When you take over management of a property mid-budget-period from a prior agency or software, you need to record historical income and expenses in Re-Leased so your budget actuals are accurate — without affecting your trust accounting cash position.
Before you start, create two chart of account codes: a Revenue code (e.g. Prior Agent Income) and an Expense code (e.g. Prior Agent Expenses).
Recording Prior Agency Income
Create a new income invoice for each tenancy using the correct Outgoings/Service Charge Tenancy Income account code specified in the Budget.
Issue a matching income credit note using the Prior Agent Income account code. Use the Credit Invoice option directly from the invoice for efficiency.
Allocate the credit note from Step 2 against the invoice from Step 1 to zero the balance.
The Outgoings/Service Charge Income Report will accurately reflect the income without affecting the cash position.
Recording Prior Agency Expenses
Create an expense invoice with individual line items for each Budget Expense Code's total.
Create a matching expense credit note using the Prior Agent Expenses account code. Use the Credit Invoice option directly from the invoice for efficiency.
Allocate the credit note from Step 2 against the invoice from Step 1 to nullify the balance.
The expenses will show correctly in the Outgoings/Service Charge Expense Report without affecting the cash position.
Adding Expenses as Actuals Against a Budget
If an owner paid an expense directly (outside the trust account) but it still needs to appear in the budget actuals, follow the same approach: create the expense invoice with the correct Budget Expense Code, then issue a credit note using the equity code (e.g. Owner Funds Introduced) and allocate it against the invoice.
Budget by Area is referred to as Budgeted Outgoings in Asia-Pacific, Service Charge in Europe, and Operating Expenses in North America. For more information on regional terminology, see our Glossary of Regional Terminology.