August 27th, 2025
Everything you need to know about trust accounting systems and payment platforms
Property Management
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Trust accounting is one of the most important, and most misunderstood, parts of running a property management business.
For Property Managers, it’s the system that protects tenant’s rent, ensures landlords are paid correctly and keeps agencies compliant with legislation. For Principals, it’s also one of the biggest operational risk areas in the business.
Yet many agencies still experience the same frustrations:
- Delays between rent being paid and owners receiving funds
- End-of-month reconciliation pressure
- Manual workarounds to stay compliant
- Uncertainty about what legislation actually requires
This guide breaks down how trust accounting works in practice, what Australian legislation expects, where traditional processes still make sense plus how modern systems are helping agencies reduce friction without compromising compliance.
What is trust accounting in property management?
In practical terms, trust accounting is about managing money that belongs to someone else, not the agency.
In property management, this generally covers:
- Rent paid by tenants
- Bond money, where applicable
- Funds held for owners before they’re paid out
- Payments made to suppliers and maintenance providers
Because this money is held on behalf of others, it must be:
- Kept separate from the agency’s day-to-day operating funds
- Recorded clearly so transactions can be easily followed
- Managed in line with specific rules around how and when it can be used
The purpose of trust accounting is to protect consumers, both tenants and landlords, by making sure their money is handled responsibly and can be accounted for at any point in time.
How rent typically flows through a trust account
To understand where friction appears, it helps to look at the standard rent workflow.
A traditional rent flow looks like this:
- Tenant pays rent
- Funds are received into the trust account
- Payment is receipted
- Transactions are reconciled
- Journals are created
- Funds are disbursed to owners and suppliers
Each step needs to be:
- Timely
- Accurate
- Clearly documented
When done well, this process is compliant and reliable. When done manually or inconsistently it becomes one of the most time-consuming parts of the PM role.
Where agencies commonly experience friction
Most trust accounting issues aren’t caused by misunderstanding the rules, they’re caused by operational strain.
Common pressure points include:
- Delayed visibility of incoming payments
- Manual reconciliation across multiple systems
- Batch processing that slows owner disbursements
- End-of-month workload spikes
- Inconsistent processes across team members
As portfolios grow, these issues compound. What once worked for 80 properties can quickly become unmanageable at 800.
The role traditional methods still play
It’s important to say this clearly:
Traditional trust accounting methods still have a place.
Many agencies rely on:
- Familiar banking structures
- Batch disbursement cycles
- Manual checks as a risk control
For smaller portfolios or agencies with stable teams, these methods can remain effective, particularly when processes are well documented and consistently followed.
The challenge isn’t tradition itself. It’s the amount of repeat admin required to maintain it at scale.
How modern property management software supports trust accounting (without replacing it)
Modern property management platforms don’t remove trust accounting, they support it.
The biggest shift has been where and when information becomes visible, not the underlying compliance framework.
In modern systems:
- Payments are picked up and recorded automatically as they’re received
- Journals are generated in the background, rather than added later
- Manual matching and repeat handling are significantly reduced
- Incoming funds are visible sooner, not hours or days down the track
- Transaction histories are cleaner and easier to audit if needed
What this delivers isn’t less oversight, it’s a more consistent way of working.
This is especially valuable for agencies managing multiple team members, remote staff or high transaction volumes.
Does faster payment mean higher risk?
This is one of the most common concerns agencies raise.
The answer is no; speed and compliance are not opposites.
Legislation does not require payments to be slow or batched. It requires them to be:
- Accurate
- Traceable
- Properly authorised
- Correctly disbursed
When payments are tightly integrated into trust accounting workflows, with automatic recording and reconciliation, agencies often reduce risk rather than increase it.
Why visibility matters more than speed
While faster rent processing is often discussed, visibility is the real operational benefit.
Earlier visibility means:
- PMs can answer owner questions with confidence
- Arrears are identified sooner
- Forecasting becomes more accurate
- Communication improves across the business
For owners, this translates to trust.
For PMs, it reduces daily friction.
For leaders, it provides confidence in compliance and cash flow.
Where modern payment models fit in
Newer payment models, including options like MePay, sit within the existing trust accounting framework, they don’t bypass it.
They are designed to:
- Reduce delays between payment and visibility
- Remove manual receipting and reconciliation steps
- Keep all records centralised within the platform
The bigger picture: trust accounting as a workflow, not a task
Trust accounting tends to run more smoothly when it’s thought of as a single, connected workflow rather than a set of separate jobs to tick off.
When systems, processes and payments are working together, a few things start to happen. Staying compliant becomes less of a daily worry. Teams follow the same approach more naturally. Small errors are less likely to creep in. And the pressure that usually builds toward the end of the month eases.
This is the space platforms like PropertyMe are designed for: supporting compliant trust accounting while quietly reducing the amount of admin that fills a Property Manager’s day.
Looking forward
Trust accounting will always be a core responsibility of property management. That won’t change.
What is changing is how agencies manage the operational load around it.
By understanding the rules, respecting traditional controls and adopting systems that improve visibility and consistency, agencies can meet their obligations with far less friction and far more confidence.
Disclaimer: The information enclosed has been provided for general information only. It should not be taken as constituting professional advice.
PropertyMe is not a legal adviser. You should consider seeking independent or other advice to check how the information relates to your unique circumstances.
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