Trust account audits for the debt collector industry

If you receive trust money, you must operate a trust account. Each trust account must be audited every year by a qualified auditor and you are responsible for lodging this annual report with us.

Trust account auditors

Learn about working with trust account auditors.

Appointing an auditor

You must appoint an auditor when you open a trust account and fulfil certain requirements. An auditor is registered or a member of a prescribed entity and is a person who:

• holds a valid registration under the Corporations Act 2001
• works for a registered auditing company.

A member of a prescribed entity is a person who is a member of:

• CPA Australia (using the letters CPA or FCPA)
• Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand (using the letters CA or FCA)
• the Institute of Public Accountants (using the letters MIPA or FIPA).

When appointing an auditor you must:

• do so within 1 month of opening your trust account
• notify us within 1 month of making the appointment
• include evidence in the notification to us that the auditor has accepted.

Changing your auditor

If you change your auditor both you and your auditor must notify us:

• within 1 month
• of the reason(s) for the change.

Audit period and due dates

The audit report covers a specified audit period that:

• is for the same 12-month period each year, except in your first and last years of business
• ends on the last day of the month.

Your audit report must be lodged within 4 months after the end of your audit period, unless it is your last year of business when it must be lodged with us within 2 months after you cease business.

If you are a licensee, the table below sets out your audit period and when your audit report is due for lodgement.

Collection agents

Collection agents who do not need a licence have an audit period that runs from 1July to 30 June the following year, with their audit report due by 31 October each year.

Penalties

If you do not lodge your audit report on time:

• you can be fined
• you can be convicted of an offence
• we can cancel or suspend your licence.

Lodge your audit report

Your audit report must be:

• an original copy of the document
• signed by the auditor.

If you are also renewing your licence you must attach a copy of the signed audit report to your renewal application.

Although the auditor may lodge the audit report on your behalf, you always remain responsible for lodging the audit report, not the auditor.

You are ultimately responsible for lodging your audit report, but your auditor can lodge it on your behalf.

Lodge a trust account audit report online.

Unused trust accounts

If you didn’t use your trust accounts throughout an entire audit period, you may lodge a statutory declaration instead of a report.

This is a legally binding statement that you did not:

• operate the trust account during the audit period
• receive any funds on behalf of another person or entity.

The statutory declaration must state “I did not operate a trust account or receive any funds on behalf of another person in a transaction”.

Ensure that you have a copy that is certified by a Justice of the Peace (JP), Commissioner for Declarations (Cdec) or a lawyer, and scanned as a PDF.

Search for your nearest JP or Cdec.

Apply for an extension

You can apply for an extension for lodging your audit report. You must:

• notify us in writing before the audit period report is due to be lodged
• state the reasons for the extension
• tell us how much extra time you need.

Lodge your final audit

If you stop trading, you must lodge your final audit.

You will have 2 months from the day you stop trading to lodge the final audit report.

You can lodge your final audit report online.