Propertyware Knowledge Base

Help Topic Section

• Creating a Bill
• Creating an Auto Bill
• Viewing Auto Bills
• Bill Markups and Discounts

Creating a Bill
Propertyware allows you to create both One-Time Bills and Auto Bills to track virtually any type of property expense. One-Time bills may be distinguished from Auto Bills to the extent that they are non-recurring.

To create a one-time bill, follow these steps:

1. Click the Money Out tab.
2. Click the Vendors link from the sub-navigation.
3. Locate the appropriate vendor using the Search or Navigator feature of the sidebar.
4. Click the New Bill button at the top of the page.
5. To create a new bill, complete the form with the required fields:
   
   

   Field Name	Description
   Vendor	To select a vendor for the new bill, simple start typing their name in the vendor field to search for all potential matches. Use the wildcard option * to view a list of all your vendors.
   Ref #	Enter a reference number for the bill. The reference number is any number that will help you identify the bill provided by the vendor.  If the "Prevent duplicate invoice number for vendors" feature has been activated in Setup > Administration Setup> Accounting Preferences, Propertyware will prevent you from creating multiple bills for the same vendor using the same reference number.
   Bill Date	Enter the date on the vendor bill received from the vendor.
   Due Date	Enter the date payment is due on the bill.
   Description	Enter a description for the bill.
   Terms	Enter the Terms on the bill received from the vendor. This is a shorthand way of expressing when a vendor expects you to make payment on a bill. Terms show the number of days (or date) by which payment is due, and can include a discount for early payment. An example would be Net 30. This means: payment due in 30 days.
   Markup / Discount	Use this field only if you plan to markup the bills received from the vendor when applying them to a portfolio you manage. This option is appropriate for property management companies that charge a markup fee for managing the work orders on behalf of their owners. Enter the percentage of the markup followed by the appropriate account that should be used for the additional markup. This default percentage and account combination will be used when creating a new bill. By entering a positive percentage here you will effectively creating a markup of the bill to the owner where they will see the marked up amount as their expense, your management company will receive the markup amount as income and the vendor receives a check for the bill amount less the markup. By entering a negative percentage here you will effectively be creating a discount to the bill where your owner will be billed the amount entered, your management company will receive the amount of the discount and the vendor will get a check for the amount less the discount.

   
   
6. Bill Splits. The charges on the statement provided by the vendor get added to the bill on Bill Splits. Bill Splits allow you to "split" the transaction between properties and expense accounts. To create a new bill split, you will need to provide the following information.
   
   

   Bill Splits
   Location	Type the first few characters of the name for the subject Portfolio, Building, or Unit into the Location field to initiate a search. When the search results display, simply click on the Portfolio, Building or Unit you would like to choose for the split. Use the wildcard option * to view a list of all your portfolios, buildings and units.
   Account	Choose an Expense Account from the drop down menu. If the appropriate Income Account doesn't appear in the dropdown menu, contact your administrator or click the New button to add a new account from this page.
   Comments	Enter a description of the bill split. Theses comments will be available on owner statements and various reports to help owners understand the source of the expense.
   Amount	Enter the amount for the bill split.

   
   
7. To add additional bill splits to the bill, click the Add Bill Split button. To remove a bill split from the bill, click the Del link that appears in the Action column.
8. When creating a new bill, you have the option of marking it as paid too. Click the Add Payment button from the Bill Payment section. This will reveal several fields for creating a bill payment associated with the bill you have created:
   
   

   Bill Payment
   Payment Account	Select the appropriate bank account from which you would like to pay the bill.
   Payment Method	Select a method of payment from the dropdown menu. Options include checks, credit card and cash.
   Check Number	Enter in the appropriate check number if you are writing the checks by hand. Alternatively, select the option To Be Printed to print the check from Money Out | Print Checks.
   Memo	Add a memo that will be added to the printed check.
   To Be Printed	Select the option to have the check printed from Money Out | Print Checks.

