Condo & HOA Accounts Payable Template

Community associations are a big part of American life in 2025. There are now about 373,000 HOAs, condos, and co-ops nationwide, up roughly 4,000 from the year before. Together, they represent about a third of U.S. housing, serving more than 77 million residents. The financial scale is huge. Homeowners pay an average of $291 a month in dues, which translates to about $3,500 a year. In 43 states, monthly fees land somewhere between $300 and $400. Add that up across the country, and you'll have a lot of cash flowing through board treasuries. 

In fact, HOAs brought in over $120.9 billion in assessments in 2024, according to FCAR data. The dues homeowners pay go toward maintenance of common spaces, landscaping, security, and amenities like pools, gyms, and clubhouses. Most of the actual work gets contracted out, and the bills don't always come due immediately. Vendors might require deposits up front or send invoices once a job is complete. All of those obligations fall under the HOA's accounts payable.

Managing accounts payable (AP) in an association isn't much different from standard accounting. You'll be dealing with utility bills, vendor invoices, and ledgers. Interestingly, around 30% of associations are self-managed, run by volunteer board members instead of professional managers. 

Although some board members have accounting knowledge, most of them struggle with complex utility bills, vendor invoices, aging reports, and association-specific ledgers.

That's why we put this guide together. We'll walk you through the basics of condo and HOA accounts payable, give you templates, and show you how to use them to keep your community's finances running smoothly.

Condo & HOA Accounts Payable Template

Before we hand you the template, let's walk through the basic AP workflow so you know exactly what belongs in each section. The process starts the moment a vendor relationship is set. The board may go through a formal bidding process, sign contracts, or simply agree on terms for smaller jobs and emergency repairs. From there, here's how it usually flows:

1. Purchase Order: For larger jobs, the board issues a PO listing the service or items requested, quantities, prices, and payment terms. Smaller, informal agreements usually don't use a PO.
2. Vendor Fulfillment: The vendor reviews the request and completes the service or delivers the product.
3. Invoice Submission: The vendor sends an invoice to the association's accounts payable records. 
4. Payment: The board reviews the invoice by matching it with the PO and receipt to confirm the vendor indeed fulfilled their part. If everything is okay, the board approves and pays the invoice.

In practice, this means you'll handle a steady stream of recurring bills. The most common ones you'll see include:

• Common area maintenance, such as landscaping, road repairs, and snow removal
• Security services such as gate maintenance, monitoring, and patrols
• Utilities such as water, sewage, and trash collection for common areas
• Amenity upkeep, such as maintaining pools, clubhouses, and gym equipment
• Community events and projects, such as seasonal decorations 

In a proper double-entry system, when an invoice comes in, you credit accounts payable and debit the appropriate expense account. This shows the money you owe. When you pay the bill, you then debit accounts payable to reduce the debt and credit your cash account.

The AP ledger itself functions as an aging report. It shows what the association owes, when each payment is due, and the total outstanding balance across all vendors. This gives board members a clear snapshot of obligations at any given moment and helps prevent missed or late payments. 

For an accounts payable template to actually work for an HOA or condo board, it needs to capture the right details and organize invoices in a way that makes the most important information clear at a glance. Here are the most important fields to include:

• Supplier Name: Use clear and consistent naming of your vendors to prevent confusion, especially when you're working with companies that have similar names. For instance, Joe's Lawn Care and Joe's Landscaping can be different vendors, but without proper naming, you might think it's the same vendor.
• Invoice Number: Every bill needs a unique ID. This is your primary reference number for tracking, questioning charges, and reconciling your books.
• Invoice Date: Record the date the vendor billed you. This helps you estimate payment timelines based on agreed credit terms.
• Invoice Amount: The total owed to the vendor. You take this amount directly from the bottom line of the bill.
• Credit Terms: The agreed payment window, such as Net 30 or Net 60. This is how you determine when payment is due. 
• Due Date: The actual deadline for payment. Some vendors print this on invoices. Others don't, so you'll calculate it using the invoice date plus credit terms.
• Date of Payment: The date you make a payment. If the invoice is paid in installments, you'll want multiple payment columns to track each one. 
• Balance Due: Shows what's still owed after partial payments. A dynamic spreadsheet template can auto-calculate this balance for you.
• Total Accounts Payable: Adds up what the association owes across all vendors. Again, a spreadsheet with formulas can do this automatically.
• Days Overdue: Tracks how many days a bill has gone past due. This is critical for collecting early payment discounts and avoiding penalties and late fees.

Now, it's pretty common to see condo and HOA boards leaning on Word tables and PDF forms for accounts payable. They're simple, familiar, and even brand-new board members can use them without much trouble. But if you ask me, Excel and Google Sheets templates are the smarter choice because they do more than hold numbers.

With even basic formulas, you'll be able to cut out the calculation mistakes that manual systems are notorious for. Balances update automatically, and aging reports are generated automatically, and payment tracking becomes faster and far more reliable. Even in standard AP processes, we've seen businesses save up to eight hours a week after switching to automated templates. 

Of course, the benefits depend on how well the template is designed. A strong Excel template can create aging summaries that highlight which accounts need follow-up. Some templates can even create charts and visuals that make board presentations easier, especially for members who prefer graphics over raw spreadsheets. This gives the entire board immediate visibility into your association's financial position. 

Another bonus is trend tracking. Month-to-month comparisons reveal seasonal patterns in spending, like higher landscaping costs in spring and higher utility bills in winter. Spotting those patterns helps the board plan cash flow more accurately and make proactive financial decisions. 

