GEEDEE REALTY SYSTEMS

Transcription

1 GEEDEE REALTY SYSTEMS TRUST ACCOUNTING AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT TRAINING HANDBOOK RESIDENTIAL MODULE GEEDEE REALTY SYSTEMS PTY LTD PO Box 480, Applecross WA 6153 Telephone: (08) Fax: (08)

2 FOREWORD This training handbook has been written, in the main, to assist students who undertake the Diploma in Property (Real Estate) or one of the Property Management courses conducted by TAFE. It is hoped that this handbook, together with the Commercial Training Handbook, will be used as a reference guide by all users of GeeDee Realty Systems, so that they become aware of, and fully utilise, the many features available in the system. MODULE PURPOSE: The purpose of this module is to enable the participants to explain and demonstrate the application of real estate accounting packages. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: Case studies and practical demonstration. COMPETENCY STANDARDS: 1. Prepare formats for preparation and delivery of financial reports. 2. Manage agency disbursements. GeeDee Support Team GeeDee Realty Systems May 2011 GEEDEE REALTY SYSTEMS PTY LTD PO Box 480, Applecross WA 6153 Telephone: (08) Fax: (08) info@geedee.com.au i

3 WELCOME Welcome to the GeeDee Realty System and congratulations on your selection for this specialised Real Estate Trust Accounting and Property Management System. GeeDee Realty Systems is the leading developer of Microsoft Windows Trust Accounting and Property Management software in Western Australia. At GeeDee we specialise in providing feature packed, secure, reliable and easy to use software systems for the Real Estate Industry. We also have excellent in-built Integrity System Checks and Safe Guards to protect the Licensee from potential fraudulent behaviour. GeeDee Realty Systems is a proven system to handle all your residential property management, trust accounting, strata management, commercial management and property sales needs. At GeeDee Realty Systems we have simplified the administration side of property management for the real estate industry for both the technical and non-technical users for ease of use. The objective of this GeeDee Handbook as with all of the GeeDee guides, is to assist you with the use and correct operation of GeeDee Realty Systems. The purpose of this Training Handbook is to transfer this experience to you. At GeeDee Realty Systems we are always complimented on having one of the easiest to use, understand and time efficient systems available for real estate businesses today. Having a user friendly system, complimented by outstanding software support services is the driving philosophy of GeeDee Realty Systems. We hope you enjoy the GeeDee Realty System. GEEDEE REALTY SYSTEMS PTY LTD GeeDee Software Copyright Real Estate Software by Real Estate Professionals All rights reserved ii

4 TASK LIST FOR LEARNERS: You should be able to perform the following tasks to successfully use the system and be deemed competent in computer accounting. a. Accounting Reports for Sales and Property Management b. Enter receipts for purchasers including the investment of the deposit in an interest bearing account, receipt the initial investment and deposit, forward deposit less the commission to the settlement agent and remit commission to the agency. c. Add a new trust account for each sales deposit made together with appropriate details. d. Accounting Reports for Property Management e. Add new owners, properties and tenants. f. Print out the existing owner, tenant and property master reports. g. Enter receipts for owners, properties, and tenants including new tenants with a bond, letting fee and stamp duty. h. Print out a daily banking and close the banking. i. Carry out a daily backup and restore from a daily backup. j. Make property disbursements for maintenance items. k. Print a Trust Account Trial Balance. l. Receive and pay out funds from a trust account. m. View trust account current and history transactions on the trust maintenance and enquiry screen. n. Reverse a tenant receipt which is: in current banking a dishonoured cheque a previous day s receipt to wrong tenant. o. Make a trust account payment to the Bond Administrator for a bond that has been receipted. p. Transfer tenants bonds in REBA Trust Bank A/c to the REBA Bond Trust Bank A/c q. Transfer tenants bonds in REBA Tenancy Bond Trust Bank A/c to the REBA Trust Bank A/c. r. Print a list of bonds, which have been lodged and deposited with the REBA Tenancy Bond Trust Account. s. Complete a bond refund. t. Enter charges to be recovered from an owner. u. Hold Funds back from the owner at the end of the month. v. Make a cheque payment to an individual owner and generate a current statement. w. Set up Vendor Paid Advertising account x. Enter and print out Bank Reconciliation. y. Carry out a complete end of period procedure. iii

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD & WELCOME TASK LIST FOR LEARNERS: i - ii ii SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION CALENDAR CONVENTION TRUST ACCOUNTING What is trust money? What is trust accounting? Trust Account Types Titling of trust accounts Receiving and depositing trust money Trust records to be maintained Retention of Trust Records Why records are retained Payment of commission, fees and expenses Action to be taken in event of overdrawn trust account COMPUTERISED TRUST ACCOUNTING Data entry Data processing Data storage Output generation COMPUTERS AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS Computers versus manual systems Financial models and decision-making Rental situation Sales and bond situations Operating systems SYSTEM OVERVIEW Installation procedures AN INTRODUCTION TO GEEDEE FOR WINDOWS The Trust account Sales Trust accounting 1.12 iv

6 1.6.3 Banking Record maintenance Period end procedure Particular features of the system Lookups on all codes and reference numbers Automatic letter generation Warnings upon payment of rent Disbursement codes Change of ownership Integrity checks Rent calculator Mixed payments Rapid backup and restore On-line processing Audit report generation Management fees as a percentage or a fixed amount Rent and maintenance invoicing Standard letterhead printing Special menu Water consumption calculations Split payments to joint owners Commercial and strata title properties Maintenance of transaction history Income summary report GST on agent s rent commissions, fees and charges ing a copy of your backup to GeeDee Support Transaction reports HARDWARE AND OPERATING SYSTEMS ADSL and pcanywhere Upgrading to Windows STARTING GEEDEE FOR WINDOWS Logging on to the system The GeeDee Desktop The pull-down menu system The Owner, Property, Tenant and Trust account buttons The navigator bar 1.23 v

7 1.8.6 The tab system (or notebook) GST Powerfind button Cheque and receipt numbers cannot go backwards Editable remittance slip New bank SYSTEM SETUP 1.27 SECTION 2 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PART ENTERING NEW OWNERS, PROPERTIES AND TENANTS Owner ---- > Property ---- > Tenant ABNs for residential owners ENTERING TENANT, PROPERTY AND OWNER RECEIPTS Tenant receipts Tenant credits/accounts in advance and Ledger Allocate credits button Amounts allocated to Other Other information related to tenant receipts Direct payment receipts Receipts for odd amounts Tenant direct payments Unidentified deposits Owner receipts Property receipts REVERSING RECEIPTS Reversing a receipt in the current banking Reversing a receipt from a previous banking Rent refund DAILY BANKING Daily banking not balanced TENANT ACCOUNTS TENANT WATER CONSUMPTION TENANT STAMP DUTY Not applicable in W.A BONDS Bonds deposited in a Bond Trust account Bonds deposited with the Bond Administrator or the old system 2.16 vi

8 2.9 BOND TRANSFERS - TO BOND T/A - RECEIVED ONLY BOX Commercial bonds 2.17 SECTION 3 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PART INDIVIDUAL OWNER PAYMENTS OWNER STATEMENTS Current statement History statement Summary statement RENT ARREARS AND OTHER ALERTS Rent arrears control Leases expiring, Inspections due, Authorities expiring and Rent reviews due Mail-merge and mailing labels LETTERS Editing letters in GeeDee for Windows NOTES, REMINDERS AND CHECK-LISTS Notes Reminders/Diary system Check-lists WORK ORDERS AND CREDITORS Work orders To enter a new work order To modify an existing order To print an order To cancel an order Creditors Adding new creditors Adding Creditor accounts OWNER CHARGES END OF DAY PROCEDURE Daily backup Restore 3.11 SECTION 4 TRUST ACCOUNTING AND SALES REVERSING AND REISSUING CHEQUES BANK STATEMENT RECONCILIATION Correction journals 4.3 vii

9 Copyright GeeDee Realty Systems PTY LTD Unauthorised copying prohibited. 4.3 THE TRUST ACCOUNT SYSTEM AND TRUST ACCOUNT LEDGERS SALES TRUST ACCOUNTING New Sales trust ledgers SALE DETAILS Dishonoured cheques (Sales deposits) VENDOR PAID EXPENSES Vendor advertising receipts Vendor expense reports INTEREST BEARING DEPOSITS TRUST ACCOUNT REPORTS PERIOD END PROCESSING Owner processing Fees and electronic payments End of month audit reporting requirements 4.14 SECTION 5 TRUST ACCOUNT AUDITS Annual duties of an agent regarding trust account audits Appointing an auditor Responsibilities to the auditor Duties of an auditor How to respond to an auditor s recommendations Changing an auditor CLOSING A REAL ESTATE AGENCY UNCLAIMED TRUST MONIES 5.4 SECTION 6 PREVENTING THEFT AND FRAUD INDICATORS OF THEFT AND FRAUD COMPUTER SYSTEMS Areas to watch: Main problems to emerge from some computer based systems Examples of internal controls BANK RECONCILIATIONS Transfer journal Receipt books Agency management Cash payments or cheque payments Trust account management 6.4 viii

10 6.4 FRAUD OR THEFT - PROCEDURE 6.5 SECTION 7 PRACTICAL EXERCISES NEW OWNER, PROPERTY AND TENANT TENANT RECEIPTS OWNER RECEIPTS PROPERTY RECEIPTS REVERSING RECEIPTS DAILY BANKING TENANT ACCOUNTS TENANT WATER CONSUMPTION TENANT STAMP DUTY Not applicable in W.A TENANCY BONDS OWNER STATEMENTS RENT ARREARS AND OTHER ALERTS REMINDERS AND CHECK-LISTS WORK ORDERS AND CREDITORS OWNER CHARGES END OF DAY PROCEDURE REVERSING/REISSUING CHEQUES BANK RECONCILIATION RESPONSIBILITIES OF A TRUST ACCOUNT MANAGER SALES TRUST ACCOUNTING SALES DETAILS AND VENDOR PAID ADVERTISING PERIOD END PROCESSING 7.5 SECTION 8 ASSOCIATED SAMPLE DOCUMENTATION STATUTORY AUDIT REPORTS OTHER DOCUMENTS 8.1 ix

11 SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 CALENDAR CONVENTION It is most important that everyone who uses, or is responsible for the operation of the GeeDee Realty Systems PTY LTD Property Management and Trust Accounting System, clearly understands this system s important calendar convention. The GeeDee System uses two calendars: the Gregorian calendar and the GeeDee calendar. We all know the Gregorian calendar which is divided into 12 segments we call months. These 12 months have a set number of days ranging from 28 to 31. They run sequentially from 1 to 12 and then start again at 1 at the beginning of each year. The GeeDee calendar also has 12 segments, but these are known as periods. Although these periods are given the same name as the months, they have no set number of days. The number of days in a period is determined by each individual real estate agency, based on its requirements and convenience. (Convenience means taking into account who is on holidays, who is away sick, public holidays, etc.) The periods are numbered sequentially, but unlike months they are not reset back to 1 at the beginning of a year. A period can involve transactions which are recorded in just the one month (1-31 January, which would be known as the January period); over two months (31 December 31 January, which would also be known as the January period); and over 3 months (31 December 2 February, which would also be known as the January period). A period could cover from 4-25 February, a matter of only three weeks. There are two very important accounting functions that occur every month and every period. These functions are controlled by the two calendars referred to previously. The first function, and the one that agents would consider to be the most important, is period end processing. This process, which is normally carried out towards the end of a month, can in fact be undertaken on any day of a month. This period end processing involves the payments to owners, the payment of your fees, (I said it was the most important), and the roll-over of your data ready for the next period. The second function, and the one that the REBA Board and your auditor consider to be the most important, is the printing of your end of month audit reports. These detailed reports substantiate the fact that your trust account was in balance as at the end of the month, which is a requirement under the REBA Act. Under the Act, the end of the month literally means midnight on the last day of the month. These two functions produce two separate sets of documents: the end of period documents and the end of month audit documents. These documents must be filed separately, otherwise confusion will reign. It is most important for everyone to understand the calendar convention so that they can clearly distinguish between the end of period processing (sometimes referred to as end of month owner processing), and the end of month audit report processing. Note: Every transaction that is entered in the Geedee System contains the initials of the operator, the date and time of the entry and the current period number. 1-1