   
   
9. Propertyware gives you the option to recover so portion or all of an expense from a tenant by creating an expense recovery from a new bill. To create an expense recovery you will need to click the New Tenant Charge button that appears in the Expense Recoveries table and then provide the following information to create a one-time charge on the appropriate Tenant Ledger(s):
   
   

   Expense Recoveries
   Portfolio/Building	Select the appropriate Building from the dropdown menu. Once you have selected the appropriate building, the adjacent Tenants dropdown menu will display a list of tenants that occupy that building.
   Tenant	This dropdown menu will display a list of all  leases, both active and terminated, for the selected property in the adjacent Portfolio/Building dropdown menu.  By displaying terminated leases, this allows you to easily create charges common to move-out, like repairs.  The leases will appear in chronological order with the most recent lease appearing at the top of the dropdown.
   Account	Select the appropriate Account for the one time charge that will appear on the tenant ledger. If the appropriate Income Account doesn't appear in the dropdown menu, contact your administrator or click the New button to add a new account from this page.
   Comments	Add any comments to describe the charge to your tenant. This comment will be displayed on the Tenant Ledger and optionally in the Tenant Portal.
   Amount	Enter the amount of the one-time charge that will appear on the Tenant Ledger.

   
   
10. To create additional expense recoveries to the bill, simply click the New Tenant Charge button.
11. Attach a scanned copy of a vendor’s invoice or any documents directly to the bill.
12. Click the Save button to create the bill. Alternatively, you can click the Save and New button to create the bill and go to a blank form to create another one. As a third option, you can click Save and Clone to create the bill and have a copy of the information on the bill you created inserted into a blank form for another bill.
13. Your new bill will have a unique bill number that can be referenced when searching for the bill in the future. This new bill will appear in the Bills table below the vendor detail information.
14. If the bill was created without a payment, it will appear in the Bills table with a green background indicating that it is unpaid.
    
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Creating an Auto Bill
Propertyware allows you to create auto bills to track predictable expenses from your vendors. Auto Bills get created based on a recurrence schedule you can designate. The schedule will trigger an event to create an instance of the bill. An Auto Bills is a bill with a built in recurrence schedule. Similar to Auto Charges, your Auto Bills will post on a periodic basis based creating a bill that can then be modified or paid. To create an Auto Bill, follow these steps:

1. Click the Money Out tab.
2. Click the Vendors link from the sub-navigation.
3. Locate the appropriate vendor using the Search or Navigator feature of the sidebar.
4. Click the New Auto Bill button at the top of the page.
5. To create a new bill, complete the form with the required fields:
   
   

   Field Name	Description
   Vendor	To select a vendor for the new bill, simple start typing their name in the vendor field to search for all potential matches. Use the wildcard option * to view a list of all your vendors.
   Terms	Enter the Terms on the bill received from the vendor. This is a shorthand way of expressing when a vendor expects you to make payment on a bill. Terms show the number of days (or date) by which payment is due, and can include a discount for early payment. An example would be Net 30. This means: payment due in 30 days.
   Post Every	Set the recurrence schedule for the auto bill by choose from the two drop down menus in this field. For example choose the "1" and "month(s)" option to have a new bill created each month from the Post Start Date.
   Post Start Date	Set the start date for when the auto bill will start posting. This date must be set to a date in the future (i.e., tomorrow or later).
   Posts Left	This field allows you to set the number of instances (number of times) the auto bill should be created. If you choose the unlimited option, the auto bill will continue to create new bills indefinitely. To stop unlimited auto bills from creating new bills, you will need to edit the auto bill or delete it.
   Ref #	Enter a reference number for the bill. The reference number is any number that will help you identify the bill provided by the vendor.
   Comments	Enter any comments about the bill.
   Create As Paid and Payment Account	Allows you to flag that the bill will be created as paid and the designated account from which to pay the bill. Note: This option will override any rules you have configure in Setup | Customize | Management to avoid allowing a portfolio balance to go below the minimum and/or negative.
   Markup / Discount	Use this field only if you plan to markup the bills received from the vendor when applying them to a portfolio you manage. This option is appropriate for property management companies that charge a markup fee for managing the work orders on behalf of their owners. Enter the percentage of the markup followed by the appropriate account that should be used for the additional markup. This default percentage and account combination will be used when creating a new bill. By entering a positive percentage here you will effectively creating a markup of the bill to the owner where they will see the marked up amount as their expense, your management company will receive the markup amount as income and the vendor receives a check for the bill amount less the markup. By entering a negative percentage here you will effectively be creating a discount to the bill where your owner will be billed the amount entered, your management company will receive the amount of the discount and the vendor will get a check for the amount less the discount.

