A client wanted the flexibility of having two different fixed prorata share percentages when billing tenants for common area maintenance (CAM) expenses using a single billing category. This client also wanted the management fee for this billing to post to the tenant ledger separately from the CAM billing line item.
The client's typical CAM expense pool includes a variety of line items such as Trash, Landscaping, Irrigation, Electricity, etc. with most leases specifying a different prorata share for Electricity charges than the other line items. I customized a formula to apply the second fixed prorata share instead of the tenant's primary share when a custom field in the Expense Pool Detail table is checked for any line item. In the master Pool Accounts table where the client sets up the generic expense pools, an asterisk precedes the line description when that item is subject to the secondary fixed prorata share (in our example, Electricity is entered as *Electricity). This simple notation updates the custom Expense Pool Detail field for Electricity when creating the building's expense pool during Get GL. This kept customization to a minimum while also completely automating the billing process.
The custom formulas required were minimal and included the separation of management fee so that it posted to its own income category in the tenant ledger.
Without these modest custom enhancements to the MRI CAM recovery billing system, this client would not have been able to automate these monthly billings. Instead they are now able to process these billings and they have custom invoices and worksheets exactly to their specifications. In addition, instead of having an accountant focused exclusively on processing all of these billings manually, each property accountant is now able to manage these monthly billings within their routine schedule.