Statements and closing the books

The financial statement

FinancesStatement.

Two readings of the same ledger, switched at the top of the document.

Current position

The default, and the one that goes in the AGM package. It reports where the corporation stands now, over every posting since the books began:

• each fund — what came in, what went out, and what it holds;
• owner accounts — total billed, total collected, and what is still outstanding.

"Since the books began" is meant literally, and it is the most common surprise on this page. If you brought an existing set of books in, the opening balances you keyed are counted as contributions, because that is money the corporation holds. The figures are a position, not a year.

Month by month

Pick a fiscal year, and optionally a single fund. You get its twelve months — what came in, what went out, how the fund moved, and the balance it closed each month at — with a total for the year.

Quiet months show a dash rather than a zero, because nothing posted is a different fact from something netting to nothing. The closing balance is still cumulative: it carries every posting since the books began, so the current year's last month equals what Current position reports.

A month with postings in it is a link. It opens the general ledger narrowed to that month, with the month's figures repeated above the entries that make them up — so "where did August's $4,000 go" is two clicks rather than a scroll.

What the columns count

The same four everywhere, and worth reading once:

Transfers and Corrections appear only when a year has them, so most statements show three columns and a balance.

The split matters more than it looks. A corporation moving $2,000 a month into its reserve is not spending $24,000 a year, and a bounced $300 cheque is neither income nor an expense — counted as either, both figures are overstated and every variance conversation starts from the wrong number.

Print / Save as PDF opens your browser's print dialog, which is also where "Save as PDF" lives. Either view prints as a document — the corporation's name, what is being reported and over what, the figures, and nothing about the software — in document colours whether or not you are working in dark mode.

Every figure is summed over the whole ledger, however many postings a corporation has. Balances are computed in the database rather than from a page of rows, so an AGM statement for a corporation with years of monthly billing behind it reports the same numbers as the fund balances on the finances page.

Producing the annual statement

1. Reconcile every month of the year

   All twelve, against the bank.

2. Check the fund split

   Reserve spending charged to operating (or the reverse) distorts both sides of the statement. Scan the year's expenses once with that specifically in mind.

3. Confirm the reserve contribution went across

   The budgeted transfer from operating to reserve should have actually happened — it's the most commonly forgotten entry of the year. FinancesBudgetReserve fund contribution counts the months moved out of twelve, so this is now a glance rather than a hunt. How →

4. Review actual against budget

   On FinancesBudget, which is where the comparison lives — budgeted, actual and remaining per fund, for an adopted budget in a year that has started. Have an explanation ready for every material variance; owners will ask about the largest three. Budgets →

5. Generate and circulate it

   With the AGM notice. In most jurisdictions owners are entitled to the statements before the meeting, not at it. Notice and agenda →

6. Upload it to the document library

   So it's searchable, quotable with page citations, and available to the next council and to any owner selling. Documents →

Whether your statements need an audit or review depends on your Act, your bylaws, and your size. Many small self-managed corporations don't. Check rather than assume.

Closing the books

Once owners have had a period's financials, close it.

SettingsFinancial controlsClosing the books → set the first date still open — usually the start of your current fiscal year.

From then on, any posting dated into the closed period is refused. Corrections land in the current period instead, where they belong.

Clearing the date reopens the books. Both closing and reopening are recorded in the audit trail, which is the point — reopening a closed period is legitimate but should always be visible.

Something arrives after you've closed

Normal, and handled straightforwardly: record it in the current period with a description saying what it relates to. "Landscaping — November invoice received late" is clear to anyone reading either year's ledger.

If the amount is large enough to distort either year, note it in the statement and mention it at the AGM. Owners are entirely used to timing differences; what they don't forgive is finding one that wasn't disclosed.

Year-end checklist

• Every month reconciled to the bank
• Reserve contribution transferred
• Expenses in the correct fund
• Interest on arrears charged consistently, or not at all
• Arrears reviewed, with a council decision on anything serious
• Statement generated, and checked against the budget on the Budget page
• Statement circulated with the AGM notice
• Statement uploaded to the document library
• Next year's budget prepared and on the AGM agenda
• Books closed once owners have had the statements

Keeping records

Your corporation must retain financial records for a period set by your legislation — often several years, sometimes longer for anything touching the reserve or major work. ManageStrata's retention settings let you configure this; the safe default is to keep financial records for the full statutory period and to keep the statements themselves indefinitely. They cost nothing to store and they answer questions no other document can.