Twenty real estate agents received a total of $173,500 in penalties, resulting in a loss of eight licences as part of a NSW Fair Trading clamp on audit failures, earlier this year. The penalties were dished out after the audits revealed the real estate agents failed a trust accounting audit.
Accountsdaily.com.au reported that the 20 agents held a combined total of $2.95 million in their trust accounts, and although no allegations of fraud were brought forward, the regulator notes that failure to lodge an audit is a stand-alone offence and a “major red flag” for agents hiding something.
Valerie Griswold, NSW Fair Trading executive director of investigations, said: “Trust account fraud is the number one offence real estate agents are prosecuted for in NSW.
“In the past we’ve seen real estate agents using trust account funds for gambling, alcohol and drugs – in some cases spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Trust accounts consist of funds belonging 100 per cent to consumers so it’s critical the agents managing them stick to the rules.”
Similar management rules apply to the Conveyancing industry, with Trust Accounting being an important aspect of the process.
It is only a matter of time before your firm is subject to its next trust accounting audit, however, squaring your books has been made easy with triConvey trust accounting.
triConvey Trust Accounting Audit Compliance & Features
triSearch all-in-one $0 conveyancing solution triConvey has built-in trust accounting, compliant in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales so you can run your end of month reconciliations in a few short and simple steps. To run a reconciliation, follow these steps:
- Start by opening your matter through triConvey
- Select on the Billing tab up the top of the page.
- Open the Banking tab to enter your Trust Accounting.
- Select and reconcile each transaction seen on the Trust Accounting page to fulfil your end of month reconciliation obligations.
Audit compliant adjustment and end of month client reconciliation tools are also featured in triConvey trust accounting and are simple to perform.
More information on triConvey trust accounting audit compliance is found at triConvey FAQs and triConvey Compliance & Trust Accounting. To see more about how you can take advantage of the free trust accounting tool, book a free demonstration with our experts today.
