CAM Reconciliation Services
CAM Reconciliations Built From the Lease, Not From a Formula
Recoverable pools assembled per lease, trued up against actual spend, and delivered with a tenant statement that traces back to invoices and lease language. Retail, office, industrial, and mixed-use.
Because the hard part of a CAM reconciliation was never the arithmetic. It is that fourteen tenants in one building can have fourteen different definitions of what is recoverable.
Year-end true-up
Suite 240 · 4.8% pro rata
Every line traceable to an invoice and a lease clause. Illustrative figures.
Six Lease Terms That Change the Answer
Why One Formula Across the Rent Roll Does Not Work
A CAM reconciliation that applies the same treatment to every tenant in a building will be wrong for most of them. It is usually wrong in the landlord's favour on some suites and against it on others, which is why the errors survive so long: the totals look reasonable and only the tenant who reads their lease closely ever objects.
- Pro rata share
- Denominator by gross leasable area, by occupied area, or by a stated fixed percentage. The same expense pool splits differently under each, and the lease decides which one applies.
- Caps
- Cumulative or non-cumulative, compounding or non-compounding. Four combinations, four different answers from identical expenses.
- Base year
- Common in office leases. The tenant pays only the increase over a stated base, which means the base itself has to be calculated consistently every year it is referenced.
- Exclusions
- Capital expenditure, leasing commissions, tenant improvements for other tenants, landlord's own overhead, and any carve-out negotiated into that specific lease.
- Gross-up
- Variable expenses restated to a stated occupancy so vacancy does not distort the recovery. Applies to variable costs only.
- Administrative fee
- A percentage on top of recoverable costs, with the lease deciding whether it applies to the full pool, to a subset, or after exclusions are removed.
The CAM Year, End to End
Estimate, Collect, True Up, Reset
Reconciliation is a year-end event that is won during the year. Expenses coded to the wrong recoverable category in March become a reconciliation you cannot support in February.
- 1Set estimates
Next year's recoverable budget built by category, tenant estimates calculated on lease terms, and monthly billings set so the true-up is a correction rather than a surprise.
- 2Code through the year
Operating costs coded to recoverable and non-recoverable categories as they are incurred, which is the difference between a reconciliation you can support and one you have to reconstruct.
- 3Reconcile
Pool assembled, exclusions removed, gross-up applied where the lease allows, caps and base years applied per tenant, and each share calculated on its own terms.
- 4Bill and defend
Tenant statements issued with supporting detail, shortfalls billed and overages credited, and audit requests answered from documentation that already exists.
Built to Survive a Tenant Audit
Most commercial leases give the tenant a window to examine the reconciliation, and a national tenant will use it. The reconciliations that fail an audit are not usually the ones with bad math. They are the ones where nobody can produce the invoice behind a line, or point to the clause that made a cost recoverable.
We assemble the support as the reconciliation is built, not after a tenant asks, so responding to an audit request is a matter of sending what already exists.
Schedule a CallWhat you receive
- Recoverable expense pool by category, tied to the general ledger
- Per-tenant calculation showing pro rata, exclusions, gross-up, and cap
- Tenant statements ready to issue, with supporting detail attached
- Billing or credit entries posted in your property management system
- Next year's estimates recalculated off the actual result
- An audit file that answers the questions before they are asked
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CAM reconciliation?
Through the year, commercial tenants pay estimated monthly amounts toward common area maintenance and other recoverable operating costs. After year end the landlord compares those estimates against what was actually spent, calculates each tenant's real share under their lease, and either bills the shortfall or credits the overage. That comparison and the statement that supports it is the CAM reconciliation.
Why is CAM reconciliation so difficult?
Because the arithmetic is easy and the lease terms are not. Every lease can define the recoverable pool differently, and a single property can have a dozen variations running at once: different exclusions, different caps, different base years, different pro rata denominators, different administrative fee treatments. The work is reading each lease and applying what it actually says, rather than applying one formula across the rent roll.
What is a CAM cap and how does it change the calculation?
A cap limits how much a tenant's recoverable costs can increase year over year. Caps can be cumulative or non-cumulative and compounding or non-compounding, and those four combinations produce four different numbers from the same expenses. Getting the cap type wrong is one of the most common sources of a CAM billing that has to be reissued.
What does gross-up mean in a CAM reconciliation?
When a building is not fully occupied, variable costs like janitorial run lower than they would at full occupancy. A gross-up provision restates those variable expenses to what they would have been at a stated occupancy, usually 95 percent, so the tenants in place are not underpaying and the landlord is not absorbing vacancy through the recovery. It applies only to variable costs, never to fixed ones, and only when the lease provides for it.
Can you handle a tenant audit or a disputed billing?
Yes. Commercial leases commonly give tenants a window to audit the reconciliation, and a billing that cannot be traced back to invoices and lease language will not survive one. We prepare the reconciliation so the support exists from the start, and we work through tenant questions and audit requests with the documentation already assembled.
Which software and property types do you work in?
Retail, office, industrial, and mixed-use portfolios in Yardi, MRI, AppFolio, Entrata, RealPage, and Rent Manager. We work inside your instance, using your lease abstracts where they exist, and we can build the abstracts if they do not.
Where This Fits
CAM sits at the join between lease administration and commercial accounting. It depends on accurate abstracts going in and correct expense coding all year.
Experts In All Property Types
Residential, commercial and everything in between. The asset class changes what the books have to prove, and our teams are staffed accordingly.
- Single-Family
- Multifamily
- Student Housing
- Affordable Housing
- Community AssociationsSee the page
- CommercialSee the page
Check Out What Our Clients Have To Say About Us
Property Managers, Investors & Owner Operators
Came from a bookkeeper who did not know real estate
Following a series of erroneous financials from my previous bookkeeper, who lacked expertise in real estate, it's been truly remarkable to receive not only accurate financials on a consistent basis but also proactive advice without prompting. The REA team is a game-changer in real estate accounting!
Real-estate-only specialists
As REA exclusively specializes in Real Estate, I rest easy knowing my financials are precise every month while saving money at the same time, an invaluable benefit.
Handed over the whole accounting function
I highly recommend Real Estate Accounting (REA) services from this group. They truly are great and have helped us tremendously at a time we needed it the most. I felt very comfortable giving up all my accounting responsibilities to this team and I'm still glad I made the decision to work with this group. Nothing less than an amazing experience!
Day-to-day financial operations
REA and team have been nothing but excellent helping our firm with its day to day financial needs. Their expertise, professionalism, and timeliness have made our lives so much easier. We foresee a long relationship with REA and team.
Onboarding and responsiveness
Real Estate Accounting truly is a special company. They helped as if they were a part of our company, with the concern and caution as an employee would have, but even more. They quickly ascertained our needs and developed an effective team to help with our accounting needs. They were extremely responsive and always accurate. I would recommend their services to anyone who needs help with their property management accounting.
Smaller portfolio, still looked after
Adam the owner took a personal interest in my situation and was willing to work with me to see if his company was a good fit. I may be too small for them but I would highly recommend them to anyone considering a bookkeeper for their property management business.
230+
Property Accountants
30M+
Commercial Sq. Ft.
Up to 50%
Saved vs In-House
Every month
On-Time Close
Get Your CAM Reconciliations Off Your Desk
Schedule a call and we will walk one property's lease stack with you, show you where the recoveries are being calculated on the wrong terms, and scope the annual reconciliation.