An HOA budget the board adopts once and checks every month
The short answer: Rebel Bookz builds an HOA’s annual budget line by line, sets how much of the dues goes to the reserve, records the board’s adoption, and measures the adopted plan against what the community actually spent, through any date the board chooses.
From a draft to an adopted plan, in three steps
- Draft the year, line by line. One number for each income and expense line, entered by the month or by the year. Reserve and capital lines stay on the page even at zero, so nothing is quietly left out.
- Set the reserve split. The share of the dues that goes to the reserve is a rule with a start date, so the rule in force for every month is on the record.
- Adopt it, then check it. The adopted budget is the plan every Budget vs Actual measures against, and the rest of the year can be re-forecast month by month beside it.
The plan is prepared. The board adopts it.
- Which lines go up and which come down.
- How much of the dues goes to the reserve.
- Whether an adopted budget is amended, and why.
An adopted budget is locked. An amendment opens a new version with its reason written down, and the adopted one stays whole.
What the treasurer gets that a spreadsheet never gave them
- Budget vs Actual, through any date. Pick a date, and the plan is measured against the same share of the year.
- Lines running over, flagged. Lines ahead of their budget for the year so far are flagged, and so is spending that was never budgeted.
- A warning before reserves go unfunded. Adopting a plan that spends reserves it never funds says so before the vote.
- Every change, named. Who changed a line, when, and from what amount to what, kept in the budget’s own history.
- A starting point from real spending. Empty lines can be filled from what the community actually spent, then adjusted by hand.
- Re-forecasts that leave the plan alone. A forecast for any month sits beside the adopted budget without changing it.
Questions boards ask
How do you build an HOA budget?
Start from last year’s actual spending, set a number for every income and expense line, decide how much of the dues goes to the reserve, and have the board adopt it at a meeting. Rebel Bookz keeps each of those steps on the record.
How much of the dues should go to the reserve?
That depends on what your community will have to repair and replace, which a reserve study estimates. The board sets the share in Rebel Bookz as a rule with a start date, and can set a new one for a new year.
Can we change the budget after it is adopted?
Yes, by amendment. The adopted version stays whole, and the amendment opens a new version with the board’s reason recorded.
Can we see the budget against what was actually spent?
Yes. Budget vs Actual measures the plan against the community’s posted books through any date the board picks.
Read more in the Rebel Standard
- What Percentage Should Your HOA Reserve Fund Be Funded At? (The Balance Alone Won’t Tell You)
- How Much Can an HOA Board Assess Without a Vote? The Ceiling Isn’t a Law — It’s Two Documents
- How to Run Your HOA Board’s Monthly Financial Review (In Under 20 Minutes)
Also in Money
See your budget built in Rebel Bookz
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