Auditing settlement agents - forms and publications

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Property industry

Settlement agents trust accounts must be audited by an approved auditor and the audit report lodged with Consumer Protection. 

If the agent has not held any trust funds during the year, then the agent is not required to have an audit and must instead lodge a statutory declaration to this effect. 

Lodging reports

All audit reports or statutory declarations (as appropriate) are required to be lodged within three months of the end of each audit period. For most settlement agents, the audit period ends on 30 June of each year, which means the audit report or statutory declaration must be lodged by 30 September. It is the auditor’s responsibility to deliver the audit report to Consumer Protection.

Please note: The Department, the Commissioner and the Director General replace the Board as it is mentioned in the following publications.

Forms and publications

Unclaimed money: summarises what an agent should do with unclaimed monies

Find an auditor

Auditors appointed to conduct audits of agents' trust accounts must be registered as an auditor under Part 9.2 of the Corporations Act 2001.

To check if an auditor is a Registered Company Auditor please search ASIC's Professional Register

Appointment of auditor

If you are an agent and have opened a trust account you are required to provide the details of your trust account and auditor.  Please complete the Notification of opening a trust account form and email it to us.

Change of auditor

An auditor's appointment is continuous until Consumer Protection approves a change of auditor. 

Closing or amending a trust account

If you are an agent and you have closed or amended a trust account, please complete the Notification of closed / amended trust account form and email it to us. Amending your trust account includes changes to the entity name, business name, triennial certificate number, BSB, Account Number and/or details of your financial institution.

Common audit qualfications and how to deal with them

A question and answer guide has been developed to help with common reported trust account audit qualifications and how to deal with them.  

 

Legislation

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