12 1.2 TRUST ACCOUNTING What is trust money? Trust money is money that is received or held by an agent or any member of an agent s staff on behalf of another person in relation to a real estate or business sales transaction or property management transaction. Deposits on sales, tenancy bonds, rents and pre-paid advertising are all examples of trust money. REBA requires that money received by a licensed agent in the course of strata management work should be paid into a trust account. Money held on behalf of property owners for variable outgoings (eg. repairs and maintenance funds) should also be held in a trust account. Money received in the course of other businesses conducted by an agent is not money received in the course of acting as an agent and is not considered to be trust money under the Act. Such money does not therefore fall within the trust accounting requirements of the Act. Funds of this type, however, may be included as part of an agent s trust account where it is best practice to do so. REBA strongly recommends that if an agent has any doubts about how to treat any money, they should err on the side of caution and treat it as trust money. It is extremely important to have a thorough understanding of exactly what constitutes trust money. Under no circumstances can trust money be accounted for in conjunction with general agency funds or personal funds. An agent s fiduciary responsibilities in relation to trust account management are very high. It is essential to remember that the trust account money belongs to other people. The removal of the money from the trust account for a reason other than a lawful and appropriate purpose is a very serious matter. Trust funds must be kept separate from the agent s general business funds at all times. A separate set of accounting records must be kept for each trust account. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section What is trust accounting? Trust accounting is the general term used to cover the accounting records and practices required under the Act to enable agents to properly account for trust money in their possession. Every agent who holds a current Triennial Certificate shall maintain one or more trust accounts. All trust money must be held in a trust account in the agent s name in a prescribed financial institution. Prescribed financial institutions include all banks, permanent building societies and credit unions. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section

13 Special requirements regarding the control of trust money Agents have a significant position of trust within the community. They also hold large sums of clients money. The trust money accounting system aims to ensure that all trust money held by agents can be accurately accounted for at all times. Trust account and auditing requirements increase public confidence in the services of agents. Interest on trust accounts Financial institutions which hold agents general trust accounts are required under the Act to pay a portion of the interest on these funds, as prescribed by the Act, to REBA. The interest earned on trust accounts funds REBA s services including education, advice, conciliation and investigations of real estate issues for industry members and consumers. In the case of tenancy bond trust accounts, financial institutions which hold these accounts are required under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 to pay the interest on the funds to the Rental Accommodation Fund administered by the Bond Administrator at the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection. Interest earned assists in the administration of the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 and in providing educational or advisory services to tenants Trust Account Types General Trust Accounts The Act requires that a licensed agent holding a current Triennial Certificate maintain one or more trust accounts. All monies held for a person in relation to a real estate or business transaction, such as sales, property management and strata management, must be paid into a specially titled REBA Trust Account. It should be noted that variable outgoings accounts are trust accounts and are required to be treated as such. If agents hold tenancy bonds they must be kept in a separate Tenancy Bond Trust Account. Therefore, agents who handle sales, as well as maintain a rent roll and hold tenancy bonds are required to have a minimum of 2 trust accounts (i.e. General Trust Account and REBA Bond Trust Account). Agents may choose to open separate trust accounts for example one for Sales and one for Rentals. However, multiple trust accounts may increase bank fees, audit fees and additional administrative overheads and may lead to a greater potential for errors. REBA Tenancy Bond Trust Accounts The Residential Tenancies Act 1987 has specific requirements concerning the payment of tenancy bonds into trust accounts. Under clause 2 of Part A of Schedule 1, to the Residential Tenancies Act 1987, a tenancy bond received by an agent must be paid into a specially titled REBA Tenancy Bond Trust Account or deposited with the Bond Administrator, at the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection, as soon as practicable after the agent s receipt of the bond. All audit and accounting requirements of the Act and the Regulations apply to trust accounts opened under the Residential Tenancies Act Refer: Residential Tenancies Act 1987 Schedule 1Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section

14 Interest Bearing Trust Accounts Section 68A(1) of the Act provides that a person may request that money paid by that person in respect of a transaction be deposited to the credit of a separate interest bearing trust account if the following prescribed requirements are met: the deposit exceeds $20,000; or the transaction will not be settled within 60 days. Interest earned on interest bearing trust accounts is not payable to REBA but to the person requesting the account. Requests from buyers to open an interest bearing trust account must be in writing and agents are obliged to comply with such requests. The request must be kept by the agent and be made available to the agent s auditor Titling of trust accounts The titling of trust accounts enables an easy identification of real estate trust accounts for agents, auditors, financial institutions and REBA. Examples of the titling of various categories of trust accounts are provided below. Titling of General Trust Accounts (Eg. Sales, Rentals) Agents are required to include the following information in the title of a General Trust Account: business and entity name as recorded on the Triennial Certificate. REBA TRUST A/C (the word Account can be abbreviated or in full). TC followed by Triennial Certificate number (up to five digits). Example GeeDee Realty Pty Ltd (ACN ) T/A ABC Real Estate REBA TRUST A/C TC When there is more than one trust account (eg. Sales, Rentals), the account identifier should appear after the words REBA TRUST A/C. Examples GeeDee Realty Pty Ltd (ACN ) T/A ABC Real Estate REBA TRUST A/C Sales TC GeeDee Realty Pty Ltd (ACN 22930) T/A ABC Real Estate REBA TRUST A/C Rentals TC

15 Titling of Interest Bearing Trust Accounts Agents are required to include the following information in the titling of an interest bearing trust account: business and entity name as recorded on the Triennial Certificate in trust for the buyer making the request; REBA TRUST A/C - IB; and TC followed by the Triennial Certificate number (up to five digits). Example GeeDee Realty Pty Ltd (ACN ) T/A ABC Real Estate in trust for Graham Darcy REBA TRUST A/C - IB TC Quotation of Tax File Number (TFN) When opening an interest bearing account in trust for a client, the client s tax file number should be recorded to avoid tax being withheld. Titling of a Tenancy Bond Trust Account The Tenancy Bond Trust Account must be a separate account. Agents are required to include the following information when titling Tenancy Bond Trust Accounts: entity name and business name as recorded on the Triennial Certificate; REBA TENANCY BOND TRUST A/C; and TC followed by the Triennial Certificate number. Example GeeDee Realty Pty Ltd (ACN ) T/A ABC Real Estate REBA TENANCY BOND TRUST A/C TC Private landlords are also required to open a Tenancy Bond Account in the names of the owner(s) and the tenant(s) titled TENANCY BOND A/C which should appear after the name(s) of the tenant(s). Example E Presley (Owner) and P Keating (Tenant) TENANCY BOND A/C Receiving and depositing trust money All trust money must be deposited in a trust account in an approved financial institution as soon as is practicable after it is received. Tenancy bonds must be deposited with either the bond administrator or an approved financial institution as soon as is practicable after the agent s receipt of the bond. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section 68(1) Residential Tenancies Act 1987, Schedule 1 1-5

16 Opening, closing and amending trust accounts Whenever a trust account is opened, closed or amended, an agent must advise REBA in writing as soon as practicable. The notification should provide the name and number of the trust account and the name and address of the prescribed financial institution with which the trust account is maintained. The date on which the change was made should also be included. The notification requirement applies to general trust accounts, as well as any tenancy bond trust accounts established. REBA does not need to be advised about the opening, closing or amending of interest bearing trust accounts. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section 68C Trust records to be maintained It is essential that hard copies of the following records can be produced at the request of the agent s auditor or a REBA inspector. Trust documents and records that must be maintained include: a record of money received for or on behalf of any other person; duplicates of every completed trust account deposit form; trust account journals; trust ledgers; trust cheque books register; records of trust money payments; statement of trust money; register of securities; trust account reconciliation statements; and any other books, accounts or records kept by an agent relating to trust money. It is strongly recommended that daily electronic copies of computer trust records are kept offsite. This measure will ensure that you have access to the records in the event of error, falsification of records by an employee or physical damage to the system. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section 77(1) 1-6

17 1.2.7 Retention of Trust Records When an agent receives money for or on behalf of any other person, an agent must keep a record of the money received. All trust records and documents are required to be retained for a minimum period of 6 years from the date on which the money was received. In the case where an agent acts as trustee for superannuation fund records must be maintained for a minimum period of 10 years. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section 69(1)(b) and regulation 6H Why records are retained Documents and records enable the tracking of trust money held by an agent at any time, to verify that the money has been dealt with as required under the Act and the Regulations. The verification takes the form of an annual audit of the records required. As well as the annual audit, REBA may order an inspection of trust account records or an interim audit of an agent s trust accounts. An audit is an examination of the accounts held by an agent by an independent person. Unless REBA approves otherwise, the audit must be conducted by a registered company auditor. An agent must maintain all documents and records relating to a trust account in a manner that enables them to be conveniently and properly audited by the agency s auditor. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section 68(6) Payment of commission, fees and expenses In relation to a sales transaction, the commission can only be drawn after settlement of the property, or where the failure to settle is the fault of the agent s principal (the seller). In addition, an agent is only entitled to a fee if all of the following requirements have been met: the agent is licensed and held a current Triennial Certificate when the services were provided [section 60(1)(a)]; the agent has a valid appointment to act in writing signed by the person for whom the services are being provided [section 60(1)(b)]; the appointment to act complies with the requirements of section 60(2) and regulation 6BA; and the client is provided with a true copy of the appointment to act immediately after they sign [section 60(2)(c)]. If all of the above requirements have not been met, then an agent can only obtain the commission if they have the seller s authority to do so. If the agent does not have the seller s authority, then the dispute is a civil matter between the parties. 1-7

18 When an agent is requested to transfer the buyer s deposit to the settlement agent/solicitor, the agent generally retains a portion of the deposit to cover the commission payable and other approved costs. The agent may only retain the money if the appointment signed by the seller allows the agent to deduct commission and approved expenses from the deposit. The portion of the deposit that comprises the agent s fee should not be paid out from the trust account until settlement has taken place. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section 60, section Action to be taken in event of overdrawn trust account The Act requires financial institutions to inform REBA whenever a trust account is overdrawn. The Act also requires an agent to notify REBA immediately on becoming aware that a trust account is overdrawn, regardless of the amount of the overdraw. The notification must include the date on which the overdraw occurred, the amount involved, the reason it occurred and full details of the corrective action being taken. Principles of Trust Account Practice. Refer: Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 section 68C(3) 1.3 COMPUTERISED TRUST ACCOUNTING The requirements of the Act and the Regulations apply to all trust accounting systems. It is important that before a contract to purchase or lease a Trust Accounting software package is entered into, that it is confirmed that the software is capable of producing trust records that comply with the requirements of the Act and the Regulations as promulgated under Western Australian legislation. If an agent is not familiar with computerised systems, and is contemplating the purchase of a system, the appraisal and selection of the computerised system should be discussed with the agent s auditor. Although in many agencies the day to day upkeep of trust account records is delegated to office staff, the person in bona fide control of the agency is held responsible under the Act for all trust account records. For this reason, it is essential that the person in bona fide control of the agency is fully conversant with the computer software package installed. Full use should be made of the checks and controls that are integrated into the computerised system. REBA suggests systems that will automatically generate a daily report so that records are monitored on a daily basis for discrepancies and errors. The person in bona fide control of the agency should personally check these daily reports and immediately address any problems. 1-8

19 1.3.1 Data entry The benefit of a computerised system is that the data is entered once only and stored in the computer storage devices. Entry can be made either manually, through the keyboard and mouse operations, or automatically, if data is in machine-readable form, by way of a file or on-line input via a modem. Data can be: Stored on the 'hard drive' inside the computer and then copied onto a floppy or zip disk, this should be stored off site for safe keeping as a backup. Retrieved and displayed visually on the computer screen or a 'hard copy' can be printed by the on-line printer. Produced in a variety of business reports which can be stored for reference or audit purposes. Computers have revolutionised accounting in that it is now extremely quick, relevant and informative. It has enhanced business recording systems and introduced other sub-systems or sub-routines, which can produce a full range of information with a single click of the mouse Data processing This is the manipulation of records and data stored in an electronic filing system for everything from customer records to inventories. It can be sorted into any form desired by the user. The database can be used to count, calculate and summarise information into reports which can be organised and analysed to get the total story into a printed or visual form Data storage The data to be used is stored on the computer s hard disk. It is always wise to keep a copy of the data on a separate floppy or zip disk, called the 'backup', in case the computer s data is damaged or destroyed accidentally Output generation Output from the computer can be gained by simply viewing it on the screen for quick reference, or a hard copy may be printed for analysis or as a record for the future. The output can also be transferred electronically via a modem over a telephone line. 1-9

20 1.4 COMPUTERS AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS You should: Look at your needs for computers and associated hardware. Test the software (program) and check on the suitability and reliability with current users of the proposed system Computers versus manual systems You will see from the following that a source document is still used to input data in a manual and a computerised system. It must also be processed to obtain an output. However, note that although the source document is used as input, the processing and storage of data is much different. The manual output is obtained by slowly gathering information from a number of books and various documents, whereas, the computerised method is instantaneous and on call at any time. PROCESS MANUAL COMPUTERISED Input Source documents Source documents Processing Journals and ledgers Data processing and storage Output Manual reports Visual on-screen or printed reports Financial models and decision-making A single entry on the keyboard should result in a number of entries being made, all at the same time. By giving instructions to the computer to issue a printed receipt, the program should also enter data simultaneously to the following areas: Rental situation Update or credit the owner s ledger account by recording the receipt. Record the payment on the tenant s record file by updating the Paid to date field. Update or debit the cash at bank account. Make provision for the agent s management fees and charges to be earmarked for collection at month s end. This does not transfer the commission, but records the fact that the commission will be deducted from the current balance Sales and bond situations Updates the cash at bank. Updates the client on whose behalf the funds are held and money paid out Operating systems Most trust accounting packages are written in a 32-bit Windows language for use in the Windows operating systems (95/98/2000/ME/XP/NT). 1-10

