How to Create and Bill a Budget

KEY PRINCIPLE Expense lines show how the property expects to spend money. Contribution lines determine how much will be charged to residents. Enter and review both before billing the budget.

Before you begin

Confirm the fiscal year and budget period are correct.
Make sure the property's funds, account groups, and allocation keys are configured.
Confirm unit shares and any special allocation keys are accurate.
Keep the approved budget figures available for data entry and final comparison.

IMPORTANT Use an allocation key only when charges should not follow the standard unit shares. A key applied to an expense line is informational; the key on a resident contribution line controls how that contribution is divided among units.

Workflow at a glance

Stage	Action	Result
1	Create the annual budget	A draft budget opens for the selected fiscal year.
2	Select or activate GL accounts	Required expense and revenue accounts are available in the budget.
3	Enter expense amounts	Planned spending is recorded by account and fund.
4	Enter contributions and revenues	Resident billing and other revenue targets are defined.
5	Review common charges	Unit charges, allocation, totals, and timing are validated.
6	Adopt and bill	The budget is adopted and charges are posted according to its schedule.
7	Update recurring bank direct debits, if applicable	New recurring debits begin on the adopted budget's billing start date; existing debits end at the end of the current budget's final month.

STEP 1 Open the Budget module

CLICK PATH Property portal › FINANCES / FINANCIAL › BUDGET

Open the property for which the budget will be created, then select Budget from the financial menu.

STEP 2 Create the annual budget

CLICK PATH BUDGET › ACTIONS › ADD A BUDGET

Choose Annual budget as the budget type.
For the first budget, select the period from the opening balance date to the fiscal year-end date.
For subsequent budgets, select the applicable fiscal year from the list.
Review the dates, then click Create.

OTHER BUDGET TYPES Use a Special budget for one-time assessments with up to 12 instalments over no more than 12 months. Use Historical only to upload a past budget for reference; it does not bill residents.

STEP 3 Select, activate, or create the GL accounts

The budget can only use accounts that are active for the applicable property and fund. Add the account while creating an expense or contribution line.

Click Add an expense or Add a revenue/contribution.
Open the Account dropdown and select the appropriate GL account.
If the account is missing, click Activate or create an account. After saving the account, return to the budget, click Refresh list, and select it.

Option A — Activate a predefined account

CLICK PATH ACCOUNTING › ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT › ACTIONS › ACTIVATE A PREDEFINED ACCOUNT

Select the fund in which the account will be used.
Activate each relevant expense or revenue account, then repeat for other funds as needed.

Option B — Create or edit a custom GL account

CLICK PATH ACCOUNTING › ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT › ACTIONS › ADD AN ACCOUNT

Choose the account type and enter a unique GL number of up to six digits.
Enter the account name, assign the correct fund and account group, and add its intended use/description.
Complete any applicable tax-credit or payment settings, then click Save.

For bulk changes, use Actions › Import/Export accounts, edit the downloaded Excel file, save it, and upload it back to the portal.

2026 IMPROVEMENT Budget line descriptions and financial-account descriptions now synchronize in both directions. Editing the description in either location updates the other.

STEP 4 Add expense lines and planned expense amounts

CLICK PATH BUDGET DRAFT › ADD AN EXPENSE

Select the allocation method. The default is the unit share; choose a configured allocation key only when required.
Select the expense GL account. If it is unavailable, activate or create it, refresh the list, and select it.
If this is a contribution paid to another property or horizontal syndicate, select the applicable checkbox.
Click OK, then enter the annual expense amount in each applicable fund column.
Repeat until all planned expenses are included.

Use advanced editing when timing matters

Hover over an amount and select the edit icon to change the allocation key, flag a contribution to another property, distribute the annual total across the months when the expense is expected, or compare it with prior-year actuals.

RESERVE-FUND BEHAVIOUR When an expense is entered in a reserve-type fund, UpperBee automatically adds a revenue line representing the amount drawn from that fund. The amount adjusts as reserve-fund expenses change.

