How to Leverage Automation with Housing Finance Software 

Connect business platforms to facilitate real-time insights 

Housing associations rely on robust integrations between their finance system and housing management system (HMS) to unlock efficiency. Integrations between these two systems bring together financial, asset, housing, and compliance management into a single source of truth. 

By connecting various business management systems, finance leaders provide their teams with a central hub of operational data that supports real-time decision-making and strategy planning. Finance solution and housing management system integrations eliminate: 

• Task duplication 

• Excessive manual workarounds 

• Error-prone spreadsheet reporting 

Access to live consolidated data provides an accurate and up-to-date view of rental income, arrears, repair spending, asset performance, and a total transactional view of a housing association’s affordable housing offering. Ultimately, connected platforms enable housing associations to operate more efficiently, respond proactively to risks, and improve tenant outcomes. 

Automate accounts payable to streamline daily tasks 

Like many social housing providers, Apex required an efficient accounts payable process, which was a key reason the organisation chose Xledger as its software provider. By automating this process, Apex can reallocate the time previously spent on reconciliation to more value-added tasks, such as analysis and strategic support. In the longer term, this reallocation of resources, enabled by automation, ensures that housing associations operate more strategically with better forecasting and accurate reporting. 

Support decision-making with powerful reporting tools 

Decision-making without powerful reporting tools can prove tricky for almost all finance teams. Without automated reporting tools, finance teams must manually reconcile data from all other departments and input it into formula-heavy spreadsheets. 

However, by leveraging housing finance software with built-in reporting tools, housing finance leaders can eliminate time-consuming manual reconciliation and free finance for value-adding analysis. In the long term, this encourages agile leadership decision-making and empowers budget holders with the data they need to manage their budgets effectively. 

Unlike the private sector, the housing sector is subject to stringent fund reporting demands. Automation is crucial for tracking assets, covenant compliance, social impact, and other investments that support operations. A cloud finance solution provider that continuously develops its product can alleviate this reporting demand through automated standardised reports, easy no-code report writing tools, and automated audit trails that track all transactional evidence. 

Taking your steps towards efficiency 

 As your housing association merges, grows, or acquires new units, your finance function will feel the strain. Automating cloud accounting software ensures that your finance team can work with a system configured to support their daily processes, no matter the size of your organisation.  

Future-proof your housing association, invest in smart software, and improve the lives of those in your community. Get in touch with one of our dedicated team members to start your journey towards streamlined financial management today.