   
   
6. Bill Splits. The charges on the statement provided by the vendor get added to the bill on Bill Splits. Bill Splits allow you to "split" the transaction between properties and expense accounts. To create a new bill split, you will need to provide the following information.
   
   

   Bill Splits
   Location	Type the first few characters of the name for the subject Portfolio, Building, or Unit into the Location field to initiate a search. When the search results display, simply click on the Portfolio, Building or Unit you would like to choose for the split. Use the wildcard option * to view a list of all your portfolios, buildings and units.
   Account	Choose an Expense Account from the drop down menu. If the appropriate Income Account doesn't appear in the dropdown menu, contact your administrator or click the New button to add a new account from this page.
   Comments	Enter a description of the bill split. These comments will be available on owner statements and various reports to help owners understand the source of the expense.
   Amount	Enter the amount for the bill split.

   
   
7. Click the Save button when you are finished.
8. The new Auto Bill appears in the Auto Bills Table below the vendor detail.
9. Any new Auto Bills created will not post automatically until the following day, depending on the posting frequency you selected. To post an Auto Bill immediately, choose the Post Auto Bills option from the Related Activities menu located in the sidebar.
   
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Viewing Auto Bills
You can view any Auto Bills you have created by either running a Report from the Finance folder viewing Money Out- Auto Bills or locating the appropriate vendor and viewing the Auto Bills table associated with their record.

1. Click the Money Out tab.
2. Click the Vendors link from the sub-navigation.
3. Locate the appropriate vendor using the Search or Navigator feature of the sidebar.
4. Click the Auto Bills tab on the table below the vendor details.
5. If the vendor you have selected has any associated Auto Bills, they will appear in the table with the following columns:
   
   

   Auto Bills
   Vendor	The name of the vendor on the Auto Bill.
   Portfolio/Building/Unit	The location for the bills splits that are associated with the Auto Bill.
   Frequency	The frequency by which the Auto Bill will create new bills.
   Last Posted	Displays the last date when the Auto Bill created a bill.
   Amount	The amount for the Auto Bill. This is also the amount for each individual bill that will be created.

   
   
6. To view the details of any Auto Bill, select the View option from the Action column.
   
   

   Important Note

   It is important to note that there’s special logic tied to this management vendor. If you have enabled the Track Management Income option available in Setup | Customize | Management, all bills paid to the management vendor will result in an a concurrent income transaction in the portfolio named after your management company.

   
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Bill Markups and Discounts
Propertyware allows you to either markup or discount new bills created for each vendor. This feature is handy for any property management companies that have:

• Negotiated a fee for managing work orders with their owners
• Negotiated a special discount with the vendors for which they do business

To setup a default markup or discount for any vendor, follow these steps:

1. Click the Money Out Tab.
2. Click Vendors from the sub-navigation.
3. Locate the applicable Vendor using the Vendor Navigator.
4. Click the Edit Vendor Button and edit any of the Vendor Fields.
5. Set the Default Markup/Discount field to reflect the negotiated relationship with your vendor. Enter the percentage of the markup followed by the appropriate account that should be used for the additional markup. This default percentage and account combination will be used when creating a new bill.
6. By entering a positive percentage here you will effectively creating a markup of the bill to the owner where they will see the marked up amount as their expense, your management company will receive the markup amount as income and the vendor receives a check for the bill amount less the markup.
7. By entering a negative percentage here you will effectively be creating a discount to the bill where your owner will be billed the amount entered, your management company will receive the amount of the discount and the vendor will get a check for the amount less the discount.