21 1.5 SYSTEM OVERVIEW Real estate management and trust accounting systems are required to cater for: Landlords Properties Tenants Bonds Sales Trust accounting Other facilities that would be beneficial if used in conjunction with a trust accounting system are: An integrated word processor for producing letters. Database to select, organise and group information to create reports and to print information in different ways for specific purposes. Communication module, used through a modem, to connect to on-line information services to exchange information with other computers. General or business accounting module to record the non-trust transactions of the agency Installation procedures Installation instructions and procedures for the GeeDee Realty System are provided with the software on a CD-ROM as well as directly from the AN INTRODUCTION TO GEEDEE FOR WINDOWS The GeeDee Realty System is a comprehensive Windows based system written in a modern 32-bit Windows language. Simple mouse selections display all relevant information and achieve complex operations. They eliminate the need for difficult to remember personalised codes and long training periods to grasp individual functions. Instant search routines make it simple to find tenants, owners, etc. without reference to complicated code numbers. The system is a complete management and documentation entity. Extra clerical work or facilities outside the system are unnecessary, e.g. typing letters, ledgers, files, calculators and records. The system handles the issue of receipts, cheques, invoices, statements and electronic banking transactions. A job analysis revealed that property management and trust accounting comprise of four major entities: the owner, the property, the tenant and the trust account ledgers. The GeeDee Realty System is designed to administer these entities. 1-11

22 1.6.1 The Trust account Probably the most consequential aspect of this issue is the overall financial management. The agent is responsible for the collection, control and disbursement of trust funds relative to property sales and property management. Trust funds are controlled by the operation of a Trust account in which all relevant accounts are updated as transactions are effected. A trial balance, individual ledger accounts and audit trail reports can be displayed or printed by simply clicking on the relevant button. In a manual system the reconciling of the Trust account with the Trust bank account can be a frustrating and tedious exercise. This reconciliation procedure is automated by this system. The cheque numbers and deposit dates, as recorded on the bank statement, are tagged on the computer screen using the mouse. When reconciled a printed copy of the balanced Reconciliation statement is produced. Note that this report should be read and signed by the licensee Sales Trust accounting The Trust account system that is used for property management also handles all aspects of sales trust accounting, thus negating the need to operate two trust bank accounts. Daily bank deposit slips (original and duplicate) are produced from data that has been entered during receipting. An easy to use, full bank reconciliation system ensures that the trust account is readily balanced and maintained for audit purposes. Page balance protection ensures that the operator cannot continue until the account has been reconciled Banking The practice of maintaining multiple trust accounts can be considered a practice that evolved before computerised accounting systems and should be avoided at all costs. The GeeDee Realty System is specifically designed for use with one trust bank account and one bond trust account. The reasons for this are: Lack of confusion. It means that there is only one set of cheques and only one deposit book. Computer printed cheques can stay in a printer and there is no excuse for handwriting a cheque. Only one set of statements to collect and reconcile. Only one set of accounts to audit. Reconciliation of the account can be carried out as soon as the statement is received. Management may believe that some specialist staff should do it, which can result in delays and postponements until the systems become an enormous mess. It is good policy to have an independent controller, who may check the printouts periodically. The more regularly and frequently reconciliations are done, the sooner errors are found and can be corrected. With the advent of on-line banking software these reconciliations are now normally performed daily. 1-12

23 1.6.4 Record maintenance As well as the recording of the property management and trust account activities there is a need to have readily accessible supporting information. This maintains the required level of operational efficiency Period end procedure This involves the monthly pay out to landlords, together with the balancing of all accounts and the production of the relevant reports, tax invoices and statements. This is a very simple process which only involves the sequential selection of the buttons contained in the Period end processing screen. This is a separate program that is accessed from the Period end icon on the Windows desktop Particular features of the system Lookups on all codes and reference numbers It is not necessary to memorise codes for finding a tenant, owner, property or trust account. Instant access is available via the Search function on either a name or an address. There is no need to refer to printed lists Automatic letter generation From within the system, the user can automatically generate standard letters to tenants, landlords, vendors or purchasers on any subject matter related to property management or sales. These sent letters are stored in the database and can be viewed or reprinted at any time. When printing letters the number of copies will always default to 1. When printing documents such as breaches or terminations the default number will be 2. These two default settings can be increased or decreased at the time of printing from within the printing dialog box. 1-13

24 Warnings upon payment of rent When a Tenant receipt for Rent is entered, the system checks for and warns of: Overdue rent payment. Outstanding tenant accounts. Outstanding tenant water accounts. A User entered warning to cover other circumstances Disbursement codes We have noticed that many clients have a number of disbursement codes in their systems that are quite unnecessary. Codes should be in generalised categories such as Plumbing maintenance, with further information such as unblock drains inserted in the Details section when the account is entered into creditors. Please remember that the system allows for only 99 residential disbursement codes and once they are used the items cannot be changed. When entering Creditor accounts, Tenant accounts and Standing accounts, the disbursement code name will be entered in the Comments field by default. The comments can then be amended as required Change of ownership This function is found in the Property drop-down menu and is used when an existing property that belongs to one owner is sold to another owner and you will still be managing the property. The tenant remains in the property and is also transferred to the new owner. Steps for carrying out the transfer procedure are as follows: Create the new owner record. Using the Search button, find the property you wish to transfer. The existing owner will be displayed. Then, using the second Search button, find the new owner for the property. Enter the transfer date. If this is before the Paid to date of the tenant, and there are sufficient funds available, transfer this amount to the new owner. This figure can be overridden to any value that is less than the current balance. Note: Available funds only include current rent, not brought forward balances. Two equal transactions are created, one debiting the old owner, and one crediting the new owner. This creates a new property record with a new unique ID number attached to the new owner. The old property ID remains connected to the old owner. It appends the word Transferred to the first line of its address. The current tenant is connected to the new property. Owner statements can be printed for both the new and the old owners. Note that this procedure is NOT reversible. Ensure that the owners, properties and amounts are correct before confirmation. More importantly, confirm that settlement has actually taken place before proceeding. It can be a good precaution to make a backup of the database beforehand. 1-14

25 When a change of ownership is made for a property without a tenant, a warning will appear on the screen. As per Section 6.6 of the Joint Form of General Conditions, GeeDee will calculate rent due to the new owner from and including the date of settlement entered. It is not possible to carry out a change of ownership for properties that are entered as Holiday type. Note: DO NOT process a change of ownership until you have been officially notified that settlement has taken place Integrity checks The integrity check automatically runs when the first user logs on each day. The data in the system is contained in many separate files and under normal operation the integrity of the data in the system will normally pass the check. When a transaction is posted, several files in the database are updated. Power cuts, network errors and other seemingly insignificant things can cause an interruption in this process and sometimes produce an inconsistent set of data and therefore an integrity error. The daily integrity check is an important feature of the program and all staff in your office should be aware of this. Whoever is first to start up the system each day should allow the check to run. Do not say NO when the system asks if you wish to run the integrity check as a problem may go unnoticed for some time making it much more difficult to resolve. An automatic integrity check will be run as part of the backup when End of period (EOP) processing is commenced. Should an error be found, the operator will have the option to either abort EOP (GeeDee support staff should be called to fix the error for you), or ignore the error and proceed. If the operator chooses to ignore the error he/she must still contact GeeDee support staff who will, at their discretion issue a Proceed code. Note: A Proceed code will only be issued where the error will not compromise the running of EOP. After roll-over and prior to the completion of EOP, an integrity check will be run automatically. This will ensure that any problems that may have occurred in the EOP process are discovered and can be attended to before commencing any transactions in the new period. Finally, remember that no other user should be operating GeeDee while the integrity check runs as this may produce a false error. 1-15

26 Rent calculator The Rent calculator shown on the right is available in the Tenant receipt screen and is accessed by clicking on the Rent calculator button. Three different calculations can be performed: Rent up to end date - the amount due between two dates selected by the operator. Rent up to vacate date - the amount due up to the vacate date, which will appear if entered on the system. End date for rent credit - the date that the paid to date will be, based on the amount paid, plus any rent credits. Additionally, where there is a rent increase (New rent and To start after are both specified) in the period between the old and the end dates, it will be included in the selected calculation Mixed payments Rental and other payments may be receipted by a combination of cash and/or cheques on a single receipt. The printed receipt will show the total cash and/or cheque value of a payment. Receipt transactions can also be generated for all direct electronic payments. 1-16

27 Rapid backup and restore Using compression techniques, a backup of all data can be made on a floppy or Zip disk. Within minutes, data can be restored from these disks to the point at which the backup was made. These daily and monthly disk backups must be made even if the whole system is backed up daily onto a tape drive. For security purposes, these backup disks should be stored off site to enable restoration of data in the case of theft, fire or some other calamity On-line processing The system is an on-line accounting system, which automatically updates and recalculates all relevant files with each input of information, e.g. a computer generated rent receipt automatically updates all relevant files including the Tenant file, the Property file, the Owner file, the related trust accounts, the Trust transaction file, the Bank deposit file, the Bank reconciliation file and the Tenant receipt history file Audit report generation All End of month and December 31 st audit reports are automatically generated by the system. All reports in the system are designed to meet the auditing requirements of the Act Management fees as a percentage or a fixed amount The fees are set up and entered for each landlord. Management fees may be fixed or on a percentage basis. They may be based on all, or rent-only transactions. Additional fees and charges can be set for sundries, cheques issued, GST and BAD tax Rent and maintenance invoicing For commercial and strata title managements, the system will print out standard invoices, tax invoices and standing invoices Standard letterhead printing All letters, statements, invoices, etc., are formatted so that they can be printed on either your standard pre-printed letterhead or onto plain paper with a computer generated logo and letterhead. This option saves in printing costs. All these printed documents are also formatted for window envelopes. 1-17

28 Special menu Right-clicking on your GeeDee desktop will display a drop-down menu of the most commonly used procedures Water consumption calculations The database stores the scales of water consumption charges. It is the responsibility of the user to ensure that these scales are updated from the information provided by the relevant water authorities. By entering the date and meter reading, the system will automatically calculate and post the water charges and generate a tenant invoice and charge sheet Split payments to joint owners When more than one company or individual owns a property, the Owner record can contain the details of a second payee to whom payment can be made. Payment may be by cheque or electronic bank transfer Commercial and strata title properties The system supports the management of commercial and strata properties. These additions are included as part of the standard package, not as an optional module/extra. 1-18

29 Maintenance of transaction history The History file maintains a record of every transaction for a nominated period, normally 36 months. These details can be displayed or printed at any time Income summary report This feature allows you to see, at a glance, the income for each property manager for the past 12 months. It can be found as an option under the Trust account drop-down menu GST on agent s rent commissions, fees and charges When the GeeDee program was updated to accommodate the introduction of GST, two options were provided for Non-commercial type properties. The first option was to increase the commission rates, sundries, cheque charges and the inspection fees by 10% and to make all owner charges GST inclusive. The owner s monthly statement would then contain the following statement: Where applicable, all fees, charges and sundries are inclusive of GST. The second option was to tick the Add GST box on the Owner screen. This action calculated the GST on each relevant transaction as an accumulated separate amount. This amount, which was recorded on the owner s monthly statement, was credited as a fee type income in the BAD/GST collection Trust account. Many agents chose the second option, due to its ease of implementation. However, this second option confused, and continues to confuse, many agents and owners. If this situation applies to you, then it is recommended that you change to option one. GeeDee has written a program that will automatically convert your records from option two to option one. This program is available free of charge from GeeDee Realty Systems PTY LTD. This conversion program must be processed immediately after the completion of End of period processing for June so that transactions in the new financial year are carried out using the new method. Please note that all new Owner charges must then be entered as GST inclusive amounts. The file can be saved to any folder and onto any computer on your network. Once the download is complete, double-click on the file FixGST.exe, then click on Continue and then 1-19

30 Convert. A log file is generated and if you wish to see the changes made by the program you can print this out ing a copy of your backup to GeeDee Support Some time ago the option to send an to GeeDee Support and attach a copy of your data as a backup file was introduced into the program. It is probably not something you would need to do very often, and generally it would be at our request. However, if you do send us an copy of your data for any reason; please be sure to include a short message detailing the exact nature of the problem. It would also be useful to note the name of the contact person in your office that we should speak to when we call back Transaction reports Transaction reports for owners, properties, tenants and trust account ledgers give users a choice of what transactions the report will contain. Reports can be printed to include current transactions only, transactions between certain dates or transactions for selected periods. Reports can also be printed in three formats: either compact portrait style, a more detailed landscape style or landscape including running balances. 1.7 HARDWARE AND OPERATING SYSTEMS Configuration of your network and software installation is a job for your computer/hardware technical support person. Ensure that your technician is familiar with the requirements for setting permissions, (especially those related to the Borland Database Engine) when updating or installing Windows XP or Windows Please note that we have received advice that only Windows XP Professional should be used in a business network situation. Due to certain limitations, Windows XP Home edition should not be used on your business network. BEFORE PROCEEDING it is imperative that your technician has a copy of our latest installation instructions. These must be carefully followed and if you do not have a current copy of these instructions, then your technician should call our office to obtain a copy before commencing any work. These instructions can also be down-loaded from our web site by following the links from the software page. If you are re-installing GeeDee from one of our CDs, it is important that the disk is current. If in doubt, please contact our office for clarification. New CDs are available from GeeDee Realty Systems PTY LTD ADSL and pcanywhere Does your office now have internet access via a high-speed ADSL connection? If so, please contact our office, as your pcanywhere connection speed may be able to be improved greatly by using this facility. 1-20

