It’s the good, the bad, (and sometimes the ugly) that makes our lives so exciting. There is not a single aspect of existence that only has advantages. So why should Accounting be an exception? Accounting, in itself, is a necessary evil. The nuances are complex and one always enlists the help of an accountant, even for simple tasks. With everything around picking up pace and joining the bandwagon of creating their niche in cyber-space, Accounting is not to be left behind. Accounting software and apps for Apartment Management have been in the market for quite some time.
Apartment complexes are one of the growing markets for accounting software. With more and more people looking for affordable housing, apartment complexes are coming up in nooks and corners. With their acres increasing, managing committees of apartment complexes are finding an increasing need for accounting software for the complexes. However, housing societies have accounting needs quite different from business owners. Consequently, the demand has led to the development of accounting software specifically customised to suit the needs of apartment complex dwellers.
Pros that Make Accounting Software for Apartment Complexes a Hero
Simplicity is The Key
We have enough complexities in our daily life – be it at home, office or romance. Life was not meant to be lived by fretting over numbers. Software developers around the world empathised and built accounting software. Data entry is simple. Laymen, with absolutely zero idea about accounting, find it easy to navigate around such software. Considering apartment management committee members do their duties voluntarily, it is of immense help to have a product which is guided by the principles of lucidity and swiftness. Considering, time is money these days, the way forward is minimum effort and maximum output. Accounting software for apartments do exactly that.
The Age Of Automation
The first few days are always tough. On installing the software, the next step is to sync bank and credit accounts information and importing data from previously used systems. In case, a complex is migrating from a manual system to an automated one, all data will have to be physically entered in the system. However, that is exactly where the sweat and toil stops. Once set up, expense trackers and budgeting modules take care of preparing the balance sheet accordingly, all ready for the auditor(s).
Cost Effective
Investing in an accounting software is a long term plan. Initially, set up cost may seem high. Getting new hardware, subscribing to a fitting software, might make the pocket feel a burning hole. But like all things around you, the burning hole is temporary. Subscription renewals and software upgrades are nominal compared to the initial cost. It also helps to make a significant part like accounting, as paperless as possible. Apartment accounting software reduces the need to involve third parties, thereby bringing down expenditure on a regular basis. It also makes the residents and Managing Committee members more self dependent regarding the management of their own finances.
Error Reduction
This is, of course, the most basic advantage of any technology whatsoever. While saving time and money, apartment accounting software help to minimise errors in documentation, record keeping and calculation. It is a well known fact that getting the balance sheets perfected is an immense responsibility. Manually handling it, is bound to result in errors, which will obviously need revisions and further corrections. This only leads to drain of finances.
Integration
Apartment complexes and housing societies have a variety of needs other than accounting. For instance, as a society, they may subscribe to smart water meters, biometric gate entry systems, gas services, etc. Having resident data on so many platforms is inconvenient and often, risky. Accounting software systems for housing societies are crafted with this security concern in mind. Thus, they allow for integration with other services on their platform. This allows the residents to have their data in one place and not risk a security breach.
Cons that Make Accounting Software for Apartment Complexes a little less Heroic
Technical Failing
No man made product is infallible. They are always prone to glitches and malfunctions. Therefore, assuming accounting software are flawless and not susceptible to flaws, is downright unintelligent. Every apartment management committee will have to be prepared that once in a blue moon, the software or app might face technical snags and things will be a little unorganised as the system recovers.
Support & Maintenance
In continuation to the point above, a software’s technical failing appears more glaring if it does not have a good support and maintenance system. It is always advisable to research the support network of the accounting software, management committees are intending to invest in. Apart from handling glitches, good support system also includes timely subscription renewal. Another hurdle in choosing the perfect software, is keeping track of software updates. Apartment accounting, being a fairly new niche, software often stop upgrading themselves and the product reaches a stage of stagnation. A good apartment management software is the one that constantly redefines and renovates itself to keep pace with the changing times.
Specialised Needs
There is only so much software can do (which is basically 99% of your requirements). With cooperative housing societies adding new features to their premises each passing day, management committees may have specialised needs uniquely applicable to their societies. While most society accounting software are open to customisations based on their clients, the limit to integrate stops after a certain point of time. Therefore, it is always wise to research the market to find the software best suiting all, or at least the majority, of the society’s needs.
Exercising Caution
“The first rule of any technology……is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.” – Bill Gates. No automated system will ever be good enough if the people handling it are incompetent. During data entry, especially manual data entry, extreme caution must be exercised to ensure the resulting balance sheets of the society account are correct.
Society billing software were not formulated with the objective to entirely replace the human factor in society management. Considering, management committee members are voluntarily devoting their time to make a healthier, cleaner, safer and organised community, they deserve all the help they can get. Society management software were envisioned with precisely the aim to make the jobs of MCs easier. After all, happy MC, happy community.
Also, read 7 Reasons why having a Society Management Software is a must.