STEP 5 Add resident contributions and other revenue amounts

CLICK PATH BUDGET DRAFT › ADD A REVENUE / CONTRIBUTION

Select the allocation method that should divide the contribution among units.
Select the revenue GL account associated with the applicable fund.
Select the option indicating that the line is part of residents' common charges when it must be billed to residents. Leave it unselected for other income such as interest or rental revenue.
Click OK, then enter the annual contribution or revenue amount for each applicable fund.
Repeat for every resident contribution and every other revenue source.

DO NOT ASSUME CONTRIBUTIONS EQUAL EXPENSES UpperBee allows you to set resident contributions independently from expenses. This supports planned surpluses, planned deficits, recovery of earlier deficits, or deliberate changes to fund contributions.

STEP 6 Review common charges before billing

CLICK PATH BUDGET DRAFT › COMMON CHARGES

Open the Common charges tab to review what UpperBee will charge to each resident. Complete the following checks before adoption:

The annual resident-contribution total matches the approved amount.
The monthly charge per unit is reasonable and the billing period is correct.
Each contribution uses the intended allocation key.
Expense, contribution, and other-revenue lines are assigned to the correct funds and GL accounts.
Planned surplus or deficit by fund is intentional and documented.
A sample of unit charges agrees with an independent calculation.

ROUNDING Because charges are rounded to the nearest cent, small differences of a few cents can occur between budgeted contribution totals and the amounts ultimately allocated to revenue accounts by fund.

STEP 7 Adopt and bill the budget

CLICK PATH BUDGET DRAFT › ACTIONS › ADOPT AND BILL / ADOPT AND INVOICE

Complete a final review of dates, GL accounts, allocation keys, contribution totals, and per-unit charges.
Click Adopt and bill, then confirm the action.
Confirm the adopted status and billed common charges by spot-checking at least one ordinary unit and any unit using a special allocation key. Before adoption, use the Common charges tab—not an adopted draft—to validate amounts.

STEP 8 Correct an adopted budget when necessary

CLICK PATH ADOPTED BUDGET › ACTIONS › CANCEL BUDGET ADOPTION

If an adopted budget contains an error, cancel its adoption before editing. UpperBee returns the budget to In preparation status and removes the common charges created by that budget.

Edit the amounts, allocation keys, GL lines, or general information.
Review Common charges again, then adopt and bill the corrected budget.
If billing should stop without changing the budget, use Stop billing. Use Start billing to resume.

CAUTION After cancelling adoption, resident statements and financial statements are not reliable until the corrected budget is adopted again. In addition, an unadopted budget may prevent deletion of an account that was used in the previous fiscal year.

STEP 9 Update recurring bank direct debits, if applicable

CLICK PATH ACCOUNTING › DEPOSITS › RECURRING BANK DIRECT DEBIT › ACTIONS › EDIT RECURRING DIRECT DEBIT AMOUNTS IN BATCHES

After adopting the budget, update existing recurring bank direct debits to reflect the new budget amounts, if applicable.

In the Budget filter, select the newly adopted budget.
Click Save to apply the updated recurring direct debit amounts.

EFFECTIVE DATES Saving creates new recurring bank direct debits effective on the adopted budget's billing start date. The existing recurring bank direct debits end on the last day of the month in which the current budget ends.

Troubleshooting

The GL account is missing: Activate or create it in Account Management, associate it with the correct fund, return to the budget, and refresh the account list.

Resident charges are zero or too low: Confirm the applicable revenue line is marked as part of residents' common charges and that the annual contribution amount was entered in the correct fund.

A unit's charge is incorrect: Review the contribution line's allocation key and verify the unit's share or key factor.

Totals differ by a few cents: This may be normal rounding. Compare the annual contribution and per-unit monthly amounts before changing the budget.

An expense line cannot be removed: The account may have been used in the previous fiscal year; UpperBee restricts its removal from an unadopted budget.

Charges were posted using incorrect figures: Cancel adoption carefully, correct the draft, recheck Common charges, and re-adopt promptly.

Final pre-adoption checklist

Budget period and fiscal year are correct.
Every expense and revenue line uses the correct GL account and fund.
Resident contribution lines are clearly distinguished from other revenue.
Allocation keys are correct for all contribution lines.
Expense amounts and contribution amounts match the approved budget.
Common charges have been reviewed by unit and by fund.
Any planned surplus or deficit has been approved and documented.