31 1.7.2 Upgrading to Windows XP? Please note that if you are upgrading your operating system to Windows 7 you should also upgrade your version of pcanywhere. We have been advised that only pcanywhere Version 12.5 is completely compatible with Windows 7 and this is what should be used if you are upgrading. Note: If required, pcanywhere version 12.5 is available from GeeDee Realty Systems PTY LTD at a cost of $175.00, incl postage and handling. 1.8 STARTING GEEDEE FOR WINDOWS When the computer is switched on, the GeeDee for Windows icon will be displayed on-screen on your computer s desktop. To open the system and launch the program, simply double-click your left mouse button on the GeeDee for Windows icon Logging on to the system When the system is started the logon screen will be displayed. This initial screen also shows the following: The current date and time. The date and time of the last backup. The name (month and year) of the current processing period. Enter your initials into the box and click on the OK button to launch the main program. Note: There is no password control on the log-on and any three initials may be entered. These initials together with the date and time are stamped onto each transaction that is entered. 1-21

32 1.8.2 The GeeDee Desktop After logging onto the system, the GeeDee Desktop is displayed. This is the main screen and the central operating point of the whole system. The main features and work areas of the desktop are as follows: The pull-down or dropdown menu system. The Owner, Property, Tenant and Trust account buttons located below the menus. The navigator bar. The tab system which changes the display of information on the desktop The pull-down menu system The pull-down menu system at the top of the GeeDee Desktop is used to access all of the other features and program windows. The items are categorised into the topics shown along the top of the screen. The pull-down menus available are: File Owner Property Tenant Trust account Creditors Bonds Banking Commercial Help items such as letters, reminders and backups items related to owners items related to properties items related to tenants items related to trust account ledgers items related to creditors items related to bond transactions items related to banking items related to the Commercial system (not covered here) the Help system and other miscellaneous items Click on the category heading and the pull-down menu will be displayed. Then click on the item you wish to access. 1-22

33 1.8.4 The Owner, Property, Tenant and Trust account buttons There are four main sections in the GeeDee System: Owner, Property, Tenant and Trust Account ledgers. The GeeDee Desktop is set up as a tabbed notebook. For example, when the Owner button has been selected, the Details and other tabs for the owner are shown. When switching between the Owner, Property and Tenant buttons, connected records are displayed. Moving from Owner to Property, the first property of the owner will be displayed and when moving from Property to Tenant, the current tenant of the property is displayed. If there is no property for an owner, or no tenant for a property, while changing buttons, the user will be asked if a new record is required, and the system will automatically open to the New property or the New tenant Form The navigator bar When the user chooses one of the navigator buttons, the appropriate action occurs in the record that is currently displayed on the screen. The function of each button from left to right is described below: Search (lookup) is the first button and it is used as follows: Click on the button. A scrolling lookup list of names (or addresses) will appear. Find the record you are looking for in the list. The record you have chosen will be highlighted. Click on the OK button and the details of the chosen record will appear on the screen. Searches are normally performed on records in alphabetical order (name or address). To search by other indexes such as ID number or name, click on the drop-down arrow and make your choice from the list shown. The other buttons on the navigator bar are used for moving through and making changes to the data. Their uses are as follows: First: Prior: Next: Last: Edit: Post: Cancel: This button moves the display back to the first record in the dataset. This button moves the display back to the previous record in the dataset. This button moves the display forward to the next record in the dataset. This button moves the display forward to the last record in the dataset. This button puts the dataset into Edit mode so that the current record can be modified. This button saves the changes you have made to the current record. This button cancels any changes you have made and restores the record. 1-23

34 Refresh: This button refreshes the screen to reflect any changes that have been made. Bookmark: This button bookmarks the current record so it can be easily located later. Go To: This button returns the display to the record set in the bookmark function The tab system (or notebook) The notebook pages display various data, arranged for quick and easy access. The main buttons on the GeeDee Desktop control the notebook. Depending on the button selected (Owner, Property, Tenant or Trust account), a number of notebook pages can be seen along the bottom of the desktop. These notebook pages are shown as tabs. The various tabs (notebook pages) are as follows: Details Transactions Notes Letters Reminders/ Diary system Properties (owners only) Payment (owners only) Accounts (owners/tenants) This page displays the main details of the currently selected record. This page displays the transactions that have been entered for the record. A radio button allows you to view either current or history transactions. This page displays text based notes that have been entered for the selected record. When a letter or breach notice is generated and printed by the system, a note is automatically appended and will contain the reference and date the letter was sent. This page displays any letters that have been generated by the system for the currently selected item. Here you can issue a new letter or view and reprint letters previously sent. This page displays reminders that have been posted for the currently selected record. Reminders can be attached to any record to remind the user of an event due to occur in the future. They may be viewed in the calendar system (accessed from the File menu). This page displays all the properties that are attached to the owner that is currently displayed. This page displays end of period payment details for the currently selected owner. Here you can enter the receiver s name for the cheque, the bank account details, and the form of payment to the owner. An owner may be paid by cheque, bank transfer, or as part of a bulk banking cheque. Alternatively, part or all of the owner s funds may be held in the Trust account. The details of payments to a second payee are also kept on this form. Note that the second payee must have the same form of payment. This page displays the details of unpaid creditors accounts and charges held against the currently selected owner. If a tenant is currently selected any unpaid accounts that have been invoiced will be shown. 1-24

35 Work orders (property only) Bond (tenants only) Check-lists Sale details Commercial Holiday This page displays a history and details of all work orders that have been entered for the currently selected property. This page displays details of the tenancy bond held for the currently selected tenant. Details are automatically updated as they are receipted, and transferred. This page displays a list of items to be done without having to resort to many pieces of paper. Reports of all check-lists can be printed as a hard copy reference. This page will only appear if the currently selected record is a Sale type Trust account ledger. Here you can enter details of the vendor, the purchaser, conjunctional agent, settlement agent and other information relevant to the sale of the selected property. This page will only appear on the screen where the currently selected record is a commercial owner, property or tenant. The page will contain details that are only pertinent to the Commercial system. This page will only appear on the screen where the currently selected owner has a property that has been set up for holiday lettings GST The system is compatible and compliant with current GST legislation. The Goods and Services Tax on fees and charges is automatically calculated by the system and shown on monthly owner statements. GST charged on creditor payments is also shown if entered; and where required the system will generate tax invoices for strata companies and commercial owners Powerfind button Powerfind allows you to quickly locate any owner, property, tenant, trust account, creditor or disbursement code by simply entering the name or part name of the item. There is an option that allows you to include archived records in your search. Details of cheques, receipts and journals can also be located by entering the reference number in question. History records can also be included in your search. This facility also includes electronic payments. The use of this feature requires the payment number and the exact amount of a particular payment. Any records found using Powerfind can be better viewed if you click on the Spectacles. If a number of records have been found then you can use the navigator bar in the Spectacles option. Disbursement code details are now included where relevant Cheque and receipt numbers cannot go backwards In order to avoid potential problems, and to comply with the requirements of the REBA Act, the system prevents cheque and receipt numbers from being altered and re-set back to an earlier number. 1-25

36 Editable remittance slip The remittance slip information that is printed at the bottom of tenant statements and all invoices can be edited to suit your own preferences. The file that contains this information can be found in C:\Program Files\GeeDee\Proman\Trust\Slip.txt (server) or G:\Program Files\GeeDee\Proman\Trust\Slip.txt (workstation). If you have a system that runs more than one set of data, the slip.txt file will be in the related Data Alias folder for each. If you open the file in Windows Notepad it will display similar information to that shown on the right. You may change the wording of the text and/or alter other settings to the right of the = signs but text to the left of the = signs will not be printed and must stay intact. Margins are specified in inches and should be sensible or a print failure may result. Slip Details to Print on Tenant Accounts 1: Bottom Margin= : Left Margin = : Line1 Left =Please Make Payment to: 4: Line1 Center =GeeDee Realty Systems 5: Line2 Left =BSB No: : Line2 Center =801 Canning Highway 7: Line3 Left =Acc No: : Line3 Center =Applecross WA : Line4 Left =Ref No: A: Line4 Center = B: Ref=1 The last line assigns the method that will be used to generate the reference number. If Ref=0 is specified, then the Tenant ID will be used. If Ref=1 is specified then the tenant s Bank ID will be used. (If the tenant does not have a Bank ID the reference will be the tenant ID prefixed by a T.) If Ref=2 is specified then no reference number will be printed New bank Each owner record can be connected to a bank. As installed, there is a database of commonly used Australian banks, with their abbreviated initials. It can happen that it is necessary to create a new bank, which is not included in the database. From the Banking drop-down menu, select New bank. This program item then displays the list of existing banks in a grid. To create a new bank, click the Append button and enter the bank s initials (three uppercase characters) and full name. 1-26

37 1.9 SYSTEM SETUP All users must exit from the normal GeeDee System before opening the System Setup. The System Setup is a separate icon on the main desktop. There are twelve different areas of system information relating to your particular company. These areas are shown as tabs at the top of the System Setup screen (seen on the right). Each area should be viewed so that you are aware of the contents. 1-27

38 1-28

39 SECTION 2 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PART 1 SECTION OUTLINE In this section we will look at common functions of the Owner, Property, Tenant and Banking menus of the GeeDee Desktop. Emphasis will be placed on the following everyday situations: Entering a new owner, property and tenant Entering receipts for tenant, property and owner payments Reversing receipts Daily banking Tenant accounts Tenant water consumption Tenant stamp duty Transferring bonds Distributing bonds Bond refund cheques 2.1 ENTERING NEW OWNERS, PROPERTIES AND TENANTS As with most computer systems and accounting programs, record keeping follows a logical sequence. In the case of property management when you acquire a new property to manage, the relevant information needs to be entered into the system in the following order Owner ---- > Property ---- > Tenant From the Owner pull-down menu, select New. A New owner form will pop up for completion. After the owner s details have been entered and posted, the system will then ask if you wish to enter a property for this owner. Once the Property details have been entered and posted, the system will then ask if you wish to create a tenant for this property. You may enter New tenant details for the property at this time if the property has been let, or, select No and choose to enter the details once they become available. Enter the data into the fields on the form. Read the hints or press the Help button if more information is needed. Click on the Post button and the record will be saved in the database. Note: When entering names, e.g. owners or tenants, be sure that the surname is entered first (with a comma after the surname). This will ensure that names will be listed alphabetically by surname. When the program uses the name in a letter or a statement, the name will be transposed back to its correct position. To cancel the creation of a new record, close the form before posting. As this form only contains minimum information, you are required to input additional information, e.g. emergency contact, maintenance requirements, etc. into the other fields of the desktop once you have set up the new records. Additional useful information should be entered into the Notes, Reminders and Check-list tabs. 2-1

40 To set up a block of Stratas, proceed as follows: Create a record for a new owner with the name of the strata company as the name of the owner, e.g. Murray Mews, The Owners of. Set the Type to Strata. Create a record for a new property connected to the owner for each unit in the strata. The levy amount and period are entered. Create one additional master property named something like Murray Mews Master. Set the management fee against this property. All other properties are set at zero management fees. Create a record for the tenant connected to each property, with the name of the unit owner as the name of the tenant. In some cases, the address may be that of the managing rental agent for the property. If a unit is also being managed as a rental property, then this is handled as a separate entity to collect the rent. Levies are receipted as rent on the Tenant receipt. Owner levy statements are generated as Tenant statements. Interest on overdue amounts will be automatically charged. The Summary and History statements for the owner are designed as financial statements for the strata company. To be able to differentiate between rental and strata properties, it can be useful to prefix the name with a full stop, e.g..1/murray Mews. In this way, there is less room for confusion if properties are being handled as rentals as well as stratas. In this case, there can be two property records with the same address. Note: The penalty interest rate for late payment of strata levies is 15% by default. Should you wish to change or delete this, go into GeeDee System Setup and across to the Misc. tab. The % rate can then be edited in the bottom left hand corner. At the time of generating invoices the user is given the option to amend the interest rate for an individual strata ABNs for residential owners Owners are not able to claim GST credits on residential properties. Therefore, even if an owner has an ABN you should not enter it onto GeeDee if the property under management is residential. Entering these details onto the system when not required may result in misleading and/or confusing information appearing on the owner s statement. If your residential owner does have an ABN and you wish to record it, we recommend storing it in the owner s Notes tab. 2-2

