As an accountant or controller for a real estate development firm, have you ever wished you had more time at work to get back to your actual job?
You naturally want to save time on low-value tasks so you can do the work you were hired for. Spending less time on repetitive tasks creates more time for strategic work that proves your value to the organization. Plus, there’s no need to do work that software can easily perform—work like manual data-entry or document organization. Most controllers are valued for their exceptional eye for detail and financial management skills. There’s no time for strategic work if all you’re doing is cleaning up someone else’s spreadsheet or combing through folders looking for documents!
Unfortunately, many real estate development firms still rely on manual processes to manage real estate project finances, package draws, and organize documentation. Packaging a draw is a tedious process; the industry standard to process a draw is roughly 6 days. Controllers bear the brunt of the majority of this process, meticulously fact-checking information for accuracy and rearranging it in the appropriate format. The information you need is almost never complete, which means another round of requests to the construction team. Just think about how much time you spend on back-and-forth document transfers. Spreadsheets and emails are rarely the best way to keep track of information!
Many forward-thinking development firms are tapping into the power of automation. Automating tasks like pay app reconciliation and retainage calculations saves time for development teams and translates into faster, more accurate draw packaging for finance teams. Classifying documents can easily be automated, too. While spreadsheets need to be updated constantly, intelligent document organization systems house each document in one location with all the information linked to your budget, updating as new budget information comes in.
Picture a world where you don’t have to organize documents for each draw or manually compare spreadsheet fields to PDFs. With the right CRE software, you can simply upload documents and let the platform automatically organize and classify documents for you. These tools can automatically extract information from documents and put it anywhere you need it.
Think organizing your team’s project documents needs an entire day of manual data entry? Not anymore! Development firms are increasingly turning to CRE software to handle these tasks. Download the State of Construction Finance Report to keep reading about how CRE-focused software is changing the way controllers approach their tasks.
