Key Summary
- Property accounting can become a bottleneck during tax season, especially when internal bandwidth is limited.
- Teams often face difficulty scaling financial support during hiring freezes or organizational slowdowns.
- Outsourcing the property accountant role is one way to maintain quality and consistency under pressure.
- Connext provides this service through its Independent Contractor model, offering dedicated talent that integrates into your workflow.
- This approach supports teams managing complex property portfolios and high-volume reporting periods.
Tax Season and Property Accounting
Each year, tax season introduces a familiar set of challenges for finance teams in real estate and property management. What begins as routine financial operations becomes a heavy, deadline-driven effort involving reconciliations, audits, depreciation schedules, and reporting for multiple properties or entities.
The pace picks up, and even experienced teams can find it difficult to keep up. Accuracy remains essential, but the volume of tasks increases. If a team is already operating at full capacity, the pressure builds quickly.
In some cases, companies consider adding temporary support. In others, hiring is restricted or paused. Either way, bringing on new full-time staff often isn’t the preferred or feasible option. That’s where outsourcing becomes a viable consideration.
That’s where outsourcing becomes a viable consideration—and increasingly, a strategic one.
In fact, by late 2024, many real estate organizations are now turning to outsourced solutions to manage tax preparation, investor reporting, and property-level accounting—especially in the face of talent shortages and rising workload complexity.
Why Property Accounting Requires Dedicated Focus
Property accounting involves specific tasks that go beyond general ledger management. From rent roll reconciliation and lease amortization to capital project tracking and entity-level reporting, this work requires attention to detail and familiarity with real estate accounting norms.
Managing these tasks effectively calls for someone who understands how to apply accounting practices in a property or real estate context. It also helps to have experience supporting audits and producing tax-ready financial statements.
Recent data shows that outsourced property accounting can be significantly more cost-effective—as low as $6–$8 per agent per month—compared to the $440–$490 it typically costs to handle in-house, offering a scalable advantage during busy tax periods.
When deadlines are firm and internal resources are limited, offloading this kind of work to a qualified external partner can help keep operations stable.
Capacity Constraints and Shifting Workloads
In-house teams are often well equipped to handle regular monthly cycles. However, during high-volume periods—such as year-end close or audit season—those same teams may begin to stretch thin. Senior team members may find themselves taking on tasks they’d typically delegate. Reviews may be delayed. Focus begins to shift away from analysis toward simply keeping the books moving.
This can result in longer close timelines and increased stress across the finance team. It may also cause issues later if reports are incomplete or inconsistencies appear during audit.
When headcount is frozen or the budget for hiring is restricted, managers often have few options. Bringing in external support under a flexible engagement model gives teams a way to stay ahead of reporting demands without overextending staff or delaying output.
A Practical Option: Outsourcing the Property Accountant Role
Outsourcing doesn’t require companies to rethink their entire finance structure. It offers a way to fill in gaps and manage workload without needing to add employees. Teams gain access to experienced accountants who can support recurring tasks, seasonal demands, or long-term gaps.
Through Connext’s Independent Contractor model, property accountants can be integrated into existing workflows—working within client systems, following client schedules, and supporting tasks like reconciliations, documentation, and month-end close.
This model offers flexibility for organizations that need to scale financial execution without expanding internal teams. It aligns well with cyclical business needs and provides additional support during the times it’s needed most.
What Outsourced Property Accountants Typically Handle
The property accounting role often includes tasks such as:
- Bank and credit card reconciliations
- Rent roll and lease reconciliation
- Reporting by entity or property
- Tracking capital expenditures
- Supporting monthly close processes
- Managing fixed assets and depreciation
- Preparing for audits
- Assisting with accounts payable and ledger accuracy
These responsibilities require attention to detail and a solid understanding of real estate accounting practices. Delegating them to dedicated support helps internal teams stay focused on oversight and strategic work.
This type of setup works well for teams that have predictable cycles, such as quarterly closes or year-end audits. It also helps when backlogs appear unexpectedly or project-based work needs to be completed within a defined window.
Why This Approach Fits Current Conditions
Many organizations today are under pressure to manage costs while maintaining operational quality. Finance teams may have had to delay hiring plans, restructure teams, or take on additional responsibilities outside their original scope.
Under those conditions, having access to contractor-based support becomes valuable. It gives teams breathing room and allows critical tasks to move forward.
The Independent Contractor model is particularly well-suited to teams that:
- Have paused hiring but still need accounting support
- Experience seasonal spikes in workload
- Want to avoid delays in financial reporting or audits
- Need support for entity-level financials or property reconciliations
Looking to learn more about how outsourced CPAs can support your finance team? Explore how Connext helps companies hire Certified Public Accountants.
For firms managing complex real estate portfolios, see how offshoring private equity accounting can streamline property-level finance and investor reporting.
Conclusion
Tax season tends to place real estate and property finance teams under considerable pressure. When internal capacity is limited, and headcount isn’t an option, the work still needs to be done. Outsourcing specific accounting roles like Property Accountant is one way to keep things moving without overburdening internal teams.
This approach gives teams the option to stay consistent, meet deadlines, and maintain financial clarity—whether during tax season or throughout the year.
Organizations exploring this model can start small and adjust based on need. With the right structure in place, the result is often smoother reporting cycles and less disruption during peak periods.
Schedule a meeting with us for an assessment of your needs, transparent pricing, and proposed action plan.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Yes. The Independent Contractor model from Connext allows teams to bring in support without expanding internal headcount. This can be helpful during hiring freezes or when approvals for new roles are on hold.
Connext assigns contractors with relevant industry experience. For property accounting, that typically includes professionals with exposure to multi-entity reporting, lease accounting, and capital project tracking.
Contractors work directly in client systems, follow client workflows, and report to internal managers. They become part of the day-to-day finance operations, with clear deliverables and timelines.
Yes. The contractor engagement structure allows teams to scale support up or down based on changing business needs, close cycles, or project timelines.