41 2.2 ENTERING TENANT, PROPERTY AND OWNER RECEIPTS NOTE: When entering receipts you must TAB through every field on the form Tenant receipts Find the property record using the Search or Navigator buttons. The current tenant for the property will be displayed. If the tenant for the receipt is not the current tenant, then use the Tenant search button. The Acct credit field shows the total of any/all amounts/credits (towards accounts) paid in advance. Account credits only apply to Residential type properties. The Acct credit button is used to refresh/recalculate the total if/when changes are made. The Accounts field shows the balance of all outstanding tenant accounts that have been raised. There are two small edit buttons - one above the Pays to field and one above the Rent credit field. Clicking on either of these buttons will ask the operator to enter their password. Once this is done the operator will then be able to edit the Paid to date that will apply and/or the amount of any rent credits shown. Enter the total amount being receipted then enter the amount being receipted as rent. When the cursor exits the rent field, the Paid to date is automatically calculated. Normally, the amount will be an even rent amount and the Paid to date will be advanced by the rent period. 2-3

42 Enter any other amount applicable. This may be bond, letting fee, stamp duty, water, or other amounts due. For more details see Amounts allocated to Other ( ). Enter the amount you wish to allocate to a trust account into the Direct to a trust account field (if applicable). Amounts transferred directly to their own special trust accounts do not appear on the Owner statement. It can be useful to be able to receipt other amounts to special trust accounts for various purposes. If an amount is entered in this field, then another grid will appear containing all the credit and fee accounts in the trust system. Check on the appropriate Pay by method, which may be cash, cheque, cash/cheque, or direct credit. If payment is to be made by cheque, then a grid will appear for the cheque details and amount to be entered. Once the receipt has been completed and all funds have been allocated, the message, Select Payment Method and Tab to Activate OK Button will appear Tenant credits/accounts in advance and Ledger In order to streamline the handling of amounts paid in advance by tenants against future accounts, a new system was introduced. In the past, amounts paid as credits for a particular disbursement would be paid out to the owner immediately. Now, when a tenant pays an amount in addition to rent, where there is no account raised, the system will raise a general credit and the funds will be posted to Ledger (the kitty). This system will stop multiple credits from being raised for different disbursement codes, thereby complicating the receipting process. The general credit funds stored in the kitty can be put towards any account that may be raised in the future. Funds stored in Ledger are not credited to the owner until they have been allocated against an account. A new report is now included in the Statutory Audit Reports detailing the amounts held as credits on behalf of tenants. The total shown on this report will substantiate the total of Ledger as shown on the Trust account trial balance report. Please note: Where a tenant has an existing credit account that has been previously created and the amount has been credited to the owner, then action will be required to retire these negative accounts. The Tenant outstanding accounts report will show any credits that have been receipted under the old system and therefore require attention. The options would be as follows: (1) If the account has been created in the current period and the owner has sufficient funds then reverse the receipt and re-enter the amount under the new system, or (2) If there are insufficient funds or the credit was created in a previous period, then accounts will need to be manually adjusted, or a property disbursement made against the original disbursement code. The cheque from this payment is to be receipted to the tenant and allocated as a credit under the new system Allocate credits button This function is used when an account is raised and you wish to pay the account using the general credit funds held in the kitty (Ledger 32001). This works in a similar manner to distribute bond funds, in that you are using existing funds held (Ledger 32001) to clear an account and pay the funds to the owner. Go into the Tenant receipt screen, and ensure that the total amount received shows $0.00. Click on the Allocate credits button and a report showing the Statement of credits for tenant will be displayed. Close the report and you will then be asked if you wish to allocate the credits. 2-4

43 Note: Ledger is a system type account, which means that trust account receipts and/or payments cannot be processed directly from the ledger (as with the bond and stamp duty ledgers) Amounts allocated to Other The Other screen is divided into two sections. The top section shows the property address and tenant details, as well as the total of any credits held in the kitty (Ledger 32001) and the total of any outstanding accounts. As on the main receipt screen, the Acct Credit button is used to refresh/recalculate the total if/when changes are made. When the amount paid is less than or equal to any accounts that have been raised using Tenant accounts system, the displayed window will look like this: Any outstanding account is displayed with its current Due amount. The Pay amount can be entered either manually or by selecting the Allocate button. If Allocate is selected then the system will automatically allocate the funds to the oldest. Should you wish to change the allocation of funds, simply edit the amounts as required. Once Pay amounts have been allocated, it is simply a matter of clicking the Accept allocation button in the bottom right hand corner. You will then be returned to the main receipt window to complete the transaction. When no account has been raised, but the tenant is paying an amount other than rent for a Residential type property the displayed window will look like this. This window will look similar to the one opposite and show the amount to be allocated. The operator must then decide whether to create an Instant account (funds are allocated and posted) or Make credit (funds are allocated to the kitty Ledger 32001). Except for stamp duty, instant payments can only be created for Non-commercial type tenants, ie, Residential tenants. Commercial type tenants are those where the owner or strata company has an ABN entered, regardless of whether there is a GST on rent from date. 2-5

44 If Instant payment is selected, a disbursement window will open, allowing the operator to select/enter the funds as required. There is no need to scroll through a list of all disbursements. Simply begin typing the name of the appropriate category (e.g. W for Water consumption, B for Bond, S for Stamp duty) and then tab through the remaining fields, completing the required details. If the funds are to be allocated to more than one category, simply repeat the procedure. Once all funds have been allocated, click the Accept allocation and continue button in the bottom right hand corner. You will then be returned to the main Receipt window to complete the transaction. When an amount has been entered and processed as an Instant account, then the details in the transaction field will be prefixed with IA to denote that it has been processed as an Instant account. Note: Except for stamp duty, Instant payment accounts cannot be raised for Commercial type tenants (where the owner has an ABN entered in the system). Where do I see the amount a tenant has in credit (Ledger 32001)? The Accounts/Credits fields on the tenant s Details and Accounts screens show the total of credits held and the total of any outstanding accounts. The Calc button next to these field is used to recalculate/refresh the amount shown if required. Note: Clicking on the red question mark will display the message box, shown opposite, which has details on how the receipting system operates. 2-6

45 Other information related to tenant receipts When amounts are entered in the Direct to a trust account field then the Details field in the Transaction table will be prefixed with DTT to denote it as being Direct to trust. Amounts entered as Other. Make credit and Instant accounts can only be created from within the Tenant receipt module for Non-commercial type tenants, i.e., residential tenants. Commercial type tenants are those where the owner or strata company has an ABN entered, regardless of whether there is a GST on rent from date entered or not. If a Non-residential tenant pays an amount for a non-invoiced account then you must exit the Tenant receipt module and raise the required invoice before returning to the Tenant receipt module. The tenant will require the tax invoice for his records, regardless of whether the owner is registered for GST or not. All Tenant invoices, including invoices for electricity and gas consumption, will only show a GST amount where the owner has an ABN entered and the related property has a GST on rent from date entered. Receipts can be re-printed, regardless of the transaction date. The limit will normally be 3 years, or the time-limit set in your System Setup. GeeDee will automatically calculate the correct rent amount due where a rent change has occurred mid-period Direct payment receipts When receipting money that the tenant paid directly into the bank (DEFT) a pop-up window will ask you to enter the day and month date of the transaction (in the format: dd/mm) as shown on the bank statement. The date of processing is not the same as the date the payment was actually made and by requiring this input, the program will note the actual payment date on the Transaction details screen. This will help to avoid potential problems should a dispute arise over payment dates Receipts for odd amounts Tenant direct payments A selection box will be displayed when dealing with a receipt that is for an odd rent amount. All you need to do is choose which option you prefer and click OK. You should choose the Treat extra funds as rent credit option, unless there is a special reason for wanting to modify the rent cycle dates. If your tenants pay their rent electronically it is important that you read the following information as changes have been made in the GeeDee System. Users of the DEFT (Direct Electronic Funds Transfer) numbering system: (This means that your tenants pay their rent electronically through BPAY, Quickrent, Rentcard, etc.) If your bank issues the DEFT numbers then NOTHING has changed. 2-7

46 The number still has to be entered manually into the Bank ID field on the Tenant screen. This number will now show on the Tenant DEFT Report and override the numbers that would be generated by the system as described below Unidentified deposits Credits may appear on your bank statement without sufficient information to identify the person who made the payment. A Credit type Trust ledger should be created titled Unidentified deposits. If these payments occur frequently it is recommended that you create a new Ledger account for each month or each quarter. Receipt these amounts as a Trust receipt and record the bank statement date together with any other information that was provided. Additional relevant information can be recorded on the Notes tab for the Ledger account. When the source of the funds has been identified, make a DEFT Trust account payment from the Trust ledger and then issue a Tenant receipt as a DEFT amount. It is not necessary to actually transfer these transactions through your bank as the two items in the Bank reconciliation system can be flagged one against the other. A set of reports is available from the Tenant menu that will give the operator a listing of Tenant payment methods (how each tenant pays his rent). The reports are as follows: (1) Tenant direct depositors. (2) Other payment types (e.g. cash/cheque). Note: In order to use this report it will be necessary to include an asterisk at the start of the Bank ID field on the Tenant screen (e.g. *CASH). (3) Tenant direct debit rents. The How field at the end of each report denotes the method of the tenant s last payment. The codes are as follows: C = Cash, Q = Cheque, B = Both (cash and cheque) and D = DEFT Owner receipts Owner receipts are issued when funds are received directly from an owner. The most frequent case is when an owner is providing funds so that maintenance can be done and there are insufficient funds in the account. Use the Search button to locate the owner s record. Enter the amount of the receipt. Select the form of payment. Edit the Comments field and enter a description. These details will appear on the statement. If the payment is made by cheque, enter the cheque details. These will appear on the Daily banking and Daily transaction list. If the payment has been received directly into the Trust bank account, then the amount will not appear in the Daily banking and a record will be inserted directly into the Bank reconciliation system. Once all the details above have been entered, press Enter, or click on the OK button. 2-8

47 2.2.3 Property receipts Property receipts are used when funds are received from a third party for an owner. The most frequent use is to receipt funds from an insurance claim. Using the Search button, locate the property for the receipt. Enter the receipt amount. Nominate whether the funds receipted are cheque, cash or a direct credit. The dissection categories will appear in the grid. Enter the amount against the appropriate category (-ies). Enter the Drawer/Paid by name. If the funds have been received by cheque, enter the bank s name and branch. These will appear in the Daily banking. If the funds have been received directly into the Trust bank account, then the amount will not appear in the Daily banking. A record will be inserted directly into the Bank reconciliation system. Once all the details above have been entered, press Enter, or click on the OK button. 2.3 REVERSING RECEIPTS If a receipt has been issued incorrectly, the error can be corrected by reversing the receipt. A receipt can be reversed provided the receipt is in the current period and the owner has not been paid the funds. Once the funds have been paid to the owner, you cannot reverse the receipt Reversing a receipt in the current banking If the receipt is in the current banking, it can be reversed easily. From the Banking pull-down menu, select Reverse receipt. 2-9

48 Enter a descriptive reason why the receipt is being reversed. There is a pull-down list of reasons that can be used, but any other text may be entered. The receipt numbers from the current period that can be reversed are displayed in the scroll box. Select the receipt number from the box. Press the Reverse button and the receipt will be removed from the current banking Reversing a receipt from a previous banking Receipt reversals When reversing a receipt that is not in the current banking you will be presented with a message asking you to choose between Negative cash in Daily banking or Treat as dishonoured cheque. Remember that if you reverse a receipt as negative cash, it must be re-receipted as cash, for the same amount, in the current banking. Treat the reversal as a dishonoured payment This will treat the reversal as a dishonoured payment. The receipt will be reversed and a dishonoured payment entry will be placed in the Bank reconciliation. The dishonoured payment must appear on the Bank statement at some date to reconcile the amount. Reversing a dishonoured cheque from a previous period At some stage, the funds must be received to cover the dishonoured cheque. The tenant may pay with a new cheque or a cash payment. When this payment is received, proceed as follows: 2-10

49 Do not receipt the cheque payment into the computer. It is a good idea to place a warning note on the tenant s record to ensure this does not happen again. Make out a separate manual deposit for the cheque and bank it as a separate deposit. On your Bank statement, you will have a debit for the dishonoured cheque and a credit for the direct deposit. As these two entries will cancel each other out, no further action is necessary. If they appear on different pages of the statement, you may need to use a correction journal in order to make each page balance Rent refund If ever you have a tenant that has paid beyond their vacating date, you will need to do a rent refund. These are the steps required to produce the correct result: Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Calculate the amount of rent to be refunded. You will need to calculate this on a daily basis. Using the Creditor pull-down menu, process a Property disbursement for rent refund. (If necessary, first go into System Setup codes and create (insert) the Rent refund category.) Refund the owner the management fee on the extra rent using a negative owner charge. 2.4 DAILY BANKING All cheque and cash receipt details are automatically added to the Daily banking file. The contents of the file can be printed or viewed at any time to check on the funds that are available for banking. When the file is closed, an entry will be posted in the Bank reconciliation that must correspond to an entry on the statement. The funds can then be taken to the bank with the printed deposit slip. In the Trust account, there is a Trust account ledger (2) called Daily banking that is debited when all cash or cheque receipts are saved in the database. The balance of this account is equal to the current daily banking amount. When the banking is closed, a transaction is generated and the balance returns to zero. The form shows the total amount of cash and cheques that are currently in the Daily banking. Previous bankings may be viewed and printed by changing the banking number in the top right corner of the form. To close the banking, click the Close banking button. It is possible, if necessary, to make some changes to the banking regarding the form of a receipt. 2-11

