Single Family Housing Wizard

The Single Family Housing wizard combines the Property, Space Setup and Tenant set up wizards, plus the set up of the owner information and all lease names, in one wizard.

Financial departments cannot be set up through this wizard. Therefore, if the bank for this building will exist in a financial department which hasn’t been set up yet, set this financial department up first in the regular Property Setup Wizard.

1. In the Navigation Pane click on System Tasks,

2. In the System Tasks, select Wizards,

3. In the Start a Task menu, select Single Family Housing Wizard.

Screen 1

Enter the address, city, zip or postal code, and phone and fax numbers, if applicable.

The system will automatically use the address to create the full name based on the street name and then the street number. E.g. 123 Pine Street will be converted to Pine,123. You may change this if you wish, or leave it as is.

Property Type

The default property type will be residential, but you can change it if you wish to anything except a Financial Department.

Building ID (Department Number)

The system will also automatically fill in the building ID number based on the first three letters of the street name and the street number, but this too can also be changed. The advantage of this numbering method is that multiple buildings on the same street will be listed by street name in street number order.

Screen 2

Total Area

The total area for the property is an optional field. Enter the square feet or square meters if applicable.

Bank

Click on the drop down list to select one of the existing banks in the system. If the bank does not exist in the drop down list, you can add a new bank by clicking on the 'Add a New Bank' button. If you add a new bank, it will be added to the building you are currently setting up. If it should exist in a separate department, exit the Single Family Housing Wizard now and set up a Financial Department for this bank in the Property Setup Wizard.

Bank Setup Wizard

If you clicked on "Add a New Bank", enter the name of the new bank and enter a short name for the bank.

1. Enter the address information for the bank. The city can be selected from the drop down list, or a new one can be added by clicking on the ‘Add a New City button’.

2. Enter the account number at the bank, the phone number, and fax number. The bank set up wizard is complete.

3. Select the new bank for the Bank field.

Screen 3

First day of this Fiscal Year?

Enter the first day of the Fiscal Period in a Month/Day/Year format, e.g. 3/1/06 for March 1st of 2006.

The system will use this date to determine the current Fiscal Year.

Normal Base Rent

The normal base rent code must now be selected form the drop down list. This is the code that is used to charge your tenants their rent.

Screen 4

Accounts Receivable Period

The current period for Accounts Receivables should be now selected from the drop down list. This is to determine the month and year you wish to start charging your tenants rent.

Accounting Method

Select the method of accounting you are using, Cash or accrual. If in doubt, consult your accountant.

Screen 5

Chart of Accounts

Select the building from which you will copy a chart of accounts. If this is the first property that you are setting up, select a sample chart of accounts from the drop down list. If you have other properties set up in the system, you can also choose to copy from existing buildings.

To select any of the samples or existing buildings, double click beside the building name, so that an X shows beside the chart of accounts.

Screen 6

What accounts do you want to create?

This screen will show all of the general ledger accounts as selected from the building on the previous screen. In the middle of this screen, you will notice the arrow buttons. Click on the >> button to move all accounts over or double click on individual G/L accounts or highlight an account number and click on the > to move only those account numbers over. The accounts moved to the right list box will be those that will be included for this property.

To remove those general ledger account numbers moved in error to the right list box, you can either double click on the individual account number, or use the arrow buttons in the middle of the screen.

Screen 7

Add, Delete or Edit Accounts and Descriptions

- To add new accounts, add them at the end of the list. Type in your GL account number, a description, and select the account type from the drop down list. Remember to change the Account Type for any Revenue or Expense accounts that you add.

- To delete an account number from the list, click to the left of the account number and press the delete key on your keyboard. You will then be prompted to confirm the deletion of the account. Click on the Yes button to continue. The account number will now be removed from the list.

- To change any account descriptions, select the account that requires changing, and type in a new description over the existing one.

Screen 8

This screen displays essential GL account numbers, which will be stored on the building's accounting tab. Each building or department is maintained as an accounting entity with a balanced trial balance.

