Real estate accounting – specialised and professionalised
Specialist expertise at Livit
Property management is becoming more and more complex. Technological advancements, changing regulatory requirements, sustainability factors and the increasingly diversified use of real estate require expert knowledge. Fortunately, Livit has established and refined these skills in dedicated departments – and started to do so at an early stage.
One of these areas is real estate accounting, where the disciplines of property management and financial accounting overlap. Accounting tasks relating to the management of real estate require sector-specific know-how, which has been gradually built up and fostered in the now 50-strong department.
Professional real estate accounting goes far beyond checking receipts and booking invoices. In order to correctly invoice ancillary costs, specialists must be familiar with heating and building technology, take account of aspects relating to tenancy law and apply them in line with the situation at hand. The VAT requirements for real estate, regulatory stipulations for – mainly institutional – owners and the correct handling of data protection requirements complete the catalogue of expertise required.
At Livit, real estate accounting is separate from property management and has become increasingly specialised over the years. Starting with just under 20 employees spread across all branches in Switzerland in 2005, around 50 specialists now ensure that all the figures are correct and invoicing processes run smoothly.
Specialisation and standardisation
Initially, various tasks, such as accounting for ancillary costs, were carried out by the property management team themselves. Procedures that differed from one employee to the next, as well as differing specifications and requirements on the part of owners, presented significant challenges to ensuring standardised and efficient real estate accounting. An additional hurdle was the near-total lack of networking between the branches.
In April 2008, real estate accounting was therefore set up as its own specialist department and placed under the responsibility of the finance division at the Zurich headquarters. This laid the groundwork for sharing information and facilitating targeted networking among real estate accountants.
Livit set a new industry standard for a digital invoicing workflow with the introduction of Basware software in 2011. This enabled the centre of excellence for ancillary costs within real estate accounting to be established, which has developed progressively.
As a nationally active company with a regional presence, it was important that employees working in the real estate accounting sector were present on site at different branches. While the company grew and became increasingly specialised, it was ensured that branch-based real estate accounting complied with centrally managed policies. In January 2017, professional and personnel management were standardised. Real estate accounting functions as a centrally managed matrix organisation at all branches.
Accountants only work at their computer?
Not in real estate accounting! At Livit, we require that our specialists in real estate accounting understand heating and building technology and that the structure of the invoices complies with the specific building technology in question. If necessary, our team gains an understanding of how the technical installations and measuring instruments work by visiting the properties.
Various other tasks, such as adding and removing properties and condominiums or reallocating operating costs, have been standardised and specialised over the years. The calculation of expected future costs has been expertly refined by our specialist department. As a basis for this, previous data as well as variable factors such as fuel costs are analysed.
Further development in the areas of digitalisation and sustainability
New sustainability-related topics, such as private consumption communities for photovoltaic systems or e-mobility charging stations, have also arisen. Real estate accounting has built up knowledge in these areas and designed invoicing solutions.
In addition, for example, energy data must be presented in the context of today’s GRESB ratings; this information was systematically recorded by our real estate accounting team even before the ESG era.
Progressive digitalisation has also affected real estate accounting. The department itself has sparked impetus for new tools and interfaces, based on use cases. Today, many enhancements have already been made to the systems used, such as REM, to ensure more efficient processes.
Cooperation with property management
Given – and, in particular, because of – its specialisation, the cooperation between property management and real estate accounting remains very close. The manager responsible for a property knows if there has been water damage at the property and therefore higher water consumption is to be expected, if there has been a vacancy, if the heating system is to be replaced, etc.
Extensive information-sharing enables fair and accurate invoices to be drawn up. Direct contact with tenants remains the responsibility of property management as the point of contact. Consequently, the majority of queries related to invoices for ancillary costs are answered directly by property management.
A stable team
Our real estate accounting team not only works professionally, but also has a remarkably low turnover rate. With an average length of employment of more than eight years, the team has a wealth of experience and know-how.
Developing new professional training for the sector
On-the-job professional development is good, but it is even better with the help of subject-specific training. Until recently, however, this option was lacking in the industry. Good training opportunities for professionals in property management or financial accounting were already available, but there was no further training on offer for the interface of real estate accounting. As a result, Livit developed a new CAS course in collaboration with Wincasa, HWZ and SVIT and provided lecturers for the diverse course content. The popular course has already been successfully conducted for a second time and, with more than 20 participants, is currently almost fully booked for studies starting in 2024. A win for our own specialists and for the whole industry!
Are you curious to find out how Livit has specialised in areas other than real estate accounting? We will showcase further specialisation approaches and subject areas over the coming weeks. Follow us on LinkedIn to make sure you don’t miss any posts.