Compliance Reference · Updated 18 May 2026
The audit cycle, monthly reconciliation, and breach-reporting timelines for Australian real-estate trust accounts — sales and property management. Covers NSW Fair Trading PSBA, VIC CAV Estate Agents Act, QLD OFT Agents Financial Administration Act, SA CBS land agents, WA DMIRS, TAS Property Agents Board, ACT and NT.
Foundations
Real-estate agencies typically operate two distinct streams of trust money — sales deposits and PM rent collection. Some agencies use the same statutory trust account with separate ledger groups; many keep them in separate bank accounts to simplify audit. Both are subject to the same statutory obligations.
Holds deposits paid on exchange of contract for the sale of real estate. Funds held until settlement (or release event agreed under the contract). Cannot be commingled with the operating account or with PM trust money.
Holds rent received from tenants pending disbursement to landlords (less agreed deductions for management fees, repairs, statutory disbursements). Reconciled monthly with statements to each landlord.
In most states tenant bonds for residential tenancies are lodged with the state Rental Bond Authority, not held in the agency's PM trust account. Commercial security bonds are typically held by the agency or directly by the landlord per the lease.
Specific transactional money held on a contingent basis — e.g., a release of part of a deposit pending council approval. Subject to the same trust controls as other trust money.
State-by-State
Regulator: NSW Fair Trading — Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 & Regulation
Audit cycle
Annual audit of every trust account by a registered company auditor or approved person. Audit report covering the 12 months to 30 June must be lodged with NSW Fair Trading by 30 September.
Auditor appointment
Auditor must be appointed and the appointment notified to NSW Fair Trading. PSBA (Property Services Statutory Interest Account) interest arrangements apply to trust account interest.
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly reconciliation between cashbook, ledger, and bank statement — must be completed by the 21st of the following month. Trial balance of landlord ledgers must agree to the cashbook balance, which must agree to the reconciled bank statement.
Breach reporting
Material trust money breaches must be reported to NSW Fair Trading without delay — practical convention is within 5 business days. Deficient trust accounts must be remedied immediately; failure to remedy is a strict-liability offence.
Regulator: Consumer Affairs Victoria — Estate Agents Act 1980 & Estate Agents (General, Accounts and Audit) Regulations
Audit cycle
Annual audit of trust accounts by a registered company auditor. Audit period typically ends 30 June; audit report due to CAV within 3 months of the audit period end (30 September).
Auditor appointment
Each estate agency must appoint an approved auditor and notify CAV before commencing trading or within statutory window. Cessation of trust account triggers a final audit.
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly trust account reconciliation required. Bank statement, cash book, and trust ledger must agree at the end of each month. Discrepancies must be investigated and resolved promptly.
Breach reporting
Trust account breaches reportable to CAV. Defalcation, deficit balances, and unauthorised disbursements trigger immediate notification — typically within 5–7 business days under the regulations.
Regulator: Office of Fair Trading — Agents Financial Administration Act 2014 & Property Occupations Act 2014
Audit cycle
Annual audit of agent's trust accounts under the Agents Financial Administration Act. Audit period ends 30 June; audit report must be lodged with the OFT by 30 September.
Auditor appointment
Registered auditor must be appointed. Agents must notify the OFT of the auditor's appointment and any change of auditor.
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly trust account reconciliation required. Trust ledger trial balance must reconcile to cashbook and bank statement each month.
Breach reporting
Trust account discrepancies and breaches must be reported to the Office of Fair Trading. Reporting timeline is generally within 5 business days for material breaches; auditors must also report directly in certain cases (auditor's separate reporting obligation).
Regulator: Consumer and Business Services — Land Agents Act 1994 & Regulations
Audit cycle
Annual audit of trust accounts by a registered auditor. Audit period typically 1 July – 30 June. Audit report must be lodged with CBS within prescribed timeframe after period end.
Auditor appointment
Auditor must be appointed by the registered land agent and the appointment notified to CBS. Indemnity Fund contributions apply.
