Expense-Related Pain Points of Property Managers with Multiple Properties

  • February 9, 2023
  • George Mahoney

Property management can be complex and challenging, especially for those managing multiple properties. With numerous properties come multiple expenses, invoices, bills, and budgets that must be tracked, reconciled, and managed effectively. In addition to the regular expenses, unexpected emergencies and changes in regulations and taxes can also add to the stress of expense management. As a result, property managers often struggle to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of managing expenses, leading to errors, inefficiencies, and financial losses.

Effective expense management cannot be overstated in the success of multi-property management. Keeping track of expenses and budgets accurately and efficiently allows property managers to make informed decisions, prioritize expenses, and allocate resources effectively. Moreover, it helps to ensure the financial stability and success of the properties they manage.

In this article, we will delve into the pain points of expense management for property managers with multiple properties, specifically focusing on the challenges of tracking receipts, having field employees with corporate cards, and generally tracking credit card expenses and matching them to the budgets of each property effectively. We will also introduce an expense management platform solution that solves these pain points and streamlines the expense management process for property managers.

The Pain Points of Expense Tracking for Property Managers

Expense tracking is a critical aspect of managing multiple properties, and property managers often face several challenges in this area. Some of the most common pain points of expense tracking are:

  1. Tracking vendor invoices and bills: With multiple properties and vendors to manage, keeping track of invoices and bills can be overwhelming for property managers. They need to keep track of the invoices received, ensure timely payment, and reconcile expenses against the budget for each property.
  2. Reconciling expenses and income: Reconciling expenses and income is an important aspect of financial management, but it can be time-consuming for property managers. Keeping track of expenses, income, and bank transactions for multiple properties can be challenging, and any errors in reconciliation can have serious consequences.
  3. Maintaining detailed records of expenses for tax purposes: Accurate and detailed records are crucial for tax purposes. Property managers need to keep track of all expenses, categorize them correctly, and maintain accurate records for each property. This can be tedious and time-consuming, especially when dealing with multiple properties.
  4. Allocating expenses correctly between different properties: Allocating expenses correctly between different properties is crucial to ensure that each property is managed efficiently and within budget. Property managers must keep track of expenses incurred for each property, allocate expenses correctly, and reconcile the expenses against the budget for each property.
  5. Ensuring security and privacy of financial information: Sensitive financial information is shared and stored electronically, and security and confidentiality are paramount. Property managers must ensure that their financial information is secure, protected from unauthorized access, and compliant with privacy regulations.

These pain points of expense tracking highlight the need for a streamlined and efficient expense management system to help property managers overcome these challenges and manage expenses effectively.

expense management for property managers

The Challenges of Corporate Cards and Credit Card Expenses

Field employees and contractors often incur expenses on behalf of the properties, corporate cards, and credit card expenses, which can pose a challenge for property managers. Some of the key challenges in this area include:

  1. Managing expenses incurred by field employees: Field employees and contractors often incur expenses while carrying out their duties, such as traveling, purchasing supplies, or attending meetings. Property managers must keep track of these expenses, ensure they are within budget, and allocate them correctly to each property.
  2. Matching credit card expenses to property budgets: Credit card expenses must be matched to each property’s budget to ensure that costs are allocated correctly and within budget. This can be challenging for property managers, especially when dealing with multiple properties and significant expenses.
  3. Ensuring timely payment of credit card bills: Timely payment is critical to ensure expenses are managed efficiently and within budget. Property managers must ensure that credit card bills are paid on time, reconciled against expenses, and allocated correctly to each property.
  4. Dealing with unexpected expenses and emergencies: Unexpected expenses and emergencies can sometimes arise, and property managers must be prepared to deal with them. This can be challenging, especially when dealing with multiple properties and significant expenses.

These challenges highlight the importance of an effective expense management system to help property managers effectively manage credit card expenses and corporate cards. A system that streamlines the process of tracking expenses, reconciling expenses against budgets, and ensuring timely bill payments can help property managers overcome these challenges and manage expenses effectively.

The Solution: Clyr, An Expense Management Platform for Property Managers

An expense management platform can help property managers overcome the pain points and challenges of tracking credit card expenses. Such a platform can provide a comprehensive solution that streamlines the expense management process, reduces manual effort, and ensures accuracy and efficiency. Some of the key features and benefits of an expense management platform include:

  1. Automated expense tracking: An expense management platform can automate expense tracking, eliminating the need for manual effort. Property managers can easily track expenses incurred by field employees, reconcile expenses against budgets, and allocate expenses correctly to each property.
  2. Credit card integration: An expense management platform can integrate with corporate credit cards, providing real-time visibility into credit card expenses. Property managers can view expenses as they occur, match expenses to budgets, and ensure timely payment of credit card bills.
  3. Budget management: An expense management platform can help property managers manage budgets effectively, providing real-time visibility into expenses and budgets for each property. Property managers can monitor expenses, allocate expenses correctly, and ensure that expenses are within budget.
  4. Tax compliance: An expense management platform can help property managers maintain detailed records of expenses for tax purposes, ensuring compliance with tax regulations. Property managers can categorize expenses accurately, maintain accurate records, and easily generate reports for tax purposes.
  5. Security and privacy: An expense management platform can provide security and privacy features to protect sensitive financial information. Property managers can ensure their financial information is secure, protected from unauthorized access, and compliant with privacy regulations.

An expense management platform can provide a comprehensive solution to the pain points and challenges for property managers with multiple properties. By automating expense tracking, integrating with corporate credit cards, and providing real-time visibility into expenses and budgets, an expense management platform can help property managers manage expenses effectively and efficiently.

To Summarize…

Expense management is a critical aspect of property management, especially for property managers with multiple properties. With field employees and contractors incurring expenses, credit card expenses, and the need to allocate the costs correctly to each property, managing expenses can be complex and challenging. However, an expense management platform can help property managers overcome these challenges and efficiently manage costs.

An expense management platform provides a comprehensive solution that automates expense tracking, integrates with corporate credit cards, and provides real-time visibility into expenses and budgets. An expense management platform can help property managers manage expenses effectively and maintain compliance with tax regulations by reducing manual effort, ensuring accuracy and efficiency, and providing security and privacy features.

In conclusion, an expense management platform is a valuable tool for property managers with multiple properties. It provides a solution to the pain points and challenges of expense management and enables them to manage expenses effectively and efficiently.

George Mahoney
Chief Financial Officer, SMB Finance Expert

George Mahoney is a seasoned expert with extensive experience in financial management for field services, construction, and real estate companies. Known for his strategic financial planning and expertise in optimizing operational efficiencies, George has consistently driven profitability throughout his career.