Easy Budget Shortcuts in TOPS 2000™

Fall is a great season, the weather gets cooler, leaves change colors, football games, Halloween and, unfortunately, annual community budgets. A property manager is busy enough throughout the year, but when it's time to do the annual budgets for communities, it becomes "crunch" time.

While TOPS 2000™ can't eliminate the extra work entirely, there are a few things TOPS can do to make preparation of the budget easier. Try these easy Budget shortcuts in TOPS 2000™ :

Annual Bids

If you are soliciting bids from contractors for services (lawn care, snow removal, pool management, etc), as part of the budget process, TOPS 2000™ can print mailing labels for selected Vendors.

1. From the A/P Menu, click "Vendors".
2. On the Vendor screen click "Reports".
3. Then select "Mailing Labels". You can use the range option to individually print mailing labels for select vendors.

Another option to solicit bids would be to e-mail vendors rather than mail something to them. TOPS can e-mail vendors too.

1. From the Vendor screen, select the vendor you want.
2. Click the "Email" button.
3. You are now ready to write your e-mail, attaching any specs that might apply.

12 Month Spreadsheet

It always helps in budget preparation to see what the actual income and expenses have been for each month up to the current month. The 12 Month Spreadsheet shows you this information.

1. From the G/L Menu, select "Reports".
2. Then select "Yearly Spreadsheet". You have three report options:

• 12 Month Actual — the actual income/expense through the current month.
• 12 Month Budget — see what was budgeted for the current year.
• 12 Month Projection - take the actual income/expense through the current month, then enter projected income and expenses to get projected year-end totals.

Tip! In Version 3.2.1 you can create a file from these reports that can easily be saved to CSV format, then imported into Excel®. You can use the Excel® spreadsheet to complete your budget.

Proposed Budgets

When working on budget drafts, TOPS 2000™ prints mailing labels for community officers so you can send drafts for their review.

1. From the Owner menu, click "Officers"
2. Then click the "Print Labels" button.

Alternatively, you can e-mail the budget by selecting the officer individually, then clicking the "Email" button and attaching the budget to the e-mail.

Mailing Budgets

Once budgets are approved, print mailing labels to distribute the budget to all homeowners.

1. From the Owner menu, click "Mailing Labels"
2. There are several options for selecting which owners to include, the default options of On-Site Owners and Off-Site Owners will print labels for all homeowners in a community. You may select the type of mailing label to use or print on envelopes if your printer allows.

Entering New Budgets

Approved Budgets need to be entered into TOPS 2000™ so they can be printed on financial statements for the new year. You may do this in TOPS 2000™ without affecting the current year's Budget, which you still need for reporting purposes to finish the current year.

1. From the G/L menu, click Chart of Accounts.
2. Select the first G/L account where a budget needs to be entered.
3. Then click the Budgets button at the top of the screen.
   You will see the CURRENT YEAR budget.
4. To enter the new year, click Next Year button at the bottom of the screen.
5. Enter the budget amounts for each period, or use the Yearly Budget button to enter the total year's budget, and have the software automatically distribute the amount equally.
6. Click OK to save the new budget.
7. Then select your next account and enter the budgets too.

Tip! Remember that income budgets need to be entered as negative numbers with a minus (-) sign. Expenses are entered with no sign.

Now that TOPS 2000™ has helped you get your annual budgets done faster and easier than ever before, what are you going to do with all your free time?

If you have any questions about these Budget Shortcuts or any other TOPS 2000™ feature, our Support Technicians are always ready to help you. Contact TOPS Support at (800) 899-5689, or send an e-mail to support@212software.com.

by Jeffrey S. Hardy and Debbie White