General Information

Persons who carry on business as a settlement agent must cause the trust accounts to be audited by the approved auditor and the audit report lodged with Consumer Protection (section 51(1) and (3) of the Act). 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 (section 67 of the Act).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 that 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.

To audit an agent's trust account, a person must be a registered company auditor,
under Part 9.2 of the Corporations Act 2001(Cwlth).

What is a quarterly audit?Section 51(8)(a) of the Act provides for an interim quarterly audit to be conducted on thesettlement agent's trust account for the first three months they conducted business. The auditor is required to deliver the audit report to the Commissioner within two months after the end of the first three months of trading.
In some circumstances, the Commissioner may approve combining the interim audit with the annual audit. Section 51(9) of the Act provides for the Commissioner to waive the requirement of an interim audit where appropriate

View theSettlement Agents' Trust account handbookfor more information.

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 theNotification of opening a trust accountform and email it toaudits@commerce.wa.gov.au

Change of auditor

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

Agents seeking to change their statutory appointed auditor must lodge an application with Consumer Protection no later than one month after the end of the year of being audited. Applications for a change of auditor will not be accepted after this time due to the proximity with the due date for provision of the annual audit.For example, where the audit period expires on 30 June 2017, an application must be received by 31 July 2018.

Auditing

When conducting the audit we considerA guide to auditing trust accountsand useAuditors of settlement agents forms and publications.

Key details:

Audit Period:For most settlement agents, the audit period is from 1 July to 30 June of each year

Audit Due Date:30 September

Audit Report submitted to:The auditor is required to deliver the audit report to
Consumer Protection