How do you verify your PM net deposit matches the statement each month?

Question

For owners who use a property manager, how are you checking that the net deposit that hits the bank actually matches the owner statement?

I am curious whether people reconcile the rent, PM fee, repairs, reserves, and owner draw line by line, or only look at the final payout.

The mismatches I watch for are usually quiet ones: a repair with no invoice, a reserve top up that absorbs a short deposit, or a fee that lands in the wrong month.

What is the biggest mismatch you have caught, and how did you catch it?

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

It is always recommended that you are checking all of the income and expenses on your properties every month. Even the most honest companies make mistakes. Checking all of your numbers and asking questions should always be welcomed by the PMC.

Eduardo Cavasotti · Answer

Jimmy, the wrong property charge is exactly why I like checking past the net deposit. The deposit can match and the books can still be wrong if the line landed on the wrong house.

Jimmy Lieu · Answer

Welcome to BP, Eduardo! I usually reconcile line by line instead of just checking the final deposit. It only takes a few extra minutes each month and makes it much easier to catch small issues before they become expensive habits. I compare the owner statement against the bank deposit, rent collected, management fees, repair invoices, and any reserve adjustments. The biggest mismatch I ever found was a maintenance charge that had been assigned to the wrong property, which threw off the owner's payout. It wasn't intentional, but it would have gone unnoticed if I had only looked at the deposit amount. If you own multiple rentals, a simple spreadsheet can make the monthly review pretty painless. One thing I've also noticed in Midwest markets like Columbus is that many property managers have solid owner portals with downloadable statements and invoices, which makes reconciliation much easier. Happy to connect and answer any questions you have!

Eduardo Cavasotti · Answer

Aaron, monthly is the key. I treat an itemized statement as table stakes. The stronger control is source docs plus the approval trail, because if the PM cannot show what was approved and why, the owner is reconciling a story instead of books.

Aaron Weikle · Answer

This is a huge headache and a question I get often especially when dealing with several properties with different PMs. What I always recommend is to pull the PM statement line by line and match it against your own bank deposit, checking for management fees, maintenance deductions, and "misc" charges, as those are where discrepancies usually hide. Make sure to do this monthly, not quarterly - the sooner you catch any issues, the easier they are to dispute. The biggest red flag I would look out for is if your PM can't produce an itemeized statement. That's an issue I'd address immediately before it compounds. This is exactly the kind of issue that made me want to start my company. I'm happy to share more of what I look for if it would be helpful.

Eduardo Cavasotti · Answer

Right, Drew. The deposit tie out is the easy check, but the approval threshold repairs are where the owner loses control because the charge shows up after the decision was already made. I like separating those two questions every month: did the money match, and did every charge have the approval trail it was supposed to have?

Drew Sygit · Answer

These are two different problems.

1) Confirming deposit matches Statement - should be pretty easy unless Statement is a crazy format.

2) Confirming you understand all the numbers on the Statement - should only take 5-10 minutes per property/unit once you understand the basics.- NOTE: most common issue we see in our market is PMC not alerting owner to maintenance done under Owner Approval Threshold! Owner doesn't find out until they see it on their monthly Statement and then has major challenge getting supporting data from PMC.

Jim Johnson · Answer

I usually start with the net deposit, but I don't stop there.

If something looks off, I'll work backward through the owner statement to see how the final number was calculated. Most months everything lines up, but every so often there's a reserve adjustment, repair charge, or timing difference that explains it.

What I've found most helpful is comparing:

• Rent collected
• Management fees
• Maintenance charges
• Reserve balances
• Owner distributions

against the supporting invoices and receipts when they're available.

I don't necessarily reconcile every line item every month, but I do spot-check regularly. It's easier to catch a small discrepancy early than try to untangle several months of statements later.

I also appreciate PMs who provide clear documentation upfront. When invoices, photos, and statements all line up, there's a lot less back-and-forth and much more confidence in the reporting.

Theresa Harris · Answer

I get an email saying $X was deposited and a link if I want to view the actual statement where it lists deductions.  I just look at what was deposited and if it is different than the usual, I see what the bill was for.  Nothing should be moved to a reserve fund as you are effectively paying any bills for repairs with the rent and that is deducted from what you get (unless there was a larger expense in which case I'd have been contacted by my PM to approve the repairs as per the contract).

Eduardo Cavasotti · Answer

Samantha, agreed. The portal is only useful if it gets down to the transaction level. I still want the statement tied to the actual deposit, because a clean ledger that never matched the bank is not really clean.

How do you verify your PM net deposit matches the statement each month?

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