Academy/Community Management Companies
Manager performance metrics
A short list of numbers beats a long scorecard nobody reads.
Manager performance metrics are the numbers a board tracks to hold its management company accountable: things like missed call percentage, response time, and first contact resolution, plus the financial reports due at every meeting. Start with a handful tied to what the board actually wants improved, not a long scorecard copied from somewhere else.
Start with a few metrics, not a scorecard
A new board often wants to measure everything at once. Practitioner guidance treats that as a mistake: build the habit first, then add metrics.
"Tracking KPIs is a lot like exercise. You don't set out to run a marathon your first month."
Source: How Community Association Management Companies Can Implement Metrics to Measure Performance, CAI HOAresources
One starter set covers call handling: missed call percentage, customer satisfaction rate, average call time, number of calls per day, and first contact resolution. These five are one source's illustrative starting point, not an industry-standard scorecard. Pick metrics that match what your board actually wants to hold the manager accountable for.
Financial reports are a metric too, and they are due every meeting
Call metrics are optional. Financial reporting is not. Practitioner guidance is specific about the minimum that should be on the table at every single meeting.
"At every board meeting, review the income and expense statement, the balance sheet, and the aging report."
Source: HOA Financial Reporting Guide, EffortlessHOA
A delinquency aging report belongs at every meeting; a full budget-to-actual comparison is recommended monthly or quarterly. If your manager only produces one of these, that gap itself is a metric worth flagging.
Watch for the signal metrics will not catch
Call times and delinquency reports measure operations. They will not catch a manager who has quietly taken over decisions the board should be making.
"a disengaged, or cowed, board can allow management companies to assume too much control over enforcement, communications, and even governance decisions."
Source: California HOA Management Company Red Flags Fact Sheet, MBK Chapman
If a manager is inserting itself into recalls, elections, or board decisions, that is not a performance problem to score, it is a delegation problem to fix. No metric substitutes for the board actually reading what it is sent and asking questions about it.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your board is setting up manager performance tracking for the first time. What fits the guidance above?
Which report should appear at every single board meeting, not just monthly or quarterly?
A manager starts deciding, on its own, how an upcoming board election will be run. What does this signal?
- How Community Association Management Companies Can Implement Metrics to Measure Performance, CAI HOAresources
- HOA Financial Reporting Guide, EffortlessHOA
- California HOA Management Company Red Flags Fact Sheet, MBK Chapman
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Community Management Companies
Next, see what a manager should be handing your board in writing every month.
There is no universal scorecard. Which metrics matter, how often reports are due, and whether the management contract sets specific service levels vary by contract and, for financial reporting, can also depend on state law.