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly reconciliation between trust ledger, cashbook, and bank statement. Reconciliation working papers retained for inspection.
Breach reporting
Trust account breaches reportable to CBS. Material defalcation or deficit balances must be notified promptly — convention is within 5–7 business days. Auditor has separate statutory reporting obligation where breaches are detected.
Regulator: DMIRS — Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 & Trust Account Regulations
Audit cycle
Annual audit by registered auditor. Audit period 1 July – 30 June. Audit report due within statutory window after year end — typically 3 months. Fidelity Guarantee Fund contributions apply.
Auditor appointment
Auditor appointment and changes must be notified to DMIRS. Triennial Certificate renewal cycle aligns with continuing audit compliance.
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly reconciliation required. Trust ledger must agree to cashbook and reconciled bank statement at month end. Discrepancies remediated immediately.
Breach reporting
Material trust account breaches must be reported to DMIRS without delay — convention is within 5 business days. Auditors also have a separate statutory obligation to report material breaches directly to DMIRS.
Regulator: Property Agents Board — Property Agents and Land Transactions Act 2016
Audit cycle
Annual audit by a registered auditor. Audit period ends 30 June; audit report due to the Property Agents Board within statutory window — typically 3 months.
Auditor appointment
Auditor must be appointed and notified to the Board. Property Agents Trust Fund contributions apply (similar Fidelity-type fund).
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly trust account reconciliation required. Trial balance of trust ledgers must agree to cashbook and bank statement each month.
Breach reporting
Trust account breaches reportable to the Property Agents Board. Material defalcation and deficit balances must be reported promptly — convention is within 5–10 business days depending on the nature of the breach.
Regulator: Access Canberra — Agents Act 2003 & Regulation
Audit cycle
Annual audit of trust accounts by a registered auditor. Audit period typically 1 July – 30 June with audit report due to Access Canberra within prescribed time.
Auditor appointment
Auditor appointment must be notified to Access Canberra. Real-estate agents are subject to the Agents Act 2003 trust-money provisions.
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly trust reconciliation required. Trust ledger to bank statement reconciliation must be performed and retained.
Breach reporting
Material trust account breaches reportable to Access Canberra. Reporting convention is within 5–7 business days for material defalcation; auditors have separate statutory reporting obligations.
Regulator: Agents Licensing Board NT — Agents Licensing Act 1979
Audit cycle
Annual audit of trust accounts by a registered auditor. Audit period 1 July – 30 June. Audit report lodged with the Agents Licensing Board within statutory window.
Auditor appointment
Auditor must be appointed and the appointment notified to the Agents Licensing Board.
Monthly reconciliation
Monthly trust reconciliation required between trust ledger, cashbook, and reconciled bank statement.
Breach reporting
Trust account breaches reportable to the Agents Licensing Board. Material breaches must be reported promptly — convention is within 5–7 business days.
Timelines and dollar thresholds are summarised at the time of review. Always confirm against the current legislation and regulator guidance for your state.
Monthly workflow
Every state requires a monthly reconciliation between the cashbook, the trust ledger trial balance, and the reconciled bank statement. The mechanics are uniform — the deadlines differ.
Pull the bank statement at month end. Reconcile every receipt and disbursement to the cashbook line-by-line. Identify and investigate unpresented cheques, outstanding deposits, and bank-side adjustments (fees, interest postings).
Run a trial balance of every individual trust ledger (per landlord, per sales deposit). The sum must equal the cashbook reconciled balance to the cent.
Produce a written reconciliation statement showing bank balance, plus/minus reconciling items, equals cashbook, equals sum of trust ledgers. Signed by the licensee-in-charge.
Retain the reconciliation, supporting working papers, and any correspondence about resolved discrepancies for the period required by your state regulator (typically 7 years).
What auditors flag
Six recurring themes in qualified audit reports and Fair Trading / CAV / OFT compliance audits. Knowing them means you can design the procedure to avoid them.
