AccountsVirtual
Free self-audit

What is your trust account hiding?

Twelve checks that take about an hour and catch the problems that cost property managers their owners, and sometimes their license. No accountant required.

Get the 12-point self-audit

Enter your email and the checklist unlocks right here. We will also send you a copy, plus one useful idea a month from Doors & Dollars. Unsubscribe any time.

No spam. One click to unsubscribe, ever.

01
Pull your three balances for the same date.

Bank balance of the trust account, book balance of the trust ledger, and the sum of every owner ledger plus held deposits. Same day, all three.

Red flag: you cannot produce one of the three at all.
02
Check that all three match to the cent.

Not roughly. To the cent. A small stubborn difference is usually an old error compounding quietly.

Red flag: "it is always off by about the same amount."
03
Scan every owner ledger for negative balances.

Any owner below zero is being quietly funded by the other owners' money. In most states that is a trust violation on its own, even when the bank reconciles.

Red flag: any ledger below zero, any day of the month.
04
Confirm security deposits are identifiable.

For every deposit you hold: which tenant, which property, which account it sits in. If deposits and operating cash share an account, note it.

Red flag: a single lump sum labeled "deposits."
05
Trace your five newest reservations to the bank.

Booking amount, channel payout, bank deposit. All three should tie for each reservation, on traceable dates.

Red flag: payouts that can only be matched "in total, roughly."
06
Look for unpaid guest balances.

List reservations with a balance still due after checkout. Someone should own chasing each one. Adjusted-away balances are your own money leaking.

Red flag: month-end adjustments that make balances "go away."
07
Check your last three owner statements against actual payouts.

The statement number and the money the owner received should match to the cent, with the same date.

Red flag: "the statement is close, the payout catches up later."
08
Verify your management fees actually posted.

Every door, every month. Fees that silently failed to post because an owner balance was too low are revenue you earned and never collected.

Red flag: no report exists for failed or skipped recurring charges.
09
Date your last completed reconciliation.

Not started. Completed, documented, and signed off. Count the days since.

Red flag: more than 35 days ago.
10
Check when owner statements went out last month.

Same date as the month before? Owners forgive numbers. They do not forgive unpredictability.

Red flag: the send date moves month to month.
11
Confirm occupancy and sales tax is funded.

Tax collected should sit identifiable and untouched until filing. If it blends into operating cash, you are borrowing from the state.

Red flag: tax money is "in the account somewhere."
12
Ask yourself the exit question.

If a buyer, an auditor, or your biggest owner asked for your books tomorrow morning, would you send them proudly or start cleaning first?

Red flag: you already know the answer.

Found something? Most do.

Book a free 30-minute books review. We go through what you found, and you leave with a written punch list of what it takes to fix, whether or not we ever work together.

Book my free books review