50 The cheque column indicates which items are cheques. The receipt can be changed from cash to cheque and vice versa by clicking on this check-box. The drawer s name, bank, and branch can also be amended. The amount of the receipt cannot be changed, so if there is an error in a receipt amount, the whole receipt must be reversed. For a copy of a previous banking, change the banking number in the top right corner and press Print banking Daily banking not balanced Problems can occur with a bank reconciliation where the amount shown for a Daily banking deposit differs from the amount shown in GeeDee. The main reason this occurs is that the Daily banking was closed despite the fact that it did not balance correctly with the cash/cheques actually held. The Daily banking deposit sheets should be printed off before the banking is closed. The cash and cheques should be checked to ensure that everything balances with the printout. Closing the banking if it does not balance will cause a bank reconciliation error that may be difficult to correct further down the track. If there is a problem balancing the banking it should be investigated and solved before proceeding. If necessary, make a manual deposit into the bank, but NEVER CLOSE THE BANKING IF IT DOESN T ACTUALLY BALANCE with the funds that are held. If your bank requires you to allocate the DEFT numbers The numbers generated by the Tenant DEFT report have been changed recently to accommodate banks that require at least 6-digit numbers (including the check digit). Adding 10,000 to the GeeDee Tenant ID number and then adding the check digit at the end now generates the numbers. When you applied for your BPAY Biller Code, you probably had to state the number of digits (including the check digit) that would be used. Please ensure that your bank will also accept the new 6-digit number. The banks will only accept this instruction directly from you, their customers, and may take more than a month to implement it. If you tell them that it is only the acceptance of another length of number and not of the formula by which the check digit is calculated, the period may be reduced to 4 days in some cases. Even though the old numbers might still work for some time, you should advise your tenants of the new number as soon as you have ensured that your bank accepts it. 2.5 TENANT ACCOUNTS The GeeDee System has the facility for issuing, invoicing and receipting payment for various tenant accounts. Generally tenant accounts would be raised for items such as maintenance, cleaning costs, gardening, etc. Items such as water consumption and electricity consumption are handled and calculated by GeeDee in their own sections, however, the amount due is still posted to the outstanding Tenant accounts section of the program. The Tenant accounts facility is accessed from the Tenant pull-down menu. This form shows a list of tenant account items. Here new items can be added and outstanding items can be edited, or cancelled. There are no invoice or statement numbers in the system. Invoices can 2-12

51 be raised for individual accounts and a statement can be issued to show all outstanding items. The statement will always produce an up-to-date list of unpaid account items. The payment of tenant accounts is made through the Tenant receipt. Once paid, the details are retained, but they are no longer printed on the statement or outstanding accounts list. When entering Creditor, Tenant and Standing accounts the disbursement code name will be entered in the Comments field by default. The comments can then be amended as required. GST can only be included in Tenant and Standing accounts where the owner has an ABN entered and the related property has a GST on rent start date entered. All tenant invoices, including invoices for electricity and gas consumption will only show a GST amount where the owner has an ABN entered and the related property has a GST on rent from date entered. NOTE: A date in the GST on rent from field indicates that the owner is registered for GST. If the owner is registered for GST, and the property is not residential, then a date must be entered in the GST on rent from field on the Property screen. This should be the date when the tenant becomes liable for GST on rent. Water consumption, electricity and gas All of the above functions operate in a slightly different manner in the new version of the program. Details of the changes are noted below: Water Electricity The Post button will not be available until all fields have been completed. Please note that the Charge date must be greater than, or equal to the current date, and greater than, or equal to the To reading date. The grid and all the buttons along the bottom of the form will not be available until all items have been completed along the top of the form. 2-13

52 Gas The grid will not appear on the screen until all items have been completed along the top of the form. The Invoice button will not be available until the Calculate function has been performed. 2.6 TENANT WATER CONSUMPTION agent, can then recover funds from the tenant for water consumed. The Water Corporation as a rule, charges water consumption to the owner of a property and not the tenant. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the owner to pay the account. Water consumption accounts for the owner should be entered into and paid using the Creditor system. The funds will then be debited from the owner s account and appear on his statement. Depending on the lease agreement, an owner, via the real estate Unfortunately, due to the way in which the Water Corporation charges for water, the charge to a tenant who is paying for 100% of water consumption is not necessarily the same amount as on the bill. The GeeDee System s water consumption calculator follows the method of calculation as set out by the Ministry of Fair Trading. This method allows for consumption to be charged to the tenant based on a usage by period basis. The Tenant water calculation facility can be accessed from the Tenant pull-down menu. It is the responsibility of the user to ensure that the current consumption rates are maintained in the GeeDee System. 2-14

53 2.7 TENANT STAMP DUTY NOT APPLICABLE IN W.A. The initial receipt of stamp duty is processed as a Tenant receipt item. The funds are received from the tenant and are credited to Trust account 9 (Stamp duty) where they are held until they are deposited with the Commissioner of State Revenue. To pay out stamp duty to the Commissioner of State Revenue, proceed as follows: Select Stamp duty from the Tenant pull-down menu. The grid shows the tenants you are currently holding stamp duty for. Click on the Select column to which tenant s stamp duty you wish to pay. Click on the Cheque button to print the Stamp duty assessment form and cheque. This item can also be used to return stamp duty to a tenant that has decided not to go through with a lease. Use the same procedure as above, but change the name in the payment box to the tenant s name. 2.8 BONDS The GeeDee System maintains a complete record of tenancy bonds from initial collection from the tenant to final disbursement upon vacating. There are two systems of retaining bonds. The licensee can elect to deposit it either in the Bond trust account or with the Bond Administrator. Bonds held under the old system of having separate accounts with the bank for each tenant are treated in the same manner as those with the Bond Administrator. The Tenant bond details page shows the location and amount of bond funds for the currently selected tenant. The amount held in the Trust account will appear when the bond is receipted through the Tenant receipt and indicates that the amount has not yet been transferred. 2-15

54 2.8.1 Bonds deposited in a Bond trust account Tenant receipt Bond to bond T/A Bond from bond T/A Bond refund cheque Distribute bonds Tenant bond statement The bond is initially receipted from the tenant. The receipt will go into the Daily banking and will be deposited into the main Trust account. The bond is transferred to the Bond trust account. A fax will be generated and sent to the bank requesting the funds be transferred. GeeDee will place a debit journal into the bank reconciliation, which will correspond with the transfer on your bank statement. When the tenant vacates, a fax will be generated requesting that the funds be transferred back to the main Trust account. GeeDee will place a credit journal in the bank reconciliation, which will correspond with the transfer on your bank statement. When the tenant vacates, use this function to draw a refund cheque for the tenant. This function can also be used to make out a cheque to a contractor for work carried out, however, it is preferable to use the Distribute bond function. This function is a variation of the normal Tenant receipt, with the receipt amount being drawn from the tenant s bond funds. The receipt does not appear in the banking as GeeDee makes all the necessary journals. Use this function when rent is to be paid from the bond and to transfer funds for damages, carpet cleaning, etc. The accounts must then be paid out of the owner funds using the Creditor system or the Property disbursement item. This function prints a statement showing when and how funds were receipted, transferred, and disbursed and can be forwarded with the bond refund cheque Bonds deposited with the Bond Administrator or the old system Tenant receipt Bond to Administrator The tenant vacates Receipt the cheque The bond is initially receipted from the tenant. The receipt will go into the Daily banking and will be deposited into the main Trust account. A cheque is drawn for the amount, and sent to the Administrator, together with the necessary forms. It is no longer the liability of the Trust account. When the account or reference number is received, enter it into the Tenant bond page. Generally the Bond Administrator will provide two cheques, or will forward the refund cheque directly to the tenant. If there are any deductions the Bond Administrator will forward a second cheque for the owner s portion. Forward the tenant s cheque directly, together with all the documentation. Update the Tenant bond page with the bond return date and delete the amount shown as with Administrator. Receipt the cheque received as a Tenant receipt for bond and then proceed as above to distribute the bond and issue a bond statement. 2-16

55 2.9 BOND TRANSFERS - TO BOND T/A - RECEIVED ONLY BOX Normally, only new bonds that have been receipted, but not yet deposited, are displayed. To view any additional amounts and/or bonds that may have been received or returned to the Trust account, uncheck the Received only check-box in the lower left corner of the form Commercial bonds If you have a new Commercial tenant and they will be paying a bond, follow the steps below to ensure that it is set up correctly in GeeDee. For each new commercial tenant that will be paying a bond, set up a new Credit type Trust account, e.g. ABC Pty Ltd Bond. Receipt the bond as part of a Tenant receipt and allocate/direct it to the newly created Trust account. Add a note to the Tenant file detailing the name of the Trust account. Commercial bonds are not handled in the same way as residential bonds and are not to be sent to the Bond Administrator or lodged in the Bond trust account. Please note that the details of commercial bonds will not appear on the Bond listing report or show on the Tenant bond details screen as these areas only apply to residential bonds. 2-17

56 SECTION 3 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PART 2 SECTION OUTLINE In this section we will look at the following procedures and how they are carried out. Individual owner payments Owner statements Rent arrears and other alerts Letters Notes, reminders and check-lists Work orders and creditors Owner charges End of day procedure (Daily backup and restore) 3.1 INDIVIDUAL OWNER PAYMENTS Payments to owners are normally made at the end of the period using the Period end program. However, there may be an instance when an owner requires payment during the period. A payment can be made to an owner from any funds being held at any time during the period. It allows a cheque to be issued and printed or the funds paid by direct transfer. To draw off an individual owner payment proceed as follows: From the Owner pull-down menu select Payment. Locate the owner using the Search button. The owner s current balance and value of outstanding accounts are displayed. The accounts due amount includes creditors accounts due and not yet paid on the property, and any owner charges (inspections, etc.) which have been entered in the current period. Enter the amount of the payment. By default, this will appear as the account balance less outstanding accounts. The operator may change this amount, but it may never be greater than the owner s balance. Owner balances must never fall into debit. Enter any details of the payment. This text will appear on the Owner statement. Select the method of payment and enter the payee s name for the cheque. Enter the remittance details. These will be printed on the remittance section of the cheque. Click on the OK button or press the Enter key to process the cheque. If you choose the option to make payment by direct credit then an item will be placed in the Direct payment file. 3-1

57 3.2 OWNER STATEMENTS An Owner statement can be printed or viewed at any time. Three types of Owner statements can be produced: Current, History and Summary statements Current statement Accessed via the Owner pull-down menu, the owner s Current statement can be printed or viewed at any time. It will contain data and transactions for the current period of processing. This statement should be printed and forwarded if an owner requests an individual one-off payment History statement The main purpose of this item is to be able to reproduce a copy of a previous statement of the owner. For this purpose, the start and end periods will be the same period, and a copy of the required period s statement will be printed. As the date range can include as many processing periods as required, it may also be used to produce a detailed Summary statement, e.g. financial year Summary statement The most frequent use of a Summary statement is as an End of financial year statement for residential properties, as it does not contains details of individual transactions, but summarises them for accounting purposes. 3.3 RENT ARREARS AND OTHER ALERTS The Alerts function is accessed from the File pull-down menu. This section of the program is used to assist the user in controlling rent arrears and for producing letters and reports in relation to other important date dependent events. The tabbed sections of the Alerts menu are: Overdue rents. Leases due to expire. Routine inspections due within a period. Management authorities due to expire. Rent Reviews due within a period. Mail-merge letters and mailing labels to owners and tenants. Let s take a brief look at the various tasks that can be performed within the Alerts section. 3-2

