The trustee must keep an individual trust account ledger for the trust account that is separate from their normal business ledger. The trust account ledger records changes to the beneficial interests of beneficiaries of the trust. The beneficial interests will often arise at a different time to when a liability would normally be recognised in the standard business ledger and are not necessarily triggered by a corresponding transaction. The software system must not be able to delete all or any part of the ledger. Transactions must be recorded in the ledger within specific timeframes and included specific information.

The trustee must keep a record of deposits and withdrawals for the trust account (similar to a cashbook). Transactions must be recorