Here are five key elements that make up a community association board's cycle.

How often does your community association board address all the issues and aspects that need to be handled for the entire year? If you're thinking “never” or “as the need arises”, it's time to take a better approach. Just as businesses have annual cycles, the same concept holds true for your association. Therefore, to be more effective, your board should be identifying and addressing each element of the annual business cycle ahead of time.

Elections

Planning for board elections should be on the annual agenda six months ahead of scheduled elections. This allows for decisions on how you're going to get the community involved, how you're going to encourage people to run, who's going to manage all the details, and build out a schedule on steps to take. Doing this can make the process easier and even enjoyable.

Budget

Knowing how much you have in your annual budget and where expenditures need to take place is key to running an effective HOA. Sitting down with your board at the start of the year and planning out exactly what you'll be spending will alleviate stress and allow you to look ahead.

Financial Reporting

Finding a trusted advisor to handle your financial reporting is key to your association's success and when you make it a part of your annual business cycle, you won't need to be rushing around to find someone reliable.

Special Projects

Have you been thinking about updates and changes to your community that will improve life for the residents like community wide Wi-Fi and electric car charging stations? One of the important elements to your annual business cycle is brainstorming, planning out, and budgeting for special projects. And when you consider how these types of projects can impact your property values, there's no question to the value of improvements that ensure your community doesn't fall behind the times.

Assessments

Another important element to your annual business cycle, assessments, should be discussed, evaluated, and planned out ahead of time. These fees pay for your community's ongoing maintenance and operational expenses. Whether it's the cleaning of the pool and other common areas or the upkeep of the landscaping and lawns, needs and fees can change so it's best plan ahead and ensure that you are bringing in the necessary funding.

Staying one step ahead

Those associations who understand and manage the annual business cycle will always be one step ahead of the issues and tasks at hand. They preplan and are proactive instead of reactive, which enables them to be more effective. They plan in advance for each element of the business cycle, which creates a consistent rhythm, putting themselves in front of important action items instead of scrambling to get things done in time.

For more information on how to run your association as a business, or to find out more about how our services can help you, get in touch with us today.