The register must contain “sufficient information to determine the origin of the investment”. Bill found the old rulebook, which contained some examples of what these details might be, confusing. The new guide to trust accounting is still unclear in my opinion, it appears that QLS will accept a reference to the date of the original written instruction to invest if applicable. There were also discussions about recent email scams and the importance of being 100% sure that bank details are authentic when EFT payments are emailed to practice based on information. Bill was aware of 5 practices that had paid a total of $800,000 as a result of these scams. His advice to firms was to notify the police, notify the client and compensate for the lack of escrow funds. There were interesting statistics on the submission of audit reports for 2017, which had to be submitted by the end of May. Out of a total of 2300 notifications expected, only 300 were submitted on time, another 1200 arrived by 5 June and a total of about 1700 by the end of June. The new regulations state that controlled money withdrawals can only be made by cheque or electronic money transfer (EFT guidelines would apply). Bill suggested that this was a “solution.” This means that controlled money payments cannot be made via cash withdrawals, ATM withdrawals or bank transfers, telephone bank withdrawals, BPAY payments or direct debits (excluding OSR/PEXA). Our Director, James Kenward, completed a training course for external auditors at the Institute of Public Accountants last month. Certain changes to LPR2017 came into effect in September 2017 and apply to the next end-of-confidence audits in March 2018. The following laws and other documents are relevant to legal practice in Queensland.
p.58 Procedure and requirements for the withdrawal of trust funds for legal costs Votes and other documents can now be printed or scanned in PDF format and stored in a “printable” format. A critical point to consider here is that it must be clear when the document was created to prove that it was created within 15 business days of the end of the month. QLS considered that the contracting authorities had not pursued the reconciliation differences and the contracting authority is now required to comment on the reconciliations in order to prove their verification. Controlled monthly money transfers must be verified by the customer and noted as such. These are the key points highlighted by Bill Hourigan, Manager, Trust Account Investigations, in the Professional Leadership Department of the Queensland Law Society. To clarify matters in an area where the practice of law has often been non-compliant, this section is now divided into three areas that apply when an invoice has been issued, there is a fee agreement or payment authority, and for withdrawals. Article 57(2) Register of powers and successions relating to trust funds This leads to an exception for keeping a register of powers and successions in the event that the law firm must act jointly with one or more persons who are not affiliated with the law firm.