CAI 2020 Conference: Association Finances & Contracts

On February 21st at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, this year’s CAI-IL Condo – HOA Conference & Expo will give you “2020 Vision” and offer education sessions on legal updates, innovative trends, hot topics, and industry best practices, as well as opportunities to share, learn, network, and discuss challenges and solutions.

Join more than 1,500 industry professionals and homeowner volunteer leaders – along with over 200 exhibitors – for the most comprehensive 1-day event for community associations in the state of Illinois!

Attendee Registration

Curious about the kinds of courses you can expect to see at this year’s Conference & Expo? Here are a few of the many session options you’ll have to choose from!

Interpreting Confusing Financials, Budgets, and Reserves

Presented by: Corinne Billingsley, Reserve Advisors, LLC – Steven Silberman, PBG Financial Services Ltd.

Picture it, Chicagoland, present day. You’re a property manager or board member and you just received your year-end financial statement from the CPA for your Association. You think to yourself, “I’ll take a few minutes and review this before sending it on”.

You begin to review the financials. You notice that the numbers are different than the management company’s yearend financials, so the questions start:

Are they different because the method of accounting on the CPA prepared financials are accrual and the monthly financials are modified cash basis. What is the difference?
Is it because you see that the yearend financials are “GAAP”? What is GAAP?
Is it because these are audited financials? How do audited financials differ from the monthly financials?

You then begin to look at the net income at the end of the year and see that there is excess operating funds, so more questions come up:

What are we supposed to do if we have excess operating funds?
Should we keep the excess funds in the operating fund?
Do we transfer the funds to the reserve fund?
Should we refund the excess operating funds to the members?

You continue to look at the Statement of Revenue and Expenses and you see that some of the actual expenses are higher than what you budgeted and you do not understand why, so another question arises:

What did we do wrong??

You finally get to the schedules and supplemental information of the financials and see that the reserve study components, useful life and replacement costs are presented from a reserve study that was prepared six years ago. A few more questions come to mind:

What does all of this mean, again?
Why is this in the year-end financials?
By the way, is this reserve study even meaningful any more since it is six years old?
Are the proper common elements included in the study?
How do we know how much should be budgeted and funded for reserves each year?
How do we know we have enough reserve funds?
Wait, what happens if we do not have enough funds to repair and replace the common elements??

After a few minutes, you have over a dozen questions! You are so confused!!!

This seminar, in only one hour, will not only help answer the above questions so that you will no longer be confused (or at least not be as confused) but it will help you to safeguard the assets of your association, make sound business decisions and plan for the future so that you will have peace of mind and a healthy association this year, next year and in the future.

5 Tips to Bid, Negotiate and Execute Contracts

Presented by: Jamie Stevens, Chuhak & Tecson – Laura Nicolini, FirstService Residential

Managing association contracts can be highly stressful or a time to showcase your unique value as a superstar manager to your board or a board member to your community. Think of shark infested waters – what comes to mind? A swimmer surrounded by a pool of dangerous creatures with a big bite or entrepreneurs showcasing their product to whale investors on reality TV? Working on behalf of association owners and making sure their investments are protected can be a precarious “sink or swim” situation, with the same successes, dangers, and dollars floating around. We are here to throw you a life preserver and put you on center stage of that winning pitch.

The 5 Tips to Bid, Negotiate and Execute Contracts Session at the 2020 Conference and Expo will dive into practical and legal advice for contract success. When challenged with multiple duties in a day, learn how to streamline the bid process and provide accurate, timely information for that next board meeting. Be the superstar by hearing tips on how to negotiate cross functional incentives with your key vendor partnerships. Make sure the association is best protected by avoiding the legal pitfalls of contracts. Finally, garner some tips on how to best execute for success after the contract is signed on the dotted line.

Nobody wants to be shark bait! We all want to be the Community Manager superstar that our community owner-investors back. So sign-up to attend this course and more at the 2020 IL Condo-HOA Conference & Expo!

CAI - Illinois Chapter

The Illinois Chapter of Community Associations Institute serves the educational, business, and networking needs of community associations in the Chicagoland Area. Members include condominium, cooperative, and homeowner...