Libertas Companies

LIBERTAS-FARCTORBUILDING-cover
Libertas Companies enlists EFG to help them build its database and head its accounting department
THE COMPANY

Libertas Companies was founded in Portland, Oregon in 2019 by managing partner Craig Firpo, along with partner Cameron Johnson. Firpo and Johnson have over 55 years of combined experience in value-add real estate. Since inception, the Libertas team has worked extensively in acquisitions and due diligence, debt and equity sourcing, asset management and leasing.

What distinguishes Libertas Companies from other real estate investment groups is its focus on improving the lives of its stakeholders, and its philanthropic culture. Libertas Companies donates 25% of its profits to specific charities that align with their mission to help people.

“Everything we do is inspired by our desire to improve the lives of others. We maintain this focus by prioritizing the outcomes of our investors, tenants, employees, charitable partners, and stakeholders. This is accomplished through our investment in value-add real estate.”

– Craig Firpo, managing partner, Libertas Companies

Prior to founding Libertas Companies, Firpo had worked closely with Eng Flanders Group while he was with San Francisco-based Swift Realty Partners. When he and Johnson founded Libertas Companies, he called upon Eng Flanders Group once again to help him successfully set up the new company’s business platform and manage its accounting department.

THE CHALLENGE
Incorporating Eng Flanders Group as Libertas Companies’ outsourced accounting department while migrating it to a new platform at the very early stages of its business.

Due to plans of expansion and a need for a more robust accounting platform that arose very soon after starting its business on Yardi Breeze, Libertas Companies quickly found that it needed to upgrade from Yardi Breeze to Yardi Voyager. Eng Flanders Group would extract Libertas’ Yardi Breeze database with a portfolio of 4 commercial properties, over 40 leases, and 8 corporate entities for migration into a new Yardi Voyager platform. Once the migration was complete, the new Voyager platform had to be set up and configured to accommodate Libertas’ accounting processes and procedures so that Eng Flanders Group could take over as its accounting services provider.

This included the following elements and parameters:

      • Migration of Yardi Breeze data to the new Yardi Voyager database, including user roles and security, property and commercial configuration, and accounting settings
      • Building the commercial chart of accounts and custom Account Trees based on Libertas Companies’ accounting practices and policies as established through collaboration with Eng Flanders Group
      • Setup of core data: Banks, owners/corporate entities, properties, vendors, tenants and leases
      • Voyager had to be set up to enable ownership entities to be consolidated in a single database while facilitating intercompany transactions.
      • Tenant AR detailed by individual transaction and date
      • Complete historical GLs, brought in as their original transaction types
      • The Yardi Breeze database had out of balance issues on the general ledger that had to be resolved prior to converting to Yardi Voyager.
      • All bank accounts had to be reconciled by the accounting cutoff date to maintain a smooth transition to Yardi Voyager.
      • Eng Flanders Group had to concurrently assist Libertas Companies in migrating to its new platform while preparing to take over as its accounting department at the same time.
      • With Libertas Companies based out of Portland, Oregon and Eng Flanders Group based out of Los Angeles, all tasks and meetings had to be done virtually. This included database cleanup and preparation, the Breeze to Voyager migration, and daily coordination with the Accounting Services department.
THE EFG SOLUTION

Help Libertas Companies achieve its goals to facilitate growth and expansion through due diligence, clean data migration, organized configuration, and proper accounting procedures and services

  • Eng Flanders Group ensured a clean migration by addressing data and out-of-balance issues prior to extracting data out of Yardi Breeze and transferring to Yardi Voyager
  • The Consulting and Accounting departments at Eng Flanders Group worked side by side in coordinating crucial deadlines, validating the new database, and setting up proper user permissions and workflows.
  • Migration and Voyager setup was coordinated in such a way that Libertas Companies was able to focus on their day-to-day operations without significant disruptions during the multiple projects.

Transition to Eng Flanders Group Accounting Services:

  • Coming on board in the early stages of Libertas Companies’ business was advantageous. Eng Flanders Group was able to work with Libertas’ team to develop the best accounting practices and procedures for the company’s operations, which would help facilitate growth and establish the reliability and consistency of the company’s financials.
  • A monthly accounting calendar was created, and tasks were delegated for Eng Flanders Group to receive all pertinent financial documents each month.
  • Yardi Voyager processes were refined and automations were adopted.

Accounting Services present-day

  • Monthly bank reconciliations & financial review
  • Lease Amendment processing
  • Monthly commercial billing and tenant bill-backs
  • Yardi administration of property, unit, user and security settings
THE OUTCOME

Libertas Companies was able to successfully migrate its business over to its new and more sophisticated Yardi Voyager property management platform, while concurrently having their daily accounting tasks and deadlines met without significant disruption. Three years later, Eng Flanders Group and Libertas Companies continue to work closely together each week on accounting duties, database projects, and other Yardi Voyager related projects.
“If Libertas Companies is not successful, we cannot fulfill our mission to build value for our investors and improve the lives of people through our business. Eng Flanders Group is an integral part of ensuring our success, and we are glad they are part of our team.”

– Craig Firpo, Managing partner, Libertas Companies