The Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) issued a communique dated 25 May 2022 titled “2022 Audit Reports On Trust Accounts”. According to that communique, reference was made to the final Guideline on Audit, Accounting Records And Trust Accounting Requirements for Business Property Practitioners “the Guideline”.

 

The Guideline includes Annexure 2, which is the revised format of the audit report on property practitioners trust accounts aligned to the new Property Practitioners Act (PPA) that came into effect on 1 February 2022. The PPRA hereby advises the principals and auditors of business property practitioners that they have been unforeseen delays in effecting the changes envisaged on the revised format in the Guideline on the MyPPRA Auditors Portal. Consequently, the audit report format on the MyPPRA Auditors Portal still reflects the old format and is therefore not aligned with the new audit report format in the Guideline.

Due to the imminent deadline of 31 August 2022 for the submission of audit reports on trust accounts for business property practitioners with a financial year end of 28 February 2022 and the unforeseen delays experienced in changing the audit report format on the Auditors Portal, the PPRA advises as follows:

a. Audit reports on trust accounts submitted using the existing old format available on the MyPPRA Auditors Portal will be accepted until such time the new changes are effected on the Auditors Portal;

b. The submission deadline of audit reports on trust accounts for business property practitioners with a financial year end of 28 February 2022 remain 31 August 2022;

c. Only interest earned on trust accounts before 1 February 2022, which must be accounted for in terms of the Estate Agency Affairs Act, must be reported on the existing audit report format available on the Auditors Portal;