Setting up accounting involves establishing a system to track and manage financial transactions at your property. In order to get accurate data on accounting exports, it is crucial for you to enable accounting within Hummingbird and set it up before starting your operations using Hummingbird. 

To enable and set up accounting for your property, follow the steps below:

• Navigate to Hummingbird Settings by clicking the Settings icon from the leftmost navigation menu and then clicking Accounting. 
• You will see the following Accounting Settings page. You need to enable the Accounting feature in Hummingbird to record events. Ensure that the Enabled toggle button is ON.

• The Corporate Settings tab caters to all of your properties, and you can view and configure the accounting settings for them from here; if you want to select a specific property and view the settings pertaining to it, navigate to the Property Settings tab.

Chart of Accounts Setup

Creating a Chart of Accounts is fundamental in setting up your accounting system. It's a structured list of all the accounts and categories your business will use to record financial transactions.

You have the ability to add a new account or make changes to existing accounts in your Chart of Accounts. The Chart of Accounts provides you with information regarding the GL account code from your accounting systems, a name or a description of the account, categories of records stored in accounts, i.e. Income, assets, liabilities, etc., the type and sub-type associated with the categories in the GL account, and so on. 

To know more about each column in the Chart of Accounts, refer to the Chart of Accounts Guide at the top right corner. 

Hummingbird enables you to tailor the Chart of Accounts to fit your self-storage business's specific needs and complexities. You can either manually add new accounts to your Chart of Accounts or add them in one go by uploading a spreadsheet, 

Note: Consult an accountant to ensure your Chart of Accounts complies with accounting standards and regulatory requirements.

Manually Adding Accounts to your Chart of Accounts

You can add a new account based on the classification of financial transactions within your property. Each account in the Chart of Accounts represents a specific type of asset, liability, equity, revenue, or expense and is included for maintaining accurate financial records and reporting. 

To add a new account to your Chart of Accounts, follow the steps below: 

• From the Accounting Settings page, expand Chart of Accounts by clicking the corresponding down arrow. 

• Click Add Account.

• Provide all the required details on the Add New Accounts screen by typing the GL Code and GL Name in the fields provided and selecting the appropriate Category, Type, and Subtype from the corresponding drop-down lists. Then, click Save.

To know more about these fields, refer to the Chart of Accounts Guide.

Setting up a Chart of Accounts via a Spreadsheet

You have the ability to add all your accounts to be included in the Chart of Accounts in one go. This can be achieved by providing all the account-related details in a spreadsheet and then uploading it. 

To set up your Chart of Accounts via a spreadsheet, follow the steps below: 

• From the Accounting Settings page, click Download Spreadsheet Template. 

• You will see an Excel sheet containing the mandatory information that needs to be provided for all accounts. After adding all the account details to the sheet, save it. 

• You can now upload it to Hummingbird by clicking Upload Spreadsheet. 

• Click Select Spreadsheet and browse the file from your computer. Then, click Upload. 

Note: Only GL codes pertaining to rent, protection plan/insurance, merchandise, auction, deposits, fees, and tax should be included. You don't need to include payroll, employee compensation, computer equipment, etc. If you have both Storage and Parking, a GL code for each will most likely be used. 

• If the details specified in the sheet do not match the options available in the Category, Type, or Subtype columns, you will need to select the appropriate option(s) to proceed. If a subtype is unavailable in the list, please contact the customer support team to get it added. 

Note: Any and All Fees subtypes are equivalent and can be selected based on your preference.

• You will now see that the Chart of Accounts contains all the details of the accounts that you specified in the spreadsheet. 
• You can change the uploaded details anytime by clicking Edit Chart of Accounts and modifying the details. You can remove an account from the list by clicking the corresponding X icon. Then, click Save.  

Setting up the Export Settings

It is essential for you to set up the Export settings in Hummingbird for managing and transferring financial data between different accounting systems or for backup purposes. Expand Export Settings from the Accounting Settings page and provide the required information: 

• Record Cashbook data for Both Books - Recording cashbook data for both accrual and cash accounting i.e. capturing the transaction from both perspectives. For example, your property provides a service, and you receive payment in cash for services to be performed later. This scenario involves recognizing both the cash receipt and the accrual of revenue.

Here, you are capturing the cash aspect of the transaction while also recognizing the accrual of revenue that corresponds to the services you're obligated to provide.

Note: This is only applicable to Yardi export.  

• Yardi Export Reference Column - A column in the export file that serves as a unique identifier for the records being exported. This column is often used to link or reference the exported data back to specific records within the Yardi system.
• Yardi Export Transaction Number Format - The number format associated with transactions in the exported data. You can enable a unique number format for each transaction or a new sequence or numbering pattern with a starting point of 1. 
• Yardi Financial Journal Display Type - The display type for financial journal entries in the exported file, for example, standard JE display type. 

You can modify these settings by clicking the corresponding Edit icon. 

Setting up your Accounting Templates 

Hummingbird provides you with the ability to set up your own accounting template to record financial transactions and prepare financial statements systematically, which, in turn, streamline the accounting process and ensure accuracy. 

You can view the existing Accounting templates and make changes to them by expanding Templates from the Accounting Settings page. 

To create a new accounting template, follow the steps below:

Expand Templates from the Account Settings page and click Add New Template. 

Provide the General information pertaining to the accounting template on the following page:

1. Template Name - The name of the accounting template.
2. Accounting Type - The method or system used to record and report financial transactions within your business. 
   • Cash Book - Records transactions only when cash is exchanged. It focuses on actual cash inflows and outflows. It is a straightforward way to track actual cash movements and is suitable for properties with relatively simple financial transactions, where cash payments and receipts are the primary means of exchange.
   • Accrual Book - Records revenues and expenses when they are earned or incurred, regardless of when the cash is received or paid. It provides a more accurate representation of a company's financial position and performance over a specific period.
   • Double Book - Records each financial transaction with at least two equal, offsetting, and opposite entries - debits and credits. It is a comprehensive method that ensures the accounting equation is balanced for every transaction. Double Book accounting type is compatible with both cash and accrual accounting methods. 
3. Enable Properties - Select the property you wish to associate with this accounting template by clicking the corresponding checkbox. You can make multiple selections or select them all in one go by clicking Select All. 

Click Save & Continue. 

• Set the Default Chart of Accounts (COA) for your accounting template. You can associate an account with the default subtypes mentioned here by selecting it from the Choose Account drop-down list. 

Click Save and then Next. 

• Format your Journal Template by associating a GL account with Credit and Debit for various events like Posting a payment, refunds, or payment with credits, etc. 

To create a journal template for an event, click Add from the corresponding ellipsis. 

• Select a GL Account for the Credit and Debit associated with this event. This ensures that each transaction follows the principles of double-entry accounting, i.e. every transaction affects at least two accounts, with one account debited and another credited.

Note: To know more about the credit and debit associations with a journal template, click Download Journal Template. You can also refer to the Journal Template Guide located at the top right corner of the Accounting Setup page.

• You also have the ability to make exceptions to the GL account details specified in case of certain circumstances or to comply with specific reporting requirements. Click +Add Override to create GL account-related exceptions and then provide the details, including the Product Type and Product Name. The GL account will automatically populate based on the selected details, though you can choose a different account from the drop-down list. Then, click Save. 

• Click Continue to confirm saving the journal event details. 

• Similarly, associate the GL accounts for credit and debits associated with the other events and click Close. 

Your newly created journal template will appear in the Templates section of Accounting Settings.