Dedicated to Trust Accounting Users
The Trust Account Register is a detailed journal that tracks all transactions within the Trust Account.
The Trust Account window is a digital representation of the real trust account bank statement and transaction history. The CiiRUS version of the trust account should accurately mirror the credit and debit transactions in the actual bank account.
Regularly updating and reconciling the Trust Account Register ensures that the system's financial records remain current, align with real-world bank transactions, and are less susceptible to errors. This process is also crucial for identifying and rectifying any discrepancies or errors.
Where To Go
Trust Accounting > Trust Account
What Is Trust Account Register
The trust account is made up of the following:
The sum of Owner Account Balances
Guest Payments
Vendor Payouts
Advanced Deposits for Future Reservations
Profits due to the PMC, such as, rental commissions, work order margins and any other margin configured to the PMC
Trust Account Balance Brought Forward
Trust Account Ending Balance
Most transactions are automatically recorded in the Trust Account Register after processing Daily Reconciliation and Payouts.
Miscellaneous transactions can also be added to the trust account such as bank or transfer fees that are not in CiiRUS.
Updating the Trust Account Register
You can manually add transactions to the trust account, usually for adjustments like bank fees that aren't specific to an owner or property. Keep in mind that adding a transaction to the trust account won't reflect it on the owner's statement because it's not related to any specific owner.
To add a transaction, click the "+" icon above the table and complete all fields.
Choosing the correct Transaction Type is essential, as it directly impacts how the system calculates the PMC's earnings on the PMC End of Month Payout Report.
Transaction Types that are specific to Trust Accounting and which ones you should use :
Credit to Owner: A goodwill gesture from the PMC to the Owner, involving a cost to the PMC, such as a $50.00 credit to the owner for XYZ reasons.
PMC Expense: A PMC Expense is unrelated to owners, guests, or vendors. While most PMC expenses are deducted from the Operations account, there might be a few fees debited from the Trust Account, like a Bank Fee. If there's a debit that doesn't pertain to vendors or owners, select "PMC Expense" as the Transaction Type. These amounts will be debited from the End of Month PMC Payout Report.
Management Payout: Once monthly owner statements are finalized and closed, the End of Month PMC Payout Report will calculate the funds owed to the PMC. These funds will be transferred from the Trust Account to the Operating Account. This transfer will be recorded as a debit line item on the Trust Account Register, labeled as a Management Payout.
Viewing Transactions
Upon completing the Daily Reconciliation and Bill Payment process, the transactions will be automatically recorded in the Trust Account Register.
Guest Payments will be recorded in the Trust Account Register either as individual credit transactions or batched transactions, as received from your credit card processor or OTA. It's important to ensure that each entry in the Trust Account Register accurately reflects the corresponding bank activity, line by line.
To see a detailed breakdown of batched transactions, select the 'View Deposit' icon. This action will bring up the Deposit Breakdown, which provides an itemized list of every guest or owner payment included in the chosen deposit.
Reconcile a Transaction
Reconciling and balancing the Trust Account Register on a daily basis is strongly advised. This practice helps eliminate financial discrepancies and ensures that the financial records in CiiRUS accurately match the activity in your trust account.
There are two steps to reconcile a transaction. One, simply select the Issue Date the transaction has processed and cleared.
Two, once the transaction has cleared in the bank, be sure to click the "Reconciled" check-box:
It is best practice to reconciling the Trust Account Register daily. This ensures that the system's finances are consistently up to date and aligned with real-life bank activity, reducing the likelihood of balancing errors.
Reconcile Current Balance
In addition to reconciling each transaction, you can also perform a reconciliation of the current bank balance to the Trust Account Ending Balance to confirm that both systems are in balance.
Click on the 'Reconcile Target Amount' and the Reconcile Balance window will appear.
CiiRUS will populate the Reconciled Total which is the sum of all reconciled transactions.
To ensure alignment between both systems, input the Reconciled Target amount, and CiiRUS will compute the variance. This will aid in pinpointing the total discrepancies that require auditing and rectification.
