A proper estate finance handover checklist should allow a new EXCO to know exactly how much money the estate has, what residents still owe, which bills remain unpaid and who currently controls the bank accounts.
Changing committee members should not mean starting the estate's financial records again.
The outgoing treasurer should hand over a reconciled financial position, supporting documents, bank access arrangements, resident balances, project funds and outstanding obligations so the incoming team can continue from a verified starting point.
What should be included in an estate finance handover?
Start with a written financial handover pack.
It should contain:
- estate bank accounts;
- bank balances;
- current signatories;
- latest bank statements;
- last completed reconciliation;
- dues billed;
- dues collected;
- resident arrears;
- prepaid credits;
- active instalment plans;
- unpaid supplier invoices;
- contractor balances;
- special levy balances;
- sinking or reserve funds;
- ongoing projects;
- refunds awaiting action;
- disputed transactions;
- and the latest approved budget.
The outgoing EXCO should also identify the period covered by the records.
For example:
Financial records handed over through 31 December 2026.
That gives the incoming administration a definite starting date.
Do not hand over only the bank balance.
An estate with N15 million in the bank may appear financially strong until the new EXCO discovers that:
- N8 million belongs to a road project;
- N3 million is owed to the security company;
- N2 million is prepaid dues for the following year;
- and several contractor invoices remain unpaid.
The bank balance and the amount actually available for ordinary spending are not necessarily the same thing.
The estate financial report for the AGM should provide much of the summary information needed for this stage.
How should the incoming EXCO verify the bank balance?
Do not accept a screenshot of the account balance as the final handover.
Obtain the proper bank statement covering the agreed handover date.
Then compare it with the estate's financial records.
The incoming treasurer should verify:
Opening balance
The balance carried forward from the previous reconciliation.
Collections
Dues, levies and other estate income received.
Payments
Money paid to contractors, staff, suppliers and service providers.
Bank charges
Charges or other deductions appearing on the account.
Transfers between estate accounts
These should not accidentally be counted as new income.
Closing balance
The balance shown by the bank.
The estate's ledger and bank should then be reconciled.
If the accounting record says N18.5 million should exist but the bank shows N17.9 million, do not simply carry N17.9 million forward.
Identify the N600,000 difference.
It may be:
- an unrecorded payment;
- bank charges;
- duplicate accounting entry;
- pending transaction;
- refund;
- or an error.
Use the monthly estate payment reconciliation guide before signing off on the handover.
The new EXCO should inherit a reconciled starting balance, not somebody else's unresolved difference.
What happens to resident dues, arrears and credits?
Household balances are one of the most important parts of the handover.
The outgoing team should provide a resident ledger showing:
- household;
- charges raised;
- payments received;
- arrears;
- prepaid amounts;
- approved exemptions;
- credits;
- instalment arrangements;
- and disputed balances.
Do not hand over only a list called debtors.
The incoming team needs to understand how each balance was calculated.
For example, House 35 may show N400,000 outstanding.
But perhaps N250,000 is an undisputed service charge while N150,000 relates to a levy the resident has formally challenged.
Those should not automatically be treated as the same thing.
Likewise, a resident who prepaid N500,000 should not lose that credit because the treasurer changed.
Payment evidence should remain attached to the account history.
Our estate payment receipts and records guide explains the records that should support those balances.
Any long-standing arrears should also be categorised.
For example:
- recently overdue;
- active payment plan;
- disputed;
- long-term arrears;
- legal recovery;
- or balance requiring investigation.
That allows the new EXCO to continue the existing recovery process rather than sending every resident a new demand.
For older unpaid balances, use the estate arrears recovery guide.
How should unpaid bills and project funds be handed over?
The new EXCO needs to know not only what residents owe the estate but what the estate owes other people.
List all outstanding obligations.
These may include:
- security company invoices;
- waste contractor;
- electricity;
- generator servicing;
- diesel suppliers;
- plumbers;
- electricians;
- facility manager;
- software subscriptions;
- insurance;
- project contractors;
- and other unpaid commitments.
For every significant item, identify:
- supplier;
- amount;
- invoice date;
- reason for payment;
- approval status;
- amount already paid;
- outstanding amount;
- and expected payment date.
