Thursday 13 April 2017

Tips by Ateeya Manzoor to Assess Property Accounting and Financial Management Performance

Many managers and investors are not entirely comfortable with the accounting and financial management components of their business or the real estate they would like to invest their capital into. While no single article can cover accounting and finance thoroughly, there are a few specific points that can be reviewed and will offer strong guidance regarding the condition of a project.

First, this article focuses on an operating property's current results. This article does not focus on a development project or new investment from the perspective of new management. With this in mind, the following tips suggested by Ms. Ateeya Manzoor (A Property Developer and Manager) are relevant:

1) The property should have a ledger of transactions that shows each and every transaction regardless of format.

2) "Paid the Visa bill" is not an accurate recording of the transactions. The accounting records will show a payment to Visa, but Visa should be a liability account with many transactions occurring potentially on that account. Additionally, the Visa bill will have a monthly set of finance charges and fees. Ensure that each payment with the Visa is fully recorded. This can be applied to all line of credit accounts or revolving credit accounts. This also applies well to petty cash.

3) Transactions fall in several categories including receivables or income transactions, expense transactions, capital cost transactions, capital receipts, capital distributions, liability principal and interest payments. Ensure each transaction is correctly recorded.

4) The account balances should tie accurately into the balance sheet.

5) The bank reconciliation should result in the account balance being exactly to the cash balance on the balance sheet.

6) The books should be closed on a consistent date each month. At the properties I've operated, we closed the books typically at the close of the 2nd full week of the month or later for the previous month. By taking this approach, we avoided conflicting with rent collections and provided a relatively slower operating environment for the work.

7) You should have a list of required compliance payments and reports made monthly, quarterly, and annually. In general, these payments are property taxes, payroll taxes, fees with the state corporation commission or equivalent. Additionally, most states have quarterly payroll tax reports to submit.

8) The accounting records should include a copy of project HUD1s or settlement sheets, copies of current and past loan documents, all long term service contracts.

Completing these steps will generally result in accurate books. Additionally, if all transactions are recorded in full any good accounting firm can quickly recover the books totally from this information. With these items in hand, the manager has what is required for accurate, effective, and producing accounting records. Further, keeping the records in good condition is much less difficult from this position.

Ateeya Manzoor is a Managing Director of Mayfair Management Group. She is a skilled strategic and risk manager and has worked on projects in the technology, legal, hospitality, property development, engineering, oil and gas and professional development industries.
Through her keen eye, Ateeya's core gift is to convert and fully realize potential. She has a unique ability to see things when others may not. Her talent is to anchor in businesses requiring structure or a fresh perspective. Clients value her vision and unrelenting commitment to delivering tangible results.
For more details, please visit here: http://ateeyamanzoorpost.simplesite.com

Monday 3 April 2017

Industrial Project Management Requires Commitment And Knowledge!

Industrial Project Management seems like a lucrative term and indeed it is however it requires deep knowledge and expertise. While we may think that because it is our project, who else will know it better than us but when you actually start doing it, the need for full time dedication arises. The conception of a project happens when you think about an idea post which you need to give proper shape to it.

Tasks such as estimation and allocation of resources, scheduling, project task coordination, procurement assistance, and mechanical and electrical bid requests are a part of the project management process. While doing a project you also need to do risk management and take care of the quality management aspect. Apart from this you are required to control the project execution, implement a management information system, forecast future trends through the project and instill ways of preventing defects.

Electrical and design controls is a separate area altogether that includes responsibilities of process control, doing single line diagrams, preparing layouts, programming and peripheral equipment interfacing. Some on-site services also need to be taken care of such as field management, equipment check-out and systems start-up. Site selection and market research are two other areas that require expert guidance and complete dedication.

An important aspect of project management is information about subsidies being provided by the government. That's because a project demands huge capital and if you have someone to pay up to 50% of your expenditure, then what else can you ask for! The government has introduced various subsidies and schemes to promote growth and expansion of various sectors. Some of the existing benefits in the manufacturing and industrial sector are of up to Rs. 40 crore each in Plastic, Textile and Leather Park. You can also avail a help of up to Rs. 60 crore for Industrial Park and up to Rs. 17 crore for Small Scale Industries.

Another activity that asks for time, effort and knowledge is the process of taking the required approvals. This includes industrial zoning, water and power approvals, and approvals equivalent to Industrial Development Corporation. Along with this you also need to concentrate on land development and acquisitions if that's the requirement. Registration, taxation and funding are few other duties involved in this process.

Not to be forgotten, project management process also involves the project marketing activity. Here you need to do tasks such as gap analysis of demand and supply, market share and revenue forecasting, pricing and penetration strategy, and option creation and evaluation for marketing mix.

While some of the activities talked about above may sound very simple and easy going however even one miss can cost a lot as every aspect of industrial project management has huge relevance. So a full time committed team is a must for a successful project, especially when you spend so much on it.

Ateeya Manzoor is a Skilled Strategic, Risk Manager associated with Mayfair Management Group with over 20 years of experience. Through her 20+ year career spanning Bay Street and Main Street, she has worked on projects in the technology, legal, hospitality, property development, engineering, oil and gas and professional development industries.
Her talent is to anchor in businesses requiring structure or a fresh perspective. Clients value her vision and unrelenting commitment to delivering tangible results.
For more details, please visit here: https://ateeyamanzoor.jimdo.com/