To markup a bill follow these steps:

1. Click the Money Out tab.
   
2. Click the Vendors link from the sub-navigation.
   
3. Locate the appropriate vendor using the Search or Navigator feature of the sidebar.
   
4. Click the New Bill button at the top of the page.
   
5. Enter in the required fields for the bill.
   
6. If you have set a default markup percentage and account on the vendor, it will appear on the new bill detail screen. Enter the amount of the bill AS IT WAS RECEIVED FROM THE VENDOR.
   
7. Click the Save button to create the bill. The resulting bill will appear with two bill splits.
   
   The first bill split will be for the owner’s portfolio at the marked up amount (i.e. the amount of the bill received from the vendor multiplied by the markup percentage).
   
   The second bill split will be for the management company portfolio for a total that reflects the markup (i.e. the difference between the amount you entered and the markup).
   
   
   
   Note that the markup income will appear on the bill as a negative amount. This is a reflection that it is INCOME for your management company.
   
   
8. Once the bill has been paid, the bill payment will create a check for the vendor for the amount of the original bill you entered, less the markup. It is important to note the bank account used to pay this bill, since it will retain the income for your management company’s markup.

Transferring management markup income to the correct bank account:
It’s more than likely that your management company has a separate bank account for depositing management fee income generated from your management fee bills and markups. Therefore, you will need to transfer the income generated from markups on your paid bills to the management company’s bank account. This can be accomplished using one of the two following mechanisms:

• Transfer money between the bank accounts using a journal entry and physically move the money electronically with your bank’s available online tools.
• Create a bill and bill payment to pay your management company vendor for the total of all markup income earned each month.

To transfer between two bank accounts with a journal entry, follow these steps:

1. Click the Banking tab located at the top of any page in the application.
   
2. Click the Bank Ledger link from the sub-navigation and select the appropriate bank account from the Bank Account dropdown menu.
   
3. Click the New Journal Entry button from the table below.
   
4. A new window will appear where you can create your journal entry. You will need to complete the following fields:
   
   

   Field Name	Description
   Customer	Select the appropriate customer from the dropdown menu. If no customer appears in the list, you can create one to help you recognize the origin of the transaction. We recommend a customer named “Bank Transfers.”
   Date	Select the appropriate date for the journal entry.
   Portfolio	Select the management portfolio from the dropdown menu.
   Ref #	Optional. Enter a reference number for which you can track the journal entry.
   Comments	Enter a comment to describe the journal for future reference.
   Account	Select the appropriate account from which the money needs to be debited and credited from. Think of a credit as money leaving the portfolio and the selected account, while a debit is money entering the portfolio or selected account.

   
   
5. Click the Save button when you have complete the form with the required fields
6. The journal entry will appear in the Bank Ledger, provided the period you have selected includes the date of the journal entry you created.

Alternatively, income generated by markups can be cleared out of the management portfolio by way of a bill and bill payment. Prior to using this method, you can identify the amount of income that needs to be paid out to the management company by running an income statement for the management company portfolio.

To pay the management company the income generated by markups via a check, follow these steps:

1. Click the Money Out tab.
2. Click the Vendors link from the sub-navigation.
3. Locate the management vendor using the Search or Navigator feature of the sidebar. A “Management Company” label that appears in the green header section on the page can identify the vendor.
4. Click the New Bill button at the top of the page.
5. Be sure you have selected the Management Vendor in the vendor field.
6. Create a bill split where the bill split is set to the management company portfolio, using the markup account and the amount that you would like to pay out in the form of the check. This amount can be confirmed by referencing the Income Statement from the Reports module.
7. Click the Add Payment button in the Bill Payments section to add a bill payment. Be sure to select the bank account that was used for paying the original bill to your vendor that included the markup, since this is the bank account where the income resides. To have a check printed from Propertyware, be sure you have selected the checkbox in the To Be Printed column.
8. Click the Save button to create the bill and bill payment.
9. The resulting bill and bill payment will appear in the Bills table for the management vendor.
10. Click the Print Checks button on the sub-navigation in the Money Out module to locate and print the check for your management company.
    
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