Trust accounts are in effect a money account with a bank, that holds money for and on behalf of the clients of the business. The business could be real estate, accountant or tax agent, a solicitor, an owner’s corporation and a conveyancer. Whenever a business holds money in an account for a client in part with the aim of providing a service but also in part as their fee for the service, this arrangement is carried out with the use of a trust account. The audit of the transactions within this account is a trust account audit.
Since the general public’s money is at risk and since there is a personal interest of the business involved – this by way of the fee the business will charge to this trust money, there is a need for scrutiny of this arrangement. This scrutiny is carried out annually in most cases but in some cases upon requested by the regulator or the professional body. This scrutiny of the arrangement as well as the disbursements and the eventual release of the business’s commission or a fee as stipulated by the arrangement, is the Trust account audit. (Trust Monies or Trust Funds).
All businesses that are required to hold trust monies are governed by the guiding principles of their respective supervising bodies. For estate agents it is the consumer affairs, while for solicitors and legal professionals it is the LIV.