Accounting for Trusts & Estates - An Introductory Guide for Probate Professionals

Introduction

Are you worrying about preparing the accounts of a trust or a deceased estate?

Designed to give a complete grounding in the practice of accounting for trusts and estates, this full day course will bring you up to speed quickly and effectively.

The course will look at why trustees and personal representatives should keep accounts and the principles of trust and estate accounting, including the records that should be kept to meet beneficiary queries and HMRC compliance requirements.

It will also explore who is entitled to receive accounts, and how to prepare a set of accounts from digital information, the cash book and other information (if any) provided by your clients with a move to digital recording systems.

The course will consider ‘accounting for quirks’, e.g. life interests in the house (the Hall case).

It will also look at the requirement to distinguish between capital and income expenditure, and how to do so, including the areas of confusion relating to the estates at the date of death and monies left in trust.

Finally, the course will cover the concerns over executor delays in providing information together with the role of the probate professionals client account.

What You Will Learn

This course will cover the following:

• The users of the trust and estate accounts ranging from HMRC, beneficiaries, life interests together with understanding by the executors
• The basic understanding of trust and estate double entry in the context of producing a meaningful product
• The basic explanation of the probate process
• The different type of trusts and accounts requirements:
• Bare trust
• Interest in possession trust
• The express trust
• Discretionary trust
• The charitable trust
• The main statements:
• Estate at death account - the role of the executor and the beneficiaries
• Estate capital account
• Estate income account - the significance of the SA filing deadline
• The assets and liabilities schedule - understanding the significance
• Balance sheet interaction with this understanding
• Distribution statement
• Estate cash account- and cashflow requirements, especially around IHT liabilities
• The distinction between capital and income - the significance of the R185
• The significance of the trust deed and will to produce guidance on accounts preparation
• How to treat gains and losses on assets and investments
• Accounting for the death of the life tenant when the trust ends and the follow through
• Accounting for a discretionary trust where the funds are distributed
• Executors and trustees expenses - accounting and disclosure