Essential steps to go through every month, when issuing invoices for Costs:


Monthly Checklist
Before issuing Costs invoices for a new month go over these questions:


Have you had a new Rental Contract(s) this month?
If yes:
- Add new Rental Contracts
- Link Meters to Contracts/Tenants (if Automatic meter linking is not activated)
- Set the Exceptions in Contract terms
- Fill in the Readings

Have some of the current Rental Contracts ended?
If yes:
- End Rental Contracts - by adding Actual end date in the Rental Contract.

Have there been any Space changes in existing Tenants/Contracts?
If yes:
- Add/remove Spaces from a Rental Contract (by creating a new line with the date and Spaces that should be included in the Rental Contract)
- Apply Space size changes in the Space card (with the date and a new Space size)
- Add/remove spaces from Space sets if needed (Building Settings > Space sets)

Have you had a new Service/Cost for Tenants this month?
If yes:
- Add a new Cost (Building settings > Enabling cost types for period)
- Add and link Meters if applicable (Building settings > Enable meters)
- Set the Exceptions for the new Cost type (Contract terms)
- Fill in initial Readings if applicable (Readings section)

Have you added a new Meter(s) in any Buildings?
If yes:
- Enable a new Meter(s) (Building settings > Enable meters)
- Link Meters to Contracts/Tenants (manually in Contract terms or automatically using Automatic meter linking)
- Fill in initial Readings (Readings section)



Check out the Shortcuts at the end of this article for more info.


Step by step guide for Monthly Activities


1. Сreate period for current month

▶ Costs


  • Start by going to Costs > select relevant Property-Building set (if Property is not selected in the Main filter), click +ADD NEW to add a first period line or CREATE NEXT PERIOD (if this is the following period):



  • When you CREATE NEXT PERIOD Readings and Bills will be automatically copied from the previous period
  • Select the current period and move to the second step.



2. Add/import readings for this period


  • Review Readings and Usage after the import. For more convenient overview program automatically marks in Red the values, that should be reviewed and fixed, in case there is a mistake. In the column Previous usage difference program marks in yellow the values, that exceeds 20%.


 

  • In Costs (Electricity, Water, etc.) Totals Usage we recommend adding consumption from the Invoice that was received from Service provider. It will make the price accurate (as the Rate is determined by dividing the Total Bill Amount by the Total Usage).
    Otherwise, if the information about Current Readings comes not automatically but is collected manually, it might have slightly different figures.


  • Do not forget to add manually the Previous Readings for the new Tenants meters, or new Costs. 
    Same applies if Tenants change in the middle of the month - you need to correct readings for both Tenants in order to allocate correct consumption.
    Program will automatically creates two lines with the same Meter name, so you could split the meter usage accordingly.


3. Add Bills


  • Moderan also automatically copies into the Bills all the lines from the previous month. You only have to update the invoice numbers and insert amounts from the Invoices.

If there are new Cost types created for this period, add a new lines using the +ADD NEW button.


  • Copied lines are marked in Yellow. When the amounts from the Bills are entered they become white:


  • Add the exceptional, one-time invoices you might have this month. You may delete the yellow lines for one-time fees, copied from the previous period. 
  • If you had any Bills for direct Tenant services (e.g. office space cleaning, repair works, security on-call check, etc), select Rental contract to which this cost applies and this line will appear directly on the Tenant invoice and will not participating in costs calculations.


  • Once the Bills and Total Usage (in Readings) are entered, Moderan automatically calculates the Rates and distributes the Costs for each Tenant according to the rules set in the Building settings and Contract Terms. 


4. Review results


You can check calculations in the Profit, Summary and Cost calculation reports.



Profit report gives an overview of:

  • Income - how much of the Cost has been allocated to the Tenants
  • Cost - what was the total amounts from the Invoices
  • Conversion - the amount of the Cost that went into Conversion
  • Difference - between Income and Cost
  • % - the Percentage expression of Difference


Summary report gives an overview of each Cost distribution (General and Individual) to each tenant and Totals:


Cost calculation report is used as a preview of Tenants Invoices. It is grouped by the Tenants and all Cost lines are listed for each Tenant:


5. Send out Cost invoices to the accounting


If you are using integration with the accounting software then in Cost calculation part simply click Send to (your accounting software) and check the Integration log if any error occurred.


In case invoice(s) did not go through and you are not able to resolve the issue, please contact us and provide the property name and error description.


Shortcuts


Rental Contracts: add/end


One of the basic things to check each month: Are your Contracts up to date?

Before you can start Costs calculations, you need to make sure all of your Rental Contracts are up to date.


How to check Contracts state

  • Using Reports > Tenant Changes check if all new ones have been entered
  • Using Reports > Contract Deadlines check Contracts with End of Rental Period mark: finish the ones that actually ended, or update deadlines for the still active ones

To add a Rental Contract

  • Go to Contracts > Rental Contracts
  • Click +ADD NEW
  • Fill in the Rental Contract details. Use our guides if needed: Rental Contract folder


To end a Rental Contract

  • Go to Contracts > Rental Contracts
  • Select the Contract you need to end
  • Click Edit and add the Actual End Date. 
  • This Contract will be available in Archive. It won't be displayed active since the date entered. 


 

Rental space changes


For Costs calculation the important part is to ensure the Rental space m2 are up-to-dated for each Tenant as it is directly linked to the Costs calculations.


  • Go to Costs > Summary and check the column Rental Space for each Tenant and Total m2


  • If you had any changes in the Spaces you leased out in this period, ensure the Space size change is reflected in Assets > Spaces > relevant Space card. How correctly change the Space size, please check article - Spaces: Basics
  • If the Tenant acquired or dropped some of the Spaces. The changes should be reflected in the Contracts > Rental Contract > Rental Space table:


New Cost


You have a new service or cost this month you need to bill to your Tenants.


  • Add the new Cost type in Admin section (How to customize the Rent / Fee types?)
  • Enable this Cost for the current period in Costs > Building Settings. Done only once, it will be automatically transferred to the next periods. 


NB! If you are using accounting software integration, then you have to add accounting code for each new Cost type in use. You can do that in Admin > Integrations.
  • Go to the Contract Terms to manage Exceptions for the New Cost type (or, if the tenant renegotiated exceptions) 


  • To get more insights about General Cost exceptions and how to manage them, please check the article Contract terms


New Meters


New Meter has been installed to one of the Spaces or the Buildings in current period.


It should be added in the Building settings > Enable meters


If Automatic Meter Linking to Rental Contracts is switched ON, the New Meter will be linked automatically, if the Space of the Tenant is specified.


For a full guide please read Enabling Meters in Moderan.