WORK RELATED SELF EDUCATION EXPENSES
Esate agents Trust account audit is an important and a vital compliance activity that retains faith in the money management aspect of a trust account maintained by Real Estate agents and conveyancers.
We carry out numerous estate agent trust account audits each year and hence offer a fixed fee service and also a quick turnaround.
Our fee is $499 incl GST for a single estate agents trust account audit.
We can also organize extensions in case you need one. If this is the first year for your agency then we can provide you with a free compliance checklist that will cover all aspects of the audit we carry out to ensure you understand the compliance requirements well in advance. We can also provide recommendations if you are looking to improve your internal processes.
The compliance activity: Money is deposited by prospective buyers in the estate agent’s sales trust accounts and is held within the trust account for such a time that a condition of release is met. The annual compliance activity associated with the Estate Agents Trust account audit, ensures that the real estate agent is following prescribed guidelines and the auditor assesses the compliance of the trust accounts based on these guidelines.
The money flow: The standard process for the money flow is; the buyer deposits money in the trust account of the estate agent, sometimes pending various conditions as part of a signed contractual arrangement between the buyer and the seller. The Real Estate Agent, issues a deposit receipt for the money thus received and enters the transaction as a receipt in the vendor’s ledger associated with the sales property. Sometimes a condition of release of the deposit is met earlier after an agreement between the two parties (buyer and the seller), while the general condition of release of deposit monies is met only at the time of settlement.
The agent draws out their share from the monies deposited before reimbursing the rest to the vendor, sometimes sending this over to the vendor’s solicitor depending upon mutual agreement between the parties to the contract.The agent’s drawing out of their share is based on a written engagement authority between the seller(vendor) and the agent.The agent may also have a marketing cost paid out to third parties.
All of the above transactions are documented in the property ledger and a statement of account and the resulting tax invoice is a result of the agent’s commission from the transaction.
The annual compliance activity examines this complete arrangement between the parties and then ensures that this arrangement is carried out fairly and as per agreed between the parties and in accordance with the estate agent’s act.
The auditor derives an opinion regarding the maintenance of the trust account by the real estate agent based on a myriad of testing basis
If you are an estate agent requiring an Estate Agents Trust Account audit carried out, then feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss your circumstances and/or may have any questions.
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