Independent trust-money assurance for real estate, strata and commercial landlords across NSW. Outgoings assurance, forensic investigations and controls health checks — delivered in-house by Sydney Accountants. Statutory trust account audits arranged by referral, so the assurance stays genuinely independent.
Not accusations — diagnostics. If any of these give you pause, that’s exactly where independent assurance earns its place.
Your bookkeeper reconciles the trust account. Who checks the bookkeeper?
Independence isn’t an insult to your team — it’s the one thing your team, by definition, can’t provide. That’s not our opinion. It’s in the Act.
Principals & licensees-in-chargeIf a dollar left the trust account today that shouldn’t have, how many days until anyone noticed?
Most trust fraud isn’t caught by the September audit. It’s confirmed by it — too late. The interesting question is what would have caught it in March.
Trust integrity & liabilityYou sent the outgoings statement. Can you prove every recovered dollar was recoverable — or only that the tenant paid it?
Land tax, capital works, your own legal costs, the insurance excess — a tenant’s auditor knows exactly what to strike out. Would this year’s statement survive them?
Commercial & retail landlords / managersThe three-month clock on your outgoings statement has no snooze button. Where is this year’s, right now?
Miss it and the right to recover the shortfall can simply lapse. That’s not a fine — it’s money you quietly stop being allowed to ask for.
Commercial & retail landlords / managersA clean audit says the records reconcile. It does not say no one is stealing. Do you know the difference — and does your cover?
ForensicWould you rather find the gap in a health check in May, or in the audit findings in September?
Controls & readinessThree delivered in-house by Sydney Accountants. One — the statutory audit — arranged by referral to keep it independent.
Prove every recovered dollar was recoverable — before a tenant’s auditor tests it.
Learn moreA clean audit says the records reconcile. It does not say no one is stealing.
Learn moreFind the gap in a health check in May — not in the audit findings in September.
Learn moreThe annual audit the Act requires — arranged through an independent registered auditor.
Learn moreIndependence is the point. We do not audit books we keep. Statutory trust account audits are arranged by referral to an independent registered auditor, so the assurance you rely on is genuinely independent of the people who do the reconciliations. Our in-house work — outgoings assurance, forensic investigations and controls health checks — is delivered by Sydney Accountants under a signed engagement.
We don’t sell fear — we point at the legislation. The obligations below are where trust-money risk actually lives in NSW.
Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 (NSW)
Annual trust account audit under ASAE 3000 / ASAE 3100, lodged via Auditor’s Report Online by 30 September.
Retail Leases Act 1994 (NSW) — s.28
Audited outgoings statement within three months of the end of the accounting period; land tax and certain items are not recoverable.
Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW)
Trust-money and financial-record obligations for strata and community schemes.
Conveyancers Licensing Act 2003 (NSW) — s.79
Trust-account and audit obligations for licensed conveyancers who hold trust money.
Trust & Assurance is the specialist assurance lane of the Local Knowledge group. Your accounting, tax and bookkeeping can sit alongside it — kept deliberately separate from the assurance work.
The questions we’re asked most — each grounded in the legislation.
Under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 (NSW), a licensee who holds trust money must have the trust account audited annually and lodge the auditor’s report through Auditor’s Report Online — generally by 30 September for the year ended 30 June. Missing the deadline is itself a compliance breach, not just a late filing.
The statutory trust account audit must be performed by a qualified, independent auditor (a registered company auditor or equivalent recognised under the Act) who does not also keep the books being audited. That independence requirement is exactly why we arrange the statutory audit by referral rather than signing it in-house.
Under the Retail Leases Act 1994 (NSW), certain outgoings cannot be passed to a retail tenant — including land tax, the lessor’s own legal and capital-works costs, and other items the Act excludes. A landlord must also give the tenant an audited outgoings statement within three months of the end of the accounting period.
No. A statutory audit provides reasonable assurance that the records reconcile — not a guarantee that no money has been misappropriated. Forensic accounting is a different discipline: it examines the ledgers, reconciliations and authorities to test whether something actually went wrong.