Frequently Asked Questions

What is Fiduciary Accounting?

A fiduciary accounting (sometimes called a “court accounting”) is a comprehensive report of the activity within a trust, estate, guardianship or conservatorship during a specific period of time. It shows all the receipts and disbursements managed by the executor, trustee, guardian or conservator (the fiduciary), properly allocating all transactions into various schedules of credits and debits as outlined by the California Probate Code.

How can I speed up the process?

The preparation of a fiduciary accounting is a process. Unlike preparing a tax return, a fiduciary accounting is a minutely detailed report of all trust or estate activities and the process will depend on the details of your specific case. As such, time will be required to gather and prepare the information, then reconcile and draft schedules.

Prior to finalizing the accounting, we may have questions or request additional information. After your review, the accounting will be sent to your attorney for comments. We bill by the hour, so the time required directly translates to the overall cost of the project. The billable hours depend upon the following factors:

• the number of years to be included in the accounting,

• the number of accounts (bank/brokerage),

• the amount of activity or number transactions in each account,

• the complexity of the assets (such as business activity, partnerships)

• the completeness and availability of information needed to prepare the accounting

We always do our best to understand the scope of the accounting upfront, but it is impossible to provide an accurate estimate before we have received and reviewed the particular details of your case.

How do we get started?

How soon can you start?

Once we understand the assets to be included in the accounting, we will ask for the applicable documentation. It is important to note that every accounting is different and some may require additional supporting information.

Some of the documents we may ask for are:

• Bank statements

• Brokerage statements

• Final closing escrow statements

• Check copies or check register information

• Trust documents and/or list of beneficiaries

• Inventory & Appraisal (for a Probate Estate or Conservatorship)

• Prior accountings, if applicable

Get in touch. The quickest way for us to start the fiduciary accounting process is for us to have a quick meeting to discuss your needs and our process. You can easily schedule a time for us to call you easily through the Calendly web app: www.calendly.com/cafiduciaryaccounting

During this discussion, we will gather the basic information for the case, and seek to understand the assets to be included in the accounting.

Once the initial conversation has been conducted and we understand your accounting needs, we will draft an engagement letter for your review and signature. The engagement letter will be sent to you outlining the terms of service, fee deposit (if applicable), and our fee policy. We will also send you a list of initial documentation needed to get started. Once we receive the signed engagement letter and initial information, we will start your fiduciary accounting.

What information and documentation do I need to provide?

We are able to start preparing your accounting as soon as we have the signed engagement letter, the fee deposit, and the initial documentation needed to being preparing the accounting.

What information and documentation do I need to provide?

One of our innovations in the industry is our proprietary fiduciary accounting data entry software that allows us to transfer data from electronic bank and brokerage statements (known as "e-statements") to the accounting schedules, which will both reduce the turnaround time for your accounting and the hours billed.

An e-Statement is an electronic version of a bank statement in PDF format. They look exactly the same as printed statements you get in the mail, the difference is that these statements also are readable by computers, allowing us to transfer the data without manually typing the data into excel, as is the traditional process.

E-statements can be directly downloaded from a bank or brokerage online banking website or they can be requested directly from your bank or brokerage. If you have not used e-statements before or need assistance acquiring them, we are happy to assist.

How long does the accounting take to prepare?

Every accounting is unique and the time required depends upon several factors, including:

the availability of information, client responsiveness, and complexity of the assets. Once a draft has been completed, you and your attorney may require additional time to address any outstanding questions or issues before the accounting can be finalized.

Once we have received a full set of documents, we normally deliver a draft accounting in under 10 business days. However, we have worked on litigation cases in which the accounting is prepared, updated, revised over a period of months.

If an accounting needs to be expedited – we may be able to prepare the accounting in 5 business days or fewer. We will need to review your case before and such cases are subject to a 25% expediting fee.