lot/per property or • Fixed amount AND itemised charges.

Once the Disbursement Fee setup has been selected you can then select how they are paid and are able to enter an amount (If Fixed).

A reminder can be set to show a red icon on the building list for agreements that are coming close to the expiry date.

Hourly rates can also be set for staff at this stage however these items are not compulsory.

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1.1.4 TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This is where you create the terms area of your agreement. The layout and options are the same as our Document System but the merge fields are specific for Management agreements.

1.1.5 SERVICES

This section lists all the services your company provides. These are listed by Groups and by default set to filter/display ‘All’

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These services can be of the following three types:

1. Agreed – these items are included in your base Management fee. 2. Additional – these items to be charged out in addition to your base Management fee. 3. Remove – this option will set the item to not be shown or used in the agreement.

For any items you wish to charge out as ‘Additional costs’, set the tick box to additional, this will allow you to enter a Fee/Charge amount. Set the item to remove if you do not provide the service at all.

If you wish to set any additional services to automatically accrue with your Management Fees billing period select the tick box in the 'Accrue' column.

Note: If the type of agreement is set to ‘All inclusive Services & Disbursements’ you cannot set the service to ‘Additional’.

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CHANGING A SERVICE ACCOUNT CATEGORY

Strataware automatically assigns Account categories for all services. You can change these if you wish by clicking the Service and clicking the Modify Fee button.

In the resulting popup then click the magnifying glass icon, this will open your chart of accounts in a pop-up window for you to choose a more appropriate or custom category.

This new category will now be used in your ledgers.

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Once you have selected the modify fee option you can 'cycle' through each item without having to leave the window by using the 'Back and Next' buttons.

There is also a 'Restore default' option if you select a incorrect category.

Note: Be sure to click the save button after any changes as leaving the screen prior to this will not save any modifications done to disbursements. You can also customise the category again once you have 'assigned' your agreement to a building.

1.1.6 EXPORT PARAMETERS

My Business > Agreements > General Setup.

The Export Settings tab is used to setup a default export file-type for your external Accounting system. Configuring an export template will allow you to export the (invoice data) Management Fee invoices from the Management Fee Ledger screen.

To begin with, select the appropriate file format according to your external Accounting System (e.g. MYOB or Quicken).

Note: If the accounting system you use is not mentioned here, then please find out the ‘Import File Format’ type the accounting system accepts and select accordingly.

Then type in the respective Accounting package reference you use for the corresponding Strataware Invoice Category.

By setting up this mapping, you can export the Management Fee invoices from Strataware to your workstation.

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1.2 MAINTAIN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS

My Business > Agreements > Maintain.

You can manage all your agreements for your entire portfolio within this screen. You can also filter the list either by manager or by when the properties were billed.

Across the page you will see information on the particulars of the assigned agreement, also take note of the tabs across the bottom of the page these will show the Assigned Agreement information for the selected building.

From the Agreements tab you can print;

• The selected properties Management Agreement. • Summary list of all agreements • The selected properties Service list. • The selected properties Service list. (Including account categories) • The selected properties Disbursement list. • The selected properties Disbursement list. (Including account categories)

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1.2.1 ASSIGNING AN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT TEMPLATE

To assign one of your templates either to a particular property or a group of properties,

1. tick the selection box for the property(s) required, 2. click the ‘Assign Agreement’ button, 3. select the Management Agreement Template you’d like to assign from the list, and

push the ‘ok’ button. A confirmation window will appear prior to assigning the agreement.

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1.2.2 EDIT AGREEMENTS

Once you have assigned the agreement to a building you can now ‘Fine tune’ it by navigating through the tabs and adjusting various aspects of the agreement as necessary.

Two new date fields are now available, ‘First Invoice Date’, for both Management Fees and Disbursements. These fields allow you to enter a date that the system will use as the “start of billing”. Use these date fields only if the building is to be billed on a date that is different from the commencement date.

For example - you have just acquired a new property and wish to give them two months worth of “free management”. By entering a date two months from the Commencement date the system will now use this date as the ‘bill from’ date.

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1.2.3 REMOVE AGREEMENT

If you wish to remove a assigned agreement, tick the box next to the appropriate property and click the 'Remove Agreement'

Note: If there are any service or disbursement billing entries that have been created but not yet invoiced, you cannot remove the agreement.

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1.2.4 PRINT OPTIONS

Reports can be generated by using the print option in the command bar. Some examples are shown below.

LIST OF AGREEMENTS EXAMPLE

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SERVICES LIST REPORT EXAMPLE

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DISBURSEMENTS FEE LIST

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1.2.5 DOCUMENT FOLDER

The Documents Folder pane will allow you to upload and download files relative to the selected property. You can also 'attach' (link) files to a particular property using the attached documents pane.

Note: you can upload many different types of documents however there are some limitations as to what can be viewed from within Strataware. If the file you have selected does not display correctly your screen, you can use the download option to save the file locally to your computer and attempt to view the document from there.

The top pane shows the Documents Folder, this will default to the selected properties folder. You can use the options in the lower command bar to;

• Attach document • Upload document • Download document • Email document • Show file versions • Publish document to MyCommunity Portal

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• View the file properties • Open and view the file

The attached documents pane will list all the documents that have been attached to the current selected property. You can also use all the same options as in the Documents pane apart from the 'Attach' option.

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1.2.6 RECORD BILLING

To record billing information in Strataware, use the ‘Quick billing entry' screen. Clicking the ‘Billing’ link will open a Pop-up window.

Note: This feature is available everywhere within the Strataware system, for ease of use. Make sure your browser has pop-ups enabled.

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From within the billing screen,

• You can filter your portfolio by “manager”, if required. • Select the relevant property from the drop down lists. • Select the relevant service or disbursement group for the Fee to be charged out, the

description, and quantity. The system will automatically populate the rate for the selected disbursement item.

