Budget Preparation
We build your association’s annual budget — and guarantee it pays for itself.
Most association budgets are rolled forward year to year, hiding waste and cross-subsidized losses until they surface as a special assessment. CIA prepares your annual budget from the ground up — segregated, stress-tested, and built on the same forensic analysis we use in our engagements.
$30,000 one-time fee.
We will identify at least $30,000 in operating savings every year for at least ten years — or we waive our fee.
The budget pays for itself in year one.
What Makes Our Budget Different
Assessment vs. ancillary segregation
Every line is split so you see exactly which services owners are subsidizing — and which ones quietly lose money.
5-year stress test
Your budget is projected forward so you see deficits and assessment pressure before they hit — not after.
Reserve funding analysis
Reserve contributions are tested against the reserve study, not just rolled forward from last year’s number.
What You Receive
- A segregated annual operating budget.
- The 5-year stress-test projection.
- A written savings-and-waste findings memo.
- A reserve-funding recommendation.
How It Works
- We review your financials. Audited statements, prior budgets, the reserve study, and the general ledger.
- We build the segregated budget and stress test. Every line split, then projected five years forward.
- We present the findings and the savings plan. Where the waste is, and exactly how we hit the guarantee.
- You adopt a budget you can defend to owners. Clear, documented, and built to hold up.
Who It’s For
- Boards heading into budget season who want a budget built right, not rolled forward.
- Self-managed associations without professional finance support.
- Associations facing rising assessments or recurring deficits.
See It in the Real World
At 175 East Delaware Place HOA, segregating the budget exposed ancillary operations running a $684,000 deficit quietly subsidized by assessments. And over the prior five years, the association’s operating expenses grew about 2.6 times faster than its income, eroding its operating surplus from $1,166,717 to just $2,723. That’s the kind of structural problem this process surfaces.
How This Differs from Reserve Studies & Budgeting
Budget Preparation is full, done-for-you budget creation — we build the budget from the ground up. If you’d rather we review and advise on a budget your team prepares, see Reserve Studies & Budgeting.
Ready to build a budget you can defend?
Tell us about your association and we’ll get started. Registration and inquiries go to info@cia.mba.
Common Interest Advisors, LLC provides non-attest forensic accounting and consulting services and is not a licensed public accounting firm. This page is informational and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice.