58 3.3.1 Rent arrears control From within Alerts, click on the Overdue rent tab; then click on Select area. Enter the number of days overdue and click on the Tenant type you wish to produce the report for. The grid within the notebook will then display the records that fall within your selection. Select the tenant(s) that you wish to send letters, breaches or terminations to by clicking in the checkbox. You may then choose the option to suit the action you wish to perform. The options available allow you to produce the following: Report Print letter Breach Terminate Print/preview a Rent arrears report tailored to your specifications. Print a standard Overdue warning letter. Print a standard Form 21 Breach notice. Print a standard Form 1A or 1B Termination notice. GeeDee will automatically attach Notes and Reminders to each tenant you have selected so that you have a record of when the letters were sent and when the Breach or Termination notice is due to expire Leases expiring, Inspections due, Authorities expiring and Rent reviews due Each of these options is available to you in the Alerts system and each task is essentially performed in the same manner. From within Alerts select the function you wish to perform by clicking on the appropriate tab. Select the area, the number of days ahead you wish to cover and the type of tenant/owner you wish to produce the report for. The grid within the notebook will then display the records that fall within your selection. Select the tenants/owners that you wish to send letters to by clicking in the check-box. You may then print/preview the chosen report and send letters to the tenants/owners selected. GeeDee will automatically attach Notes to each tenant/owner you have selected so that you have a record of when the letters were sent. Letters sent can be reprinted and previewed at any time from the main Notebook tabs under Owners, Properties and Tenants. The Inspections due report includes a field for a vacating date (where one has been entered onto the system), which gives the operator the choice whether to carry out the inspection or not. NOTE: All tenants who have a vacate date will appear on the Inspections due report until such time as they are made inactive or they are archived. Once a tenant vacates they should be made inactive, and then once the bond and all other transactions are finalized, they should be archived Mail-merge and mailing labels Merged letters are letters where parts of the text of the letter are retrieved from various fields within the database, e.g. the name and address of a tenant. It is a very efficient method of sending letters. There are almost 100 standard letters that are provided in the GeeDee 3-3

59 System that can be mail-merged to owners and tenants that have been selected in the Alerts system. Select the owners/tenants you wish to send a merged letter to by clicking the check-box. Next click Print letter. This will open up a Search box so that you can select the letter you wish to send from the list of standard letters. Finally, choose Print/Preview to produce your letters. GeeDee will automatically attach Notes to each tenant/owner you have selected so that you have a record of when the letters were sent. Letters sent can be reprinted and previewed at any time from the main Notebook tabs under Owners, Properties and Tenants. Mailing labels are generated in the same manner. Simply select the owners/tenants you wish to print labels for by clicking the check-box and then click Labels. 3.4 LETTERS As well as the many standard letters that come with the GeeDee System, the program also features an integrated word processor. This feature is accessed from the File pull-down menu and allows the user to edit the standard system letters or create his own. The Edit letters form contains the following functions: Search Type Name/Description Editing box New Delete Preview Merge fields Formatting Used to locate existing letters in the database. Select the radio button for the type of letter. Each letter must have a unique name and a description. Allows the user to create a letter of any length. Allows the user to create a new letter. The operator must fill in the name, description and the type of letter. Deletes the current record containing the text of a letter. Shows a preview of the letter as it will be printed on an A4 page. Double-click the left mouse button at the location in the text where you require one (or more) data merge fields, and a scrolling list of all the available merge fields will appear. Click on the required field and it will automatically be added. Right-click and a box for formatting the text appears, e.g. cut, bold, font. Each letter has a Type, which determines the name and address that is printed on the top of the page. These types are: Owner Tenant Vendor Purchaser Vendor settlement agent Purchaser settlement agent Conjunctional agent Document The owner s name and address (Property management). The tenant s name and address (Property management). The vendor s name and address (Sales). The purchaser s name and address (Sales). The name and address of the vendor s agent (Sales). The name and address of the purchaser s agent (Sales). The name and address of the conjunctional agent (Sales). These are printed on plain paper with no letterhead. 3-4

60 3.4.1 Editing letters in GeeDee for Windows When editing/creating a new letter in GeeDee it is important to check that you have given the letter a Name and a Description. Furthermore, be sure that the name you choose is unique and not already in use for an existing letter. Failing to give letters a unique name and a description may generate a Key violation and/or an Access violation and could result in your system locking up. 3.5 NOTES, REMINDERS AND CHECK-LISTS Notes Notes can be attached to any Owner, Property, Tenant or Trust account. The Notes pages are located on the lower tabs of the main screen. There are three types of information that can be stored on these pages: Additional details, such as owner information that cannot be stored anywhere else. Date-stamped notes. Automatically generated notes which are added whenever a letter or document is generated Reminders/Diary system On the desktop, there are Reminder tags connected to the Owner, Property, Tenant and Trust account pages. The page contains a grid showing all the reminders that are attached to the particular record (Owner, Property, Tenant or Trust account ledger). New reminders may be added and the data in the grid may be edited and changed. To review and manage reminders, use the Reminder item accessed from the File pull-down menu. The grid shows the reminders that fall within the date shown on the calendar and the number of days indicated. Clicking the mouse on the appropriate position on the calendar will change the calendar date. Click on any date in the month, or use the large up and down arrows to change the month. The up and down arrows on the keyboard can also be used. For a hard copy of the reminders that occur during the period, click on the Report button Check-lists This feature is used to assist property managers by producing lists of items to be checked and completed, without having to resort to many sheets of paper. The Check-lists are different to the Reminder system in that they provide a standard list of tasks that need to be done when certain events occur. For example, when a tenant vacates a property the Check-list provides a list of tasks to be done. These items are different to Reminders, in that they may not have a particular date by which they are due, but they must be completed nevertheless. Check-lists may be attached to any of the following database records: Owners 3-5

61 Tenants Sales of properties Vendor advertising accounts 3.6 WORK ORDERS AND CREDITORS Work orders Work orders are documents that authorise and document the work to be done on a property. The Work order system can be accessed from the Creditor pulldown menu. Here you can enter the details of work to be carried out on a property. A document may then be printed out and sent to the contractor. A history of orders for a property can be previewed from the Work order tab under each property record. Note: The contractor must exist as a creditor in the system To enter a new work order Click on the New order button and select the appropriate property and creditor. Enter the price in the Price field. Select Estimated, Quoted, or Maximum as the Price type. Normally the Status of the order will start of as Entered. Once printed, it will be changed automatically to Ordered. You may change the status of the order if required. In the Work details field you can enter a description of the work to be carried out. Click on the Post button To modify an existing order Locate the order using the Search button. Change the details in the required field. The creditor or property may not be changed To print an order If necessary, locate the order using the Search button. Click the Print order button. Confirm that the order has printed and the status will be changed from Entered to Ordered. 3-6

62 To cancel an order Locate the order using the Search button. Click on the Cancelled radio button. Once a work order has been paid, using the Creditors system, the status of the order will automatically be changed to Paid Creditors Creditors are parties to whom payment is made for services rendered, e.g. plumbers, electricians and maintenance contractors. They can also be service providers such as shires, councils, water authorities and insurance companies Adding new creditors To add a new creditor to the system, select Maintain from the Creditor pull-down menu. Here you can add, delete and edit Creditor details. A history of transactions for individual creditors can also be printed. The screen on the right lists the creditor details that can be stored. For the Pay by transfer facility to work, it is necessary that the correct BSB and account numbers for the creditor are entered and also that the main program is set up to allow for electronic payments Adding Creditor accounts This section allows the user to enter and store details of Creditor accounts even if there are insufficient funds in the owner s account. The amounts are not immediately withdrawn from the owner s account. The Creditor payment program can be run periodically and will make payments whenever sufficient funds are available. 3-7

63 The system allows for payments to be made by cheque or electronic transfer. Refunds (Credit notes) are entered as negative account amounts. Refunds can only be processed against positive accounts from the same creditor. These refunds can only be processed via the Creditor accounts from owner funds screen. To add, delete, or amend accounts in the system, select Accounts from owner funds from the Creditor pull-down menu. Locate the creditor using the Search button. The Append button adds a new account record to the creditor s accounts. Complete the details: The invoice or reference number and the date of the invoice. Locate the property. Locate the disbursement code. Enter any additional details, which will be printed on the Owner statement. If there are any unpaid Work orders for the selected property, for this creditor, they will appear in the pull-down list. Enter the amount inclusive of GST. If a work order has been selected, the estimated price will appear by default. If this invoice amount differs significantly, then it may be necessary to query the difference. Enter the GST amount. Priority is set to 5 by default. If there are no funds, the account will be held for payment. If it is required that an invoice has priority for payment over other owner accounts, then set it at a lower number. You may also choose to hold payment of the account until a specific date. The Delete button will delete the currently indicated account item. The Pay button will pay the current creditor for items where there are sufficient owner funds. Normally payments are made in a batch using the Pay creditors item, but this can be useful when a single creditor needs to be paid. 3-8

64 Pay Creditor accounts The Creditors accounts outstanding report gives the user the option of printing the report in two ways. The first lists accounts that can be/will be paid first (in creditor order), followed by a listing of those that cannot be/will not be paid (also in creditor order). The second option displays accounts in creditor order and shows all accounts paid/held/not paid interspersed. A check-box gives the option of automatically printing remittance advices. Creditors cannot be deleted once there has been an account entered for them. A progress bar shows the status of the printing/payment process. Remittance advice for Creditors The Direct banking screen gives you the option to select the number of days since the transaction was processed in order to print the remittance slip. Where you make and send your electronic payment files on the same day, this function will not apply. However, small offices that allow payments to accumulate during the month before making the file, may need to increase the number of days to above ten. Creditor payment details When Creditor accounts are processed, details of the transaction are prefixed with an asterisk *. This notation is an indicator that a remittance advice slip can be printed for this payment. 3.7 OWNER CHARGES Owner charges are a way of debiting the owner s account for irregular expenses and charges. Regular expenses such as management fees, sundries, cheque charges and GST are automatically charged. Charges can also be refunded to an owner by entering negative amounts. This may be necessary if an owner has been incorrectly charged for a lease fee that should have been charged to another owner. Refunds are processed individually from the Owner charges screen. Charges such as leasing fees, annual statement fees, fax expenses, etc., are debited from the owner s account and credited to a nominated Fees type Trust ledger. During Period end processing these funds will automatically be included in the payment to the business. 3-9

65 Advertising expenses should be charged to the owner as an account with your agency entered as a creditor. This is especially so if the owner s record has the Add GST box ticked. As with the Creditors system, these charges can be entered, even though the owner may not have sufficient funds to cover them at the time. When the charges are processed the program will journal all charges where there are sufficient funds in the owner s account. Where there are insufficient funds, the charges will be held on file until funds are available. Owner charges may be either inclusive or exclusive of GST. If the Add GST check-box on the Owner page has been checked, 10% GST will automatically be added. 3.8 END OF DAY PROCEDURE Daily backup The importance of carrying out a daily backup cannot be stressed enough. Suppose your office was unfortunate to suffer a fire, or a burglary and the daily backup had not been made. Without a backup copy of your data the consequences could be catastrophic for the business. GeeDee for Windows provides a fast and efficient way to ensure that you always have a copy of your current data in the form of the daily backup. Your set of backup disks should include separate disks for every trading day, i.e. Monday Saturday, as well as a disk for each month January December. Furthermore, each disk should be reformatted regularly to ensure that it is not corrupted and is in good working order. Backups must be carried out at the end of every day. Most systems will not take more than one diskette, and the entire process will take less than two minutes. 3-10

66 The End of day procedure is accessed from the File pull-down menu. By selecting End of day, the program will first produce a report of the day s transactions and then display the Backup and restore screen. The screen will indicate if there are any other users logged onto the system and will not allow you to proceed if this is the case. A backup can only be made once all other users are logged out of GeeDee. Insert a diskette into your floppy drive and click the Backup button. GeeDee will then proceed to backup a copy of all your data files onto your disk. A second insurance copy will then be written to the hard drive of your computer. Finally, the system will carry out a re-indexing of all data files and then confirm that the backup has been successful Restore You will rarely be required to carry out a Restore procedure, as this should not be done without a valid reason. A data restore should only be necessary in the case of severe corruption of your data or if your backup disk was faulty or corrupt. From the File pull-down menu select the Restore from backup, etc. item. A screen similar to that of the End of day backup will be shown. With your backup disk in the drive, press the Restore button. The date and time of the backup will appear on the screen, you will prompted to confirm that you really wish to restore and will be asked to confirm your request. Once the data has been restored successfully, the system will automatically re-index and you may then proceed. 3-11

67 SECTION 4 TRUST ACCOUNTING AND SALES SECTION OUTLINE In this section we will look at procedures that may not necessarily be the task of the property manager. It is nevertheless important that all operators have at least a basic understanding of these procedures. Reversing and reissuing cheques Bank statement reconciliation The Trust account system and Trust account ledgers Sales trust accounting Sale details Vendor paid expenses Interest bearing deposits Trust account reports Period end processing 4.1 REVERSING AND REISSUING CHEQUES Both facilities can be found in the Cheque toolbox, which is accessed from the Banking pulldown menu. The Cheque toolbox lists all cheques that are currently unpresented. DO NOT REVERSE A CHEQUE JUST BECAUSE IT DID NOT PRINT. The Reverse button reverses the currently selected cheque. Only cheques issued in the current period can be reversed, and any cheque, which has already been reconciled, cannot be reversed. After the reversal, a reverse transaction will appear together with the original cheque transaction. The transactions will not appear on Owner statements. 4-1

