Some users prefer recording utility income directly as an expense since it represents a pass-through rather than actual revenue. Here's how this relates to CAM (Common Area Maintenance) charges:
Understanding CAM Charges:
CAM charges are specifically designed to pass vendor expenses directly to tenants.
Before assigning charges to tenants, vendor bills must be entered to correctly debit the corresponding expense account.
CAM structures, configured through the settings page, specify how these charges are calculated per bill and tenant.
Upon creating vendor bills that match CAM structure criteria, tenant charges are automatically calculated and invoiced.
Recording Invoices as Expenses:
It's technically possible to record invoices as expenses by selecting an expense item when creating an invoice. However, note that invoices always credit the selected item, thus crediting the associated expense account.
Important Caution:
Under Settings > General Settings, you can enable the option to display all items, including expense items, in the item drop-down menu.
This practice is not recommended, as it can lead to inaccurate data and potential accounting errors.
The CAM charges feature in Property Matrix is specifically intended to streamline passing expenses directly to tenants.