What consulting provides

Consulting is advice and analysis on a specific association financial question. Its scope is agreed in advance and set by the question, not by a reporting standard.

Consulting is not an attest service. It does not provide an opinion, a conclusion, or any assurance on the association's financial statements. When a statute, the governing documents, or a lender calls for an audit, review, or compilation, consulting does not take its place.

Common topics

Boards, managers, and accountants most often bring questions like these:

Budgets

Reviewing a proposed operating budget against recent results, and how the budget will be presented to owners.

Reserve schedules and funding

How reserve components, balances, and funding are presented in the budget and the financial statements, working from the association's reserve study or schedule.

Special assessments

How a special assessment is accounted for, tracked by fund, and reported to owners.

Changes in management or bookkeeping

Questions about the books, cut-off, and records when the association changes its manager, management company, or bookkeeper.

Preparing for an audit

What records and reconciliations to have ready, and how to organize them before year-end work begins.

Reserve funding questions start from the association's reserve study or schedule. We help present and explain the numbers. Determining the useful lives, replacement costs, or condition of building components is work for engineers and other qualified professionals.

For background on these subjects, see reserves and special assessments.

Who we work with

Associations. Boards and treasurers of condominium and homeowners associations throughout Florida.
Management companies. Community association managers and their accounting staff, on questions about a client association's books and reporting.
Accountants. Other accountants who want an association-focused perspective on a financial reporting question.

Records typically needed

What we need depends on the question. Most requests draw on the following:

For budget and reserve questions

Current and proposed budgets
Recent financial statements
Reserve study or reserve schedule

For other questions

The most recent year-end financial statements
Current general ledger and trial balance
Board minutes or resolutions related to the question

Please do not send financial documents through the website's proposal form. Once engaged, records are exchanged with us through our secure Feldman One client portal.

Who is responsible for what

The board and management remain responsible for the association's decisions, its budget, its records, and its financial statements. Our responsibility is to provide the advice and analysis agreed in the engagement.

Consulting is not a substitute for:

An audit, review, or compilation, when one is required.
A reserve study, a structural integrity reserve study, or a milestone inspection. Those are performed by engineers and other qualified professionals.
Legal advice on governing documents, votes, assessments, collections, or disputes. Those questions belong with association counsel.
Management's day-to-day oversight of accounts, vendors, and collections.

Next step

Request a proposal with a short description of the question, the association's type and size, and any timing that matters, such as a budget meeting. We will confirm the scope of the engagement. The engagement process explains what happens after you accept.

Association Financial Consulting

At a glance