ACB, TTO, RUBS, CAM... the list goes on! AppFolio has a lot of great features, but those come with a lot of acronyms and slang terms. Today, we are going to give a "cheat sheet" so you don't have to decode those confusing lingo-filled emails on your own.
Bank Account Slang
- ACB - Adjusted Cash Balance, this is the third section on your bank reconciliation page. It looks at your Property Balances and makes sure that all reconciled, deposited and paid items line up with your bank balance. The ACB is similar to a checkbook because it considers items that have not cleared your bank yet and adds/subtracts them from your overall property balances.
- TTO - Triple Tied Out, which refers to two things! The first is referring to when your bank reconciliation has a green checkmark in all three boxes. The second is our daily audit solution that checks three categories: Property Balances, Tenant Liabilities, and Bank Reconciliations. If you pass all three, then you are considered TTO!
- Bank Switch (BS) - This term is used any time you are changing the bank account association within AppFolio. When you open a new account, or if the routing/account number changes, then you need to complete a bank switch. Just submit a support request to AppFolio to have this done! APM Help can also help to make sure you are clean and ready for a bank switch.
- Out of Balance Bank Switch (OOB BS) - Hopefully, you never need to request or do one of these! This is when your accounts haven't been reconciled in balance, or through the most recent bank statement. If you move forward with this, you will have an impossible time reconciling the old account, and there is no way for AppFolio or APM Help to guarantee that your property balances are correct. Basically, we recommend that you never do a bank switch out of balance. APM Help can assist you in preparing for a bank switch and make sure that you are TTO beforehand so you don't have to switch out of balance!
- Escrow/Operating - These are the common terms used to describe the cash accounts in Propertyware and AppFolio. Some people think of "Operating" as their corporate account, and others think of "Escrow" as Security Deposit Cash. This can definitely cause confusion! Just remember, Operating is to Trust and Escrow is to Security Deposit!
Property Jargon
- RUBS - Ratio Utility Billing, or metered billing for multifamily complexes. This setting allows you to allocate things like water, electricity and gas usage among all or some of the tenants in a building. You can allocate the utilities based on square footage, number of occupants, or both! Just submit a support request to AppFolio if you would like to active this feature.
- CAM - Common Area Maintenance, which only applies to commercial properties in AppFolio. You don't need to submit a support request to get this feature enabled! However, it can be confusing to set up. AppFolio offers a variety of articles with steps to get you started, and you can always reach out to APM Help to aid in the process!
- Additional/Suppressed Fees - These go hand-and-hand with management fees! They are set up on the property page under the "Management Fees" section. They tell AppFolio which income GL accounts the management company collects on. Don't include the accounts that you collect your standard management fee on, such as Rent Income or Pet Rent. Typically, we see things like Application Fees, Late Fees, and NSF Fees in this section. You also have the option to suppress a fee if you collect 100% of it (far right side of the additional fee). Suppression hides all of the receivables and payables that are associated with that specific GL account from the owner's statement to avoid confusion.
Tenant Talk
- Apply Credits - A feature found on the tenant page under "Tasks". You can only see this feature if the tenant has an unapplied credit or prepayment and an open charge. The diagnostics (under "Accounting") has a quick way to check if you have any tenants with unapplied items under the "Tenants and Homeowners With Unused Prepayments / Open Charges / Open Credits" section. The "amount applied" and "amount to apply" should always match in value, otherwise you will receive an error.
- ZDR - Zero Dollar Receipt. This is created when a tenant credit or prepayment is applied to a charge. Generally, you don't see these on reports, but if you click on a tenant credit or charge paid by a prepayment on the tenant ledger, then you can see the 0.00 receipt under "Paid By" or "Used By".
We hope that you've found this list helpful! If you think we are missing anything, please let us know in the comments below. You can always reach us on our website, info@apmhelp.com or at 281-949-8755 if you have any questions on the terms above!