Paying a landlord more than their available trust ledger balance — even by a small amount — creates a deficit in another client's funds. This is the single most common qualified-audit-report finding.
Skipping a month, performing the reconciliation but not signing it off, or finishing the reconciliation after the statutory deadline. Auditors look for evidence the reconciliation was completed on time, not just that the balance reconciled at year end.
Most states require periodic statements to each landlord (and to vendors on sales deposits) showing receipts, deductions, and disbursements. Missing statements are a common audit finding.
Disbursing trust money for purposes not authorised by the principal — e.g., paying for unagreed repairs from rent funds, or releasing a sales deposit before the contractual release event. Sometimes innocent (a misunderstanding), always a breach.
Direct debits for software, rent, or staff coming out of the trust account by accident; agency receipts going into the trust account. Even quickly reversed, both are reportable breaches.
Trust ledgers with old credit balances (overpaid rent, missing tenant, undelivered cheque) that haven't been investigated or remitted to the regulator's unclaimed money scheme. State regulators expect proactive handling.
Statutory deadlines (often the 21st of the following month) are the latest date — not the target. Finishing reconciliation by the 14th gives a week to investigate any discrepancies, get the licensee-in-charge sign-off, and avoid a missed-deadline finding.
A 30-minute internal review in March, on the 9 months to date, surfaces issues while they're still cheap to fix. Waiting for the registered auditor in August to discover a February stale credit is much more expensive.
Every disbursement from the trust account must trace back to a written authority — the management agreement, an instruction from the landlord, a contract release clause. Auditors check trail. Email instructions are fine; phone calls without a follow-up email are not.
If a deficit happens (over-disbursement, accidental commingling, missed reconciliation), self-reporting to the regulator with a clear remediation plan is almost always treated more favourably than silent remediation that's later detected at audit.
In most states you can operate them as separate trust ledger groups within the same statutory trust account, but many agencies maintain entirely separate bank accounts for sales trust and PM trust to make reconciliation, audit and reporting cleaner. Practice varies — confirm preferred structure with your auditor and state regulator.
A registered company auditor under the Corporations Act, or an approved person under the relevant state real-estate legislation. The auditor must be independent of the agency and must be appointed and notified to the regulator. Some states allow approved external accountants for smaller agencies; most require a registered auditor.
In every state the audit period ends 30 June (aligning with the financial year). The audit report is typically due to the state regulator by 30 September — three months after period end. Late lodgement attracts penalties and triggers compliance follow-up.
A qualified audit report is one where the auditor cannot give a clean opinion — usually because reconciliations are incomplete, the bank balance doesn't reconcile to the trust ledgers, or material breaches occurred during the year. Qualified reports trigger heightened regulator attention, potential compliance audits, and in serious cases disciplinary action against the licensee-in-charge.
State conventions range from 'without delay' (typically interpreted as within 5 business days) to specific statutory windows of 7 or 10 days. The auditor separately has a statutory obligation to report material breaches direct to the regulator if they detect them during the audit. The safest practice is: discover the breach today, document it today, notify the regulator within 5 business days.
No — trust account interest does not belong to the agency. In most states interest on real-estate trust accounts is paid by the bank directly to a state fund (e.g., the Property Services Statutory Interest Account in NSW, the Fidelity Fund or Indemnity Fund in other states). Agencies that intentionally or accidentally retain trust account interest commit a serious breach.
OneBookPlus handles CRM, contact pipelines, document workflows and audit-friendly recordkeeping — so your trust-accounting platform stays focused on what it does best. Free to start, no credit card required, AUD billing.
Last reviewed and updated: by Bishal Shrestha
About the author
Founder & CEO, OneBookPlus
Bishal has over a decade of experience in digital marketing, web development, and small business consulting across Australia. He has helped agency principals set up sales and PM trust accounts, appoint registered auditors, and pass annual statutory audits without qualifications.
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