Co-op management question

Thanks for the comments -- I feel better knowing others have similar setups. I should clarify that this all came up b/c we recently raised maintenance to what for me adds up to well over $100/square foot, and I started to wonder where all this money is going. I did volunteer to take on some of the responsibility, but this woman did not seem to want help. I'll look into getting Quickbooks, that sounds like a good idea.

Posted by: jb1228 at March 14, 2008 1:01 PM in response to Co-op management question

Yes, sorry about that -- $1.00/sq foot is what I meant to write. We did meet to discuss the raise in maintenance, but I am wondering how we're not able to have more of a reserve with everyone paying so much maintenance. It just worries me that this person could (and very well might be) neglecting to pay maintenance on time and/or using the building's reserves to finance her own renovation projects. The other tenants don't seem as concerned, but I think it's more laziness than trust in our system.

Posted by: jb1228 at March 16, 2008 1:14 PM in response to Co-op management question

I am the treasurer of a small condo, as you describe. It is perfectly reasonable for all members to expect to receive a year-end summary (in addition to the tax docs), which should include broad categories for expenses.

12:12, I appreciate your point regarding the hassle of bookkeeping and the fact that it is in the bookkeeper/shareholder's interest to do the right thing. Unfortunately, though, no oversight can lead good people astray. OP has every right to ask for a bit more detail on this business in which s/he is part owner.

Posted by: curiositykilledthecat at March 14, 2008 2:10 PM in response to Co-op management question

Even in the smallest of coops/condos, there should never be just one person handling all aspects fo the the financials (no matter how much of a pain it is). There must be oversight and transparency. It's your home/investment, and you will be responsible if anything is not kosher, and you cannot plead ignorance. This person may be doing a fantastic job, but you have a right and an obligation to find out how your coop is being run and your money spent. What if this person dissapears? Do you have a coop board? Raise these issues at your next meeting or with your coop president (in writing). And check out the CCNY website (Coops and Condos of NY) for more info. They have great classes for small buildings.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 2:22 PM in response to Co-op management question

Year end summary of revenue/expenses in addition to tax filings, yes.

Monthly reports, no way.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 2:23 PM in response to Co-op management question

Even in the smallest of coops/condos, there should never be just one person handling all aspects fo the the financials (no matter how much of a pain it is). There must be oversight and transparency. It's your home/investment, and you will be responsible if anything is not kosher, and you cannot plead ignorance. This person may be doing a fantastic job, but you have a right and an obligation to find out how your coop is being run and your money spent. What if this person dissapears? Do you have a coop board? Raise these issues at your next meeting or with your coop president (in writing). And check out the CCNY website (Coops and Condos of NY) for more info. They have great classes for small buildings.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 2:25 PM in response to Co-op management question

I am the treasurer of a small (4 unit) coop. We pass the job around every 2-3 years, so everyone gets a chance to know the inner workings of our finances. We have an accountant, but we have a high level of trust in the building. None of us have experience being treasurer of any other organization, and the job is a pain, but we are all invested in the building. None of us would want it to fail, and if anyone was cheating, the truth would come out soon enough.

My recommendation is to keep it simple. Monthly statements sound wildly excessive, but you should have an accountant, and it's fair to pass that around to all the owners.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 4:01 PM in response to Co-op management question

I agree that annual reports are fine.

BUT, you should know why the maintenance was raised and it has nothing to do with the financial reports. There should be monthly meetings and all shareholders should try to attend. Your board in this small building should include a rep from every apartment. Don't you do that? At these meetings, everyone should "report" on their area (finances, recycling, building repair, social, mail, whatever) and here you would learn that the taxes have gone up or that heating costs are crazy or you need to start building a bigger reserve because the furnace will have to be replaced in a couple of years.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 4:36 PM in response to Co-op management question

We meet less than we should... um, like once a year. But nothing gets decided without the full approval of everyone, which is usually not hard. The maintenance cannot be changed in our building without a full discussion by every apartment. We should be meeting one every three or four months, but if anything happens, there's always a flurry of emails.

Make sure somebody takes good minutes at the meeting. But again, I don't think it's necessary to meet once a month. With five apartments, I would not want to leave anyone out of any meeting.

But it's YOUR building. If you want to meet once a month, then you should be able to find common ground with the other owners.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 4:43 PM in response to Co-op management question

My 4-unit used Microsoft Money - there's a check register in the program that the treasurer entered all the checks and deposits into. From there, you can slice and dice the data and print out a variety of reports.

When I took over as treasurer, I printed out a report that listed every single expenditure and deposit, by month, and by category and brought copies to every board meeting. So people would look at the report and ask questions about any expenses and we'd discuss them.

I'd print various year-end reports to give our accountant after year-end to do our taxes, and I'd also pass out the yearly summaries to the rest of the board. I did it when we met, so I was there to answer any questions. That was sometimes monthly, and sometimes less frequently, depending on how often we felt the need to meet, when doing projects. The basic monthly expenses don't really change - it's the contractor and repair expenses that are unusual.

Doing the reports is really time-consuming (the previous treasurer got tired and didn't do any for over a year), but it is very useful info - not only so people can see where the money goes, but for future planning.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 5:22 PM in response to Co-op management question

jb1228,

I sure hope you're missing a decimal point behind the 1 in that $100/SF number!

I agree totally with the overwhelming sentiment of the replies that greater transparency and sharing of the financial duties is required than seems to be extant in the case of your building. You would not believe the financial irregularities that were discovered in a co-op where I used to live when the old president and a large percentage of the board were replaced by new people (of which I was one). For some people, the indifference to financial matters of others in a community leads to temptations that they find irresistable.

Posted by: johnife at March 14, 2008 8:42 PM in response to Co-op management question

We have monthly reports generated for our 5-unit co-op. Sort of excessive but we do have monthly meetings and everyone does at least glance at the reports. we do, however, pay an outside accounting firm about 2k a year, but it's probably money well spent. At minimum, I'd say, you should get a detailed yearly accounting done by a 3rd party.

Posted by: guest at March 14, 2008 9:14 PM in response to Co-op management question