Accounting Method

Associations aren't required to hire an accounting firm to manage their books, but every association must follow an approved accounting method. Some boards may also need an independent review or full audit each year depending on the size of the budget and what's written in the governing documents.

Boards rely on this data to make smart decisions about assessments, reserves, contracts, and long-term planning. That's why every board should prepare financial statements. In the HOA world, there are three common approaches: cash basis, accrual basis, and modified accrual basis. The difference lies in the timing of when revenues and expenses are recognized, and when assets and liabilities are reported. Here's a breakdown. 

Accrual Basis of Accounting

Accrual accounting is the most comprehensive method, and conforms to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. In this method, revenue is recorded when it's earned and expenses when they're incurred, regardless of when money changes hands. This gives a more complete picture of an HOA's financial health. Here's how it works in practice:

• Revenues: Assessments are recorded as income when they're charged, not when members pay. Until payments come in, the amounts sit in Assessment Receivable on the Balance Sheet. Once collected, they either reduce that receivable balance or increase Prepaid Assessments if members paid early. For instance, monthly assessments are typically recognized as revenue on the first day of the month when billed.
• Expenses: Costs are reported when services are provided, not when the invoice is paid. Until payment is made, the amounts sit in Accounts Payable on the Balance Sheet.
• For example, landscaping fees are recorded as expenses once the service is performed, even if the vendor hasn't been paid yet.

Effect on Financial Statements

Using accrual accounting means every daily, weekly, and monthly transaction feeds into detailed reports that tie directly back to the Balance Sheet. Key reports include:

• Aged Assessments Receivable: Lists all owners with unpaid assessments, the amounts owed, and how long they've been outstanding, such as current, 30, 60, or 90+ days.
• Prepaid Assessments: Tracks owners who paid ahead of schedule, how much they prepaid, and the total prepaid balance.
• Accounts Payable: Shows all unpaid invoices at the end of the accounting period.

Cash Basis of Accounting

The cash basis is the simplest approach, though it does not conform to GAAP. Under this method, expenses and revenues are only recorded when money actually changes hands.

• Revenues: Assessments are recognized as income only when payments are received. The Balance Sheet reflects an increase in cash, but there are no entries for Assessments Receivable or Prepaid Assessments. For example, a homeowner's monthly dues aren't recorded as revenue until the payment clears the bank.
• Expenses: Costs are recorded only when they're paid, not when the service is provided. Payments reduce the cash balance directly, and there is no Accounts Payable account.
• For example, landscaping services are not reported as an expense until the association issues the check.

Effect on Financial Statements

Because cash basis accounting ignores receivables, prepaids, and payables, those balances won't appear on the Balance Sheet. Reports for them can still be prepared, but they can't be reconciled to the Balance Sheet totals since those accounts technically don't exist under this method.

Modified Accrual Basis of Accounting

The modified accrual basis blends the two systems. While it also doesn't conform to GAAP, it's commonly accepted for interim reporting in HOAs.

Effect on Financial Statements

With this method, Assessments Receivable and Prepaid Assessments are reported on the Balance Sheet the same way they are under accrual accounting. However, unpaid vendor invoices are treated on a cash basis, so Accounts Payable balances do not appear.

Reserve Fund and Operating Fund

Most HOAs and condo associations are set up as nonprofit mutual benefit corporations. That means they don't operate on a profit and loss model the way a business does. Instead, they use fund accounting, with money divided into two main buckets: the operating fund and the reserve fund.

• Operating Fund: This is the association's day-to-day money. It covers routine expenses like landscaping, utilities, insurance, management fees, and repairs. Think of it as the community's checking account.
• Reserve Fund: This is the long-term savings account. The board sets money aside here for big-ticket repairs and replacements such as resurfacing the pool, fixing the clubhouse roof, replacing gym equipment, and installing a new boiler.

Each time residents pay their dues, part goes to the operating fund and part, usually a smaller slice, goes into reserves. Best practice is to keep these funds in separate accounts: operating in a checking account and reserves in a savings account.

A healthy operating fund should hold one to three months' worth of expenses. Reserves, on the other hand, should be planned decades ahead. In fact, an association is considered fully funded when it can cover major expenses for the next 20 to 30 years. Some states even legislate reserve requirements. 

In Ohio, for example, associations must contribute at least 10% of their annual budget to reserves. As a rule of thumb, HOAs aim for reserves equal to at least 70% of projected needs. So, if a reserve study calls for $60,000 over the year, the association should have at least $42,000 set aside.

Download Links for Accounts Payable Templates

As promised, here are ready-to-use HOA accounts payable templates:

• Pamco Free HOA AP Template
• HOA Management AP Template
• Condo Control HOA Templates

These spreadsheets are a great starting point, but you may need to customize fields to fit your association's needs. For instance, if the template doesn't have multiple columns for installment payments, you'll have to add them. Just be careful not to break the automation formulas while editing.

Why Automation Matters

Even with solid templates, manual processes still eat up board time. Bills must be downloaded, entered, reconciled, and cross-checked before anyone gets a full picture of the community's finances. That's where automation makes all the difference.

Automation platforms like LeapAP are built specifically for property management, including HOAs and condos. Instead of logging into multiple utility portals, the system automatically pulls in vendor bills. Payables sync directly with the accounting system, updating financial statements in real time. Board members get instant visibility into cash flow without waiting for reports to be compiled. Every transaction is logged, creating a complete audit trail. That makes annual reviews easier and strengthens compliance.

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