Australia
All Jurisdictions Except Queensland - Reporting by entry date
This was the ultimate reason for the redesign of the Trust Accounting system, we were not able to use our entry date as the report driver in the old system..
This is a large change for users as it means that all reporting and calculations are driven by the date the entry was made by the user rather than the transaction date. So in a scenario where a firm receives funds to Trust on the 31st of March and has not physically processed the transaction until the 1st of April, the transaction is - to all reporting and calculations - a 1st of April transaction. By law users are only required to carry out a Trust bank reconciliation once per month and they have a 14 day window following end of month to complete it.
If a firm reconciles daily this will result in a lot of balancing items on the bank rec. This also means that you will not be able to backdate correcting entries. Advice for this would be to make sure that all transactions were entered by the last day of the month and wait until the following month to complete a bank reconciliation.
Invoice Holds (NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia)
Some states require that invoices are not able to be paid till 7 days has past to allow the client time to dispute the charges. These will be applied automatically to your system. See Invoice holds and cost agreements for more details.
Uniform Rules (NSW & Victoria)
As above and many more... mostly forced fields where there were none before. But also the new Electronic Funds Transfer Process
New Zealand
Allowed to use Firms Interest in Trust function where when paying an invoice the funds can be kept in the trust bank account and advanced to clients to meet costs.
Full List of Jurisdiction Specifics
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Below identifies the Trust nuances that are specific to certain jurisdictions. |
NZ Law Society
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- 'Surplus' is 'Firm's Interest in Trust'
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- Negative matter balance is allowed
- Advances are enabled
- Surplus is allowed
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- There are no required Cheque fields
- Wording that must appear on Receipt DOCX is: "Official Receipt Form for trust moneys"
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- Payment "Check" fields are not required
Au Uniform
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- EFT Account Number is BSB + account number
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- Require address for contacts (Individuals only)
- Negative matter balance is allowed
- Reports are sorted by Entry Date
- Bank Reconciliation is limited by Entry Date
- Controlled Money Account is Allowed
- Statutory Deposits are allowed
- Payments Cashbook Report does not include Entry Type & Number
- Trial Balance - User input is required for reconciled cashbook
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- Received From address is required
- The Payment Received Date is required
- Import receipts tool disabled
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- Payment EFT fields are required
- 'Requested By' field is required
- EFT Requisition is required for EFT payments
- Invoice Payment Hold Days: 7
- Invoice Payment Hold Days Override is allowed
- Bank checks are not allowed
- Import Payment tool disabled
Au QLD
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- EFT Account Number is BSB + account number
- 'Statutory Deposit' is 'Prescribed Account'
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- Require address for contacts (Individuals only)
- Negative matter balance is allowed
- Reports are sorted by Entry Date
- Controlled Money Account is Allowed
- Statutory Deposits are allowed
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- Payment EFT fields are required
- 'Requested By' field is required
- Invoice Payment Hold Days: 7
- Invoice Payment Hold Days Override is allowed
Au SA
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- EFT Account Number is BSB + account number
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- Require address for contacts (Individuals only)
- Negative matter balance is allowed
- Reports are sorted by Entry Date
- Bank Reconciliation is limited by Entry Date
- Controlled Money Account is Allowed
- Statutory Deposits are allowed
- Statements are required to show Entry Date
- Use of Trust Transfers are not allowed
- Deposit Slip line shows on Receipts Cashbook Report
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- Invoice Payment Hold Days: 7
- Invoice Payment Hold Days Override is allowed
Au NT
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- EFT Account Number is BSB + account number
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- Require address for contacts (Individuals only)
Au WA
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- EFT Account Number is BSB + account number
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- Require address for contacts (Individuals only)
- Negative matter balance is allowed
- Reports are sorted by Entry Date
- Bank Reconciliation is limited by Entry Date
- Controlled Money Account is Allowed
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- Received From address is required
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- Payment EFT fields are required
- 'Requested By' field is required
- Invoice Payment Hold Days: 7
- Invoice Payment Hold Days Override is allowed
Au ACT
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- EFT Account Number is BSB + account number
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- Payment Received Date is enabled
Au TAS
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- EFT Account Number is BSB + account number
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- Require address for contacts (Individuals only)
UK
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- 'Trust' is 'Client' (e.g. 'Client Accounting' instead of 'Trust Accounting')
- Advances are enabled
US Surplus
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- Surplus is allowed
Ca Surplus
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See updated article in Actionstep Help Center: https://support.actionstep.com/hc/en-us/articles/360055347873 |