68 DO NOT REISSUE A CHEQUE JUST BECAUSE IT DID NOT PRINT. The Reissue button cancels the original cheque in the system, replaces it, and prints another with a new cheque number. This can be useful for cheques that have been lost. The original cheque is cancelled in the Bank reconciliation and the operator must place a stop payment on it at the bank. Cheques that have been reconciled cannot be reissued. SYSTEM PRINTS ON WRONG CHEQUE. If the cheque printer has the wrong cheque loaded and as a result the cheque number in GeeDee is different to the printed cheque then the cheque number can be incremented or decremented by using the buttons at the bottom of the Cheque toolbox screen. 4.2 BANK STATEMENT RECONCILIATION Each time a cheque, deposit, or journal is made in the system that affects the bank account, a record is placed in the Bank reconciliation system. This program allows the operator to check off the items appearing on the bank statements as they are received from the bank. For a statement balance to close, the opening balance plus all the credits less all the debits must equal the closing balance. It is not possible to start the reconciliation of the next page until the current page has been reconciled. The Bank statement reconciliation program is accessed from the Banking pull-down menu. The amount and the date of the opening balance of the statement will be on the top of the screen. These are the closing values that were previous reconciled. Once a statement is balanced, the closing balance becomes the opening balance for the next statement. To reconcile a statement balance, use one page at a time and then: Enter the date of the closing balance. Enter the amount of the closing balance. For each debit that appears on the statement, click on the check-box in the grid. Once all the debits on the statement have been flagged, then the total of the debits displayed at the bottom of the form must equal the total of the debits on the statement. Click on the Credits radio button and the grid will show all the outstanding credits. 4-2

69 For each credit that appears on the statement, click on the check-box in the grid. Once all the credits on the statement have been flagged, then the total of the credits displayed at the bottom of the form must equal the total of the credits on the statement. Once the total credits and debits equal those on the statement, the To reconcile field will be zero, and a message will appear on the screen advising that the page balances. Press the print button for a reconciliation report and all the items that have been flagged will then be retired, and will not appear in the grid again. The closing date, balance and any flagged transactions remain stored in the reconciliation even if it is exited prior to being rolled over. If an item is dated after the closing statement date is flagged, a warning will be given and the operator will be given the option of whether or not to flag the item Correction journals It can happen that there are items on the Bank statement, which do not appear in the reconciliation grid. These can be items such as bank fees incorrectly charged to the Trust account and dishonoured cheques. A Correction journal can temporarily overcome the problem of a statement that will not balance because there is an item on the statement that does not match the reconciliation. Note that the Correction button is located at the bottom of the Bank statement reconciliation screen as displayed above. A Correction journal will create both a debit and a credit. Do not use this just to make the statement balance. There must be a valid reason. From the Statement reconciliation form, click the Correction button. Enter the amount and the reason for the journal. Enter the password and press the OK button. After this has been completed, either a credit or a debit item will be outstanding on the reconciliation. This is the other half of the correction journal that has been created. On a future statement, an entry must appear which can be reconciled against the outstanding item. 4.3 THE TRUST ACCOUNT SYSTEM AND TRUST ACCOUNT LEDGERS When the main Trust account button is selected the screen displays all the Trust account ledgers. The ledgers work on the principle of a double entry accounting system. Every transaction in the system involves a credit and a debit account. When any transaction is processed, one account is credited with the value of the transaction and the other is debited. Certain account numbers are reserved by the system for the internal processing. For most receipts, payments, etc. the Trust account ledger system works behind the scenes, automatically updating its ledgers. For example, a Tenant receipt for rent and bond will generate two receipt transactions, one for the rent and the other for the bond. There are seven types of accounts in the system. System These accounts are required for transaction processing within the property management system. System accounts cannot be edited or changed by operators. Fees These accounts are designated for the accumulation of various property management fees. During the Period end processing, any funds in these accounts are paid to the business account, and the balance returns to zero. Debit These accounts are for funds that are held externally for various purposes. The 4-3

70 balance can never be in credit. Credit These accounts are used to hold funds for various purposes. The balance can never be in debit. Sales These accounts are specialised Credit accounts that are used to hold funds for sales deposits. Vendor These accounts are specialised Credit accounts that are used to hold funds for Vendor paid advertising. VO These accounts are specialised Credit accounts that are used to hold funds for variable outgoings if the Commercial system is used. Searching for a Trust account Trust account ledgers can be searched for by either their name or ID number. 4-4

71 4.4 SALES TRUST ACCOUNTING The Trust account system that is used for property management, also handles all aspects of Sales trust accounting. Using this system, all trust accounting is carried out under the umbrella of one set of accounts. The combining of the two accounts reduces the workload and confusion associated with receipting, banking, bank reconciliations and auditing requirements. Accounting for sales in the GeeDee System is carried out through the Trust account button and the Trust account pull-down menu. Sales ledgers are automatically allocated an account/ledger number in the 10,000 range to separate them from non-sale type accounts New Sales trust ledgers There are two ways to create a new Sales trust ledger. To set up the ledger prior to receiving a deposit (file/documents only) From the Trust account pull-down menu select New. From the drop-down list select the type as Sale. 4-5

72 GeeDee will allocate the next available account ID number (10000 and upwards). Enter the property address and the name of the vendor. Enter the name of the purchaser, if known. Click on the Post button and the new Sales trust ledger will be created. Enter all relevant information into the Sale details page. To set up the ledger when a deposit has been received (with the file/document) From the Trust account pull-down menu select Property sale deposit. Enter the property address and the name of the vendor. Enter the name and address of the purchaser. Enter the amount of the deposit and then payment details. Click on the Post button and the new Sales trust ledger will be created. Click on the Yes button when the system offers to process the receipt. Enter all relevant information into the Sale details page. Once you have created the account/ledger for a property sale, you may process receipts and payments for the sale. 4.5 SALE DETAILS Select the relevant Trust account ledger and click on the Sale details tab. Input all the relevant details and then generate letters to the parties concerned. These will be recorded on the ledger for that sale. The due dates for deposit, finance and settlement will also be recorded in the Reminders file. 4-6

73 These details also form part of the reports that can be generated for Property sales. Select the Trust account button. All trust accounts can be viewed. The ID number for Sales trust ledgers will be 10,000 and higher. You can use the scroll bar to the right of the desktop to locate a file, or alternatively use the Search T/A button on the navigator bar where you can search for a ledger by their name or ID number. Note that A/C 1 (the Trust bank account) has a positive balance (debit balance). The credit balances (negatives) are the amounts you are holding in trust and for which you are responsible. The debit balances show where those amounts are held. 4-7

74 4.5.1 Dishonoured cheques (Sales deposits) If a sales deposit cheque deposited in the Trust account is dishonoured, follow the receipt reversal procedure. Refer to the Banking drop-down menu. A Bank reconciliation journal will be posted and balanced with the dishonoured entry that will appear on the bank statement. 4-8

75 Click on the lower tab named Transactions. Current and History transactions are displayed for the selected trust ledger. Note: The opening balance plus the sum of all the month s transactions equals the current balance. 4.6 VENDOR PAID EXPENSES As an agent, you may be required to hold funds in your trust account for vendors who wish to pre-pay selling expenses on a property. The system allows you to set up accounts for these funds, administer them, and give the vendor a statement of account. Expenses may be paid from your business account and then reimbursed by using the facilities in the Vendor paid expenses menu. It is essential to be able to enter the initial estimates of expenses before receiving the final accounts. In this way, it is possible to keep track of the balance of an account, so that the limit available is not exceeded. There are a number of programs associated with this function available from the Trust account drop-down menu Vendor advertising receipts Use this function to receipt funds from a vendor and create a separate Trust account ledger for the funds. The ledger will be automatically numbered by the system, starting at The account type created is Vendor. Enter the details in the fields as indicated. Press the Post button. Depending on the method of payment, the funds may appear in the Daily banking, or as a credit journal in the Bank reconciliation if they have been receipted directly into the trust bank account. After the initial deposit, use the Trust account receipt to deposit additional funds into a Vendor account. Entering expenses Expenses are entered into this section in two stages. When the expense is created. When the Creditors invoice or statement is received. 4-9

76 In this system, expenses are not paid directly to the creditor. It is assumed that they are initially paid out of the business account, and then funds are transferred back to the business account in batches. Expenses are entered against creditors, so there is a small database of creditors used for Vendor expenses. This is independent of that used for the Property management system. To add or modify creditor details, press the Add or modify Creditor details button on the Vendor accounts screen and a small dialog box will appear which will enable you to modify or add Creditor details. Identify the creditor for the expense from the top scroll list. If the creditor does not exist, use the Add or modify Creditor details button to create one. When the expense is made, enter it into the system using the Add button. Enter the amount of the expense as Estimated at this stage. When the invoice is received, identify the item that has been entered as an estimate, and enter its Actual expense. Note: The system will not make payment against an estimated amount. It holds payment until the actual amount is entered from the invoice. The Report item will print out a report of all unpaid invoices in the system. The Delete button will delete the current expense line in the grid. After an expense item has been paid the line will disappear from the grid. To directly pay funds out of a Vendor account to the business (your general account) use the Trust account payment item from the Trust account drop-down menu Vendor expense reports These reports are for use by the sales staff so that they have an accurate assessment of the funds that have been spent and are available for Vendor paid accounts. If this report is printed regularly, they will know exactly how much has been spent, and how much remains on these accounts. The report can be in either detailed or outline format. The Detailed report lists all the creditor transactions on the account and the Outline report only shows the balance of each account. 4-10

77 4.7 INTEREST BEARING DEPOSITS For large deposits that are to be held for some time, a purchaser may request that the funds be placed in an Interest bearing account. The GeeDee System has the facility to handle and account for such a situation. The example below illustrates the procedure to follow when the deposit is received. Assume that a deposit of $30,000 is received. Open a Sales ledger as usual, e.g. Trust account ledger From the Trust account pull-down menu select Trust account receipt. Select the type as IBA deposit and receipt the deposit. From the Trust account pull-down menu select Trust account payment. Issue a Trust account payment from Trust account ledger 15. Make the cheque payable to the bank. Trust account will still show a credit of $30,000. Trust account 15 will show $30,000 as a Debit account. The bank balance (Trust account 1) will be reduced by $30,000. When the deposit plus interest earned is returned from the bank. From the Trust account pull-down menu select Trust account receipt. Receipt $30,000, being the principal amount to T/A 15. And for example $ interest to the relevant Sales ledger (10046). Disburse the $30,000 as required (deposit less commission, etc.). Draw a cheque for the interest to the purchaser. 4.8 TRUST ACCOUNT REPORTS The GeeDee System is able to produce many useful reports. It is suggested that all operators make themselves familiar with these reports by either printing or at least 4-11

78 previewing them. The transaction reports listed below are among the most important as they are required for audit purposes. Trust account ledgers report Cash book journal (Bank trust account) Trust account trial balance Owner trial balance Bonds held report Bank reconciliation report 4.9 PERIOD END PROCESSING This is the once a month procedure when all accounts are processed, fees are deducted, owners are paid their amounts due and the system is rolled over ready for a new month of transactions. This process is usually carried out at the end of a month, although this is not a requirement as it is possible to carry out this process on any day of the month that suits your requirements. DO NOT CONFUSE PERIOD END PROCESSING WITH END OF MONTH AUDIT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. Month-end or Period end processing is not accessed from the main GeeDee Desktop. It has a separate program icon that appears as a pile of gold coins. Before commencing this procedure, it is necessary to complete certain functions in t h e m a i n G e e D e e S y s t e m. T h e s e functions are detailed below: Complete a Balanced Bank reconciliation Report. Process all Owner charges. Process all Creditor accounts. Close the Daily banking. Print Owner tax invoices. 4-12

79 Once these steps have been completed, close the GeeDee System and enter the Period end processing program, confirm that the items have been completed and then print the EOP preview report. Completing this procedure is a simple process carried out by a number of steps that are automatically performed one at a time by clicking the sequenced buttons. The program screen is set out with three groups of buttons. Each button in each group accesses a separate program item which must be carried out in the order on the screen Owner processing Before commencing, all other users must exit the GeeDee System. No further processing can be carried out until the period-end process is complete. Backup data to disk Backs up the data to diskette. Owner trial balance Prints a list of owner balances and fees, etc. Print final statements Prints a final copy of the Owner statements. Print owner cheques Prints all owners cheques Fees and electronic payments This group processes all the management fees, etc, and makes a final payment to the business account for all outstanding fees for the period. Process management fees Calculates fees and produces a summary report. Payment to business Produces a cheque for all fees, etc. collected. Direct payments file If using electronic payments, this will make the file. Audit reports Prints all reports as required for audit purposes. Roll-over Sets up the system to be ready for the next period. 4-13

80 4.9.3 End of month audit reporting requirements It is a requirement under the Real Estate and Business Agents Act to close and balance the accounts of all your Trust accounts as at the end of each month. The definition of the end of each month is literally midnight on the last day of each month. The GeeDee System recognises when it has been opened in a new month for the first time and will prompt the operator to print a list of all the required reports. Additionally, it will prompt the operator to make a separate backup of the data at that point in time. The backup disk(s) should be filed with the printed reports, separate from the Period end processing reports. The following end of month Audit reports printing screen will be displayed: The following is the automatic Backup screen prompt: 4-14