Once you have specified the ‘Quantity’ for the service tendered and how many of them are to be charged in the ‘Chargeable’ box, the system will then automatically calculate the total cost for this individual entry.

You are able to also add some notes for this entry.

Note: If the property selected is set to a fixed amount for services and disbursements the chargeable amount will always be set to 0.

You can also check when items have been billed, using some of the options available.

For example: I have 2 items recorded, one being an Event tracking item (printed Levy notice) and the other a manually recorded Local call entry are seen under the ‘Show Today’ tab.

You can also filter the display list using the radio buttons to display

• Billed entries for the selected property. • Billed entries for the selected portfolio. • Billed entries for all Properties.

Note: You cannot remove an entry from ‘Record Billing’, however this can be done from within "Issue fees".

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1.3 MANAGEMENT FEE & DISBURSEMENT INVOICING

On the home screen, the list that displays all your properties there are two notifications that are relevant to Management Fees.

• Management fees due: There are fees due and are now available in "Issue Fees" screen.

• Management fees issued and not paid!: Fees have been issued but are awaiting payment.

1.3.1 ISSUING AND PRINTING INVOICES

My Business > Agreements > Issue Fees

To start select the manager name in the drop down or select the ‘All’ option and click 'search' to view all available Invoices to issue.

The invoicing window will display buildings that have fees available to issue; they become available for issue 14 days prior to the start of the period the fee is being issued for.

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1.3.2 ACCRUE INVOICE ITEMS

If your property reports on an Accrual basis, accrual dates will be visible for Management Fees and also disbursements.

To edit accrual items on additional services and disbursements click the icon. This will open

a pop-up window which you can then again select the icon of the item you wish to add/change the accrual period for.

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In the new window that appears you can then select the green picker icon this will open the window to the right.

Note: once you have added one 'Accrual period' you may now use this again for this invoice run, as this will be saved temporarily in the Accrual list.

You can now enter a description for the Accrual period and enter the dates required and click ok.

You can also tick the 'Apply to all transactions' box if you wish to add the accrual period for all the items in the Account group.

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1.3.3 ISSUE PRINT AND PAY

Across the bottom of the page you will see there are three options for payment. Each option will produce a different end result dependant on the choice made.

By default an Itemised Attachment will be included; this can be turned off if not required. If you have chosen either of the ‘Pay’ options AND a Building has insufficient funds, Strataware will still issue the invoices but not pay the invoice.

If any of the selected properties do not have sufficient funds, a popup will be shown to list those properties.

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1.3.4 MANAGEMENT FEE LEDGER

My Business > Agreements > Fee Ledger

The Fee Ledger operates in a similar manner to Accounts Receivable; you can filter the view by Portfolio, CTS/Plan, or ‘Issued To’ as well as change the display period.

This screen, by default, is set to ‘Show Current Invoices’ which will list all the invoices issued but not paid. To view ALL invoices over a ‘Display Period’, change the option to ‘Show all Invoices’.

To pay an outstanding Management Fee invoice, make your selection, and click the ‘Pay selected invoice now’ button.

If the invoice has multiple accrual periods these will be broken into separate accounts payable entries, a small pop-up will appear allowing you to select the accounts payable entry to pay.

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Once you have made your selection you will be directed to the General Ledger screen to finalise the payment; all details will be pre-populated based on the information in the Fee Ledger.

Using the print button you are able to:

• Print a Summary report of ALL invoices issued over the display period. • Print Debtors Statements for the displayed invoices. • Re-Print the selected Management Fee invoice. • Export the displayed invoices using the settings in "General Setup".

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1.3.5 REPORTS

My Business > Reports

There are 3 reports available for Management Fees in the My Business, Reports screen.

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LIST OF DISBURSEMENT FEES EXAMPLE

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MANAGEMENT FEE SUMMARY REPORT EXAMPLE

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CASH FLOW REPORT EXAMPLE

The Cash Flow Report (shown below) will list your income from Management Fees on a month-by-month basis with totals accumulating over the reporting period; this can be useful reporting of future income.

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Mystrata Pty Limited

Phone: +61 7 3839 3199 Fax: +61 7 3036 6143

Mystrata Middle East FZ LLC

Phone: +971 4 422 5747 Fax: +971 4 422 4746

Mystrata Malaysia Sdn Bhd

Phone: +603 6201 2127 Fax: +603 6201 0240

Since 2001, Mystrata has been developing and supporting great technology for strata and community title properties. Our software is used by professional managers, developers, board members, property owners and tenants throughout Australia and the Middle East.

Learn more about Mystrata at www.mystrata.com or on your favourite social media site.

www.facebook.com/mystrata

www.twitter.com/mystrata

www.linkedin.com/companies/mystrata

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http://www.mystrata.com/

http://www.facebook.com/mystrata

http://www.twitter.com/mystrata

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/mystrata

http://www.facebook.com/mystrata

http://www.twitter.com/mystrata

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/mystrata


REVIEW QUESTIONS

Date:

Your Full Name:

Company Name:

Email Address:

1. How many agreement “templates” can you have at one time? a. 2 b. 8 c. 1 d. 6

2. If an invoice has been issued but not paid, in which screen can you access the

invoice? a. Billing window b. Fee Ledger c. You cannot see it, the invoice will need to be re-issued d. Accounts payable ledger

3. Which agreement type would you choose if you wished to issue fees with a fixed

rate but ALSO bill additional items? a. Standard Services, Additional Services & Fixed Disbursements b. Company Title agreement c. All inclusive Services & Disbursements d. Standard Services, Additional Services & Itemised Disbursements

4. How many custom services can a user add when creating there agreement template?

a. 3 b. None c. Infinite d. 6

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