Interdepartment Journal Entries

The system maintains each building or department in balance as a separate set of books. Therefore, if you enter a journal entry to debit one building and credit another, the system puts the offsetting entries into the Interdepartment Account to keep each building "in balance". A consolidated Balance Sheet will net these Interdepartment entries out to nil, so the same account number should be used on all buildings. Do not use the Suspense account for the Interdepartment account, as the Suspense account must be reserved for system-generated errors.

Suspense

The system needs a suspense account in the event that a particular account number does not exist on a building's chart of accounts. An example of this may be that a regular charge code credits storage revenue. If a storage account number does not exist in a building's chart of accounts the system will not know where to post that revenue. Rather than post an unbalanced entry, the system will post the revenue to suspense. At this point, you would then add the missing G/L account number and journalize the entry out of Suspense on whatever accounting system you are using for your general ledger.

Retained Earnings

The G/L Year End – Close Fiscal Year will zero out all income and expense accounts to the Retained Earnings account that is selected here.

Deposit Refunds Payable

The deposit refunds payable account is used as a clearing account for security deposit refunds.

Unearned Revenue (Cash Accounting buildings only)

The unearned revenue account is used for cash accounting, and is needed to reflect tenant prepayments when there are no outstanding charges for which to be applied.

Accounts Receivable (Accrual Accounting buildings only)

If this property were using accrual accounting, the wizard would require that you enter the accounts receivable control account. This is used when processing your tenants’ invoices and receipts.

Accounts Payable (Accrual Accounting buildings only)

If this property were using accrual accounting, the wizard would require that you enter the accounts payable control account. This is used when processing your suppliers’ invoices and payments.

Next Screen

If a new bank was added in this wizard, select the G/L account number to use for this new bank account.

If this new bank will be used by other buildings, enter the Due to/From account to use. For more information on this type of account, please see the topic "Trust Accounting" in the Help files.

Screen 9

Owner Information

If the owner already exists in the system, select the owner from the drop down list of owner names. To add a new owner, click on the Add a New Owner button. Now you will enter the owner name and contact information, as well as tax ID if applicable.

Screen 10

Unit Count, Type and Expected Rent

Enter the number of units for the property, the most common type of unit in the property, and the most common Expected Rent. You may select from the existing types of units in the drop down list, or type in a new unit type in the field, and you will be prompted to add it to the list.

Tenant Setup Screen:

Tenant Name and Address

If you use your mouse to click in the Tenant Name field or tab through to that field, the address information will automatically be filled in for you. If any changes are made to the tenant names at the top of the screen, be sure to click into the tenant name field in order to incorporate those names.

Move In and Lease Expiry Dates:

On the right side of the screen, enter the tenant’s move in date in a month/day/year format. Leaving the move in day field will automatically fill in the lease expiry date to expire in one year. This may be modified as required.

Late Charges:

Select an existing late charge code from the drop down list or click on the Add a New Late Charge button if an applicable Late Charge code does not exist already. For more information on late charges, please review the late payment types topic. If you have added a new late charge, it will now appear in the drop down list and can be selected for the late charge field.

Charges

The bottom portion of the screen relates to the tenant’s recurring monthly charges. The rent charge code will automatically be filled in based on the information provided on the previous screens. Other recurring charges may also be added at this time. For example, a parking charge, a garage storage charge, etc.

Once the tenant information has been added, click on the Close Window/Exit Screen button in the bottom, right-hand corner, and repeat this process for all tenants in the building.

Clear Units Button

Use this button to start over entering tenant information, as the Clear Units button will erase all tenant information that has been entered.

When all of the unit and tenant information is entered, click on the Next button to continue with the wizard.

Screen 11

Unit Summary

This screen will show you a summary of the units and the tenants you have set up. Review the information, and if any changes are required, click on the back button to make any adjustments. If no changes are required, click on the Next button to continue.

The Wizard is now complete. Click on the Finish button to complete the setup of this property.