01

What California requires of the books

From the statutes, as the legal corpus holds them. The verified date is the day the value was last read against the statute's own text.

RequirementValueStatuteVerified
CPA Annual Review Revenue Threshold $75,000 Cal. Civ. Code §5305 Jul 4, 2026
Financial Review Distribution DeadlineDays after the close of the fiscal year within which a copy of the §5305 review must reach the members. Quote taken verbatim from the second §5305 fact below. 120 days Cal. Civ. Code §5305 Jul 4, 2026
Records Response DeadlineCurrent fiscal year records: within 10 business days. Prior two years: within 30 calendar days. 10 business days Cal. Civ. Code §5210 May 14, 2026
Records Retention FloorTwo prior fiscal years plus the current fiscal year. Minutes of member and board meetings are subject to permanent inspection rights. 2 years Cal. Civ. Code §5210 May 14, 2026
Maximum Regular Assessment Increase Without Member Vote 20 percent Cal. Civ. Code §5605 §5605(b)(1) Jul 4, 2026
Davis-Stirling Reserve Study CadenceCalifornia Davis-Stirling Act requires a reserve study at least once every three years (Cal. Civ. Code §5550) with annual review. 3 years Cal. Civ. Code §5550 (a) May 24, 2026
Reserve Study Inspection IntervalMaximum interval between visual site inspections for reserve study purposes. 3 years Cal. Civ. Code §5550 Jul 4, 2026
Maximum Special Assessment Without Member Vote (% of Budget) 5 percent Cal. Civ. Code §5605 §5605(b)(2) Jul 4, 2026

8 of the 20 statutory thresholds the corpus holds for California concern the books. The full list, with every citation.

02

What arrives by the 10th

The books, any hour
The board and the manager read the ledger as it stands, not as of the last statement. Read access, around the clock.
Balance sheet
Every fund, every bank account, every receivable, as of month end.
Income statement against budget
The month and the year to date beside the budget the board adopted.
Bank reconciliation
Every account, to the statement, with the items in transit listed.
Delinquency by unit
Who owes what and for how long.
The check register
Every payment that left, who approved it, and what it paid.

In January, the annual statement package and the CPA's schedules, numbered and hashed. We never hold signing authority over funds. Bookkeeping is not an audit, review, or attestation engagement.

03

How it starts

Send the last balance sheet and bank statement. We write back within two days with what we see, every line a number from your own file, free, whether or not you hire us. If the books are clean, we say so, and the second opinion is the service. The read is also how we choose: we take on an association only where the read says its books can be kept to this standard, and we keep ten at a time.

Setup follows a cutover date: opening balances from the bank statements and the owner records, the chart of accounts, every owner's ledger, the first month reconciled. The statements arrive by the 10th from then on.