Special projects need separate attention.
Suppose residents contributed N30 million toward road reconstruction.
The outgoing EXCO should show:
Amount billed
Amount collected
Amount paid to contractor
Outstanding contractor balance
Amount still in the project fund
Project status
Do not mix an unfinished road levy into ordinary operating money simply because management is changing.
The same applies to:
- transformer funds;
- security upgrades;
- borehole projects;
- gate automation;
- CCTV;
- and other one-off levies.
Use the estate special levy guide to keep these balances identifiable.
The incoming EXCO should understand which part of the bank balance is already committed before approving new spending.
Which bank access and signatories need to change?
Financial handover is incomplete until control of the accounts changes.
Review:
- bank signatories;
- online banking administrators;
- maker and checker roles;
- authorised phone numbers;
- transaction alerts;
- tokens;
- banking devices;
- payment-platform administrators;
- accounting-system users;
- and any treasury-related email accounts.
Former committee members should not retain financial authority simply because nobody updated the mandate.
The incoming EXCO should contact the bank and follow its process for changing authorised officers.
Do not simply share the old treasurer's password.
Each authorised user should have proper access under the estate's approved banking arrangement.
The association should also review transaction limits and approval rules.
Our estate bank account and treasury controls guide explains why the person initiating a payment should not automatically have unrestricted authority to approve everything alone.
For associations registered as Incorporated Trustees, CAMA 2020 requires accounting records capable of explaining the association's transactions and financial position. Those records must include money received and spent as well as assets and liabilities. The Act also requires those accounting records to be preserved for six years.
The CAC annual return for Incorporated Trustees also requests information including the association's bankers and financial-year-end bank balances.
Not every estate association uses the Incorporated Trustee structure, so management should confirm its own legal and reporting obligations.
When should the financial handover be signed off?
Do not complete the process with a simple message saying handover done.
Use a written handover record.
The outgoing and incoming representatives should confirm the important balances and documents transferred.
The final handover should state:
- handover date;
- bank balance;
- reconciled balance;
- total resident arrears;
- prepaid credits;
- outstanding liabilities;
- special-project balances;
- reserve or sinking fund balance;
- unresolved financial issues;
- documents transferred;
- and access still awaiting change.
Any unresolved difference should be written down.
For example:
N150,000 transfer received on 29 December remains unidentified.
Or:
Security contractor invoice for December awaiting final confirmation.
That is better than quietly carrying uncertainty into the new administration.
Copies of the signed handover should remain with the estate's permanent records.
The incoming team should then verify the numbers before accepting full responsibility.
A handover is not about proving that the previous committee did everything perfectly.
It is about creating a clear point where one administration ends and another begins.
How does Kompound make estate finance handover easier?
This is where an estate finance handover checklist becomes much shorter when the financial records have already been maintained digitally.
Kompound's current dues system keeps household charges, payments, exemptions and prepaid credits documented in the platform. It also provides statements designed to keep the estate's payment records balanced.
Kompound specifically describes EXCO handover as one of the problems this structure is intended to solve: every charge and payment remains documented so the incoming administration does not have to reconstruct the books from old spreadsheets and transfer screenshots.
The platform currently includes:
- automatic dues billing;
- one-off levies;
- special projects;
- payments;
- statements;
- exemptions;
- prepaid credits;
- reminders;
- and reporting.
That means the incoming EXCO can inherit an existing household payment history rather than creating a new spreadsheet from zero.
Kompound also states that the dues collected belong to the estate and that it does not deduct a percentage from them. The software subscription is separate from the estate's treasury.
The bank account still needs to be handed over separately.
Signatories still need changing.
Invoices still need preserving.
The bank still needs reconciliation.
Kompound does not replace those treasury controls.
Its role is to make the resident billing and payment side easier to transfer.
A good financial handover should allow the new treasurer to answer these questions immediately:
How much money does the estate have?
How much of it is already committed?
How much do residents still owe?
Which residents have credits?
What bills remain unpaid?
What project funds are being held?
Who currently controls the bank?
Are the records reconciled?
If the incoming EXCO cannot answer those questions after the handover, the handover is not finished.