Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Trust accounts April update for members
Trust Account Year Ended 31 March 2023
A number of law firms still need to provide the Society with a notification as to who their designated external examiner is. Please complete the form at the bottom of this article and email it back to the Society.
If you did not receive your trust account circular in the mail during March, or would like an electronic copy sent to you, please contact Lea McLean via email lea.mclean@actlawsociety.asn.au.
Important dates
Important dates to be aware of are as follows:
- 31 March 2023: Trust accounting year end and calculation date for Statutory Deposit amount. It is the firm’s responsibility to send the calculation form to the Society - it is not included by the examiner - with the external examiner’s report.
- 8 April 2023: External examiner must be appointed by this date, and the Society notified in writing within one month of the examiner being appointed.
- 31 May 2023: External examiner’s report to be received at the Law Society.
The Statutory deposit calculation form, and Notification of External Examiner form, can be found on the Law Society’s website, under the Trust Account section.
Note: No external examination is required if, between 1 - 30 April 2023, the Society is given a Statutory Declaration stating that no trust money or controlled money was received or held by the law practice during the year ended 31 March 2023, or the only trust money received by a law practice during the year ended 31 March 2023 was transit money. There is additional information in the trust account circular relating to the wording required on the statutory declaration for those firms without a trust account using the PEXA Source Account.
Additional Trust Account information
Monthly trust reconciliation reports should be reviewed carefully and any adjustment entries which appear on one month’s report, should not remain on the report in future months. If any deposits received into the trust account cannot be identified the law firm needs to contact their bank as soon as possible to have their bank trace the funds.
We ask that any unpresented trust cheques be followed up within 3 – 6 months, as there is no need to wait for cheques to become stale before determining if the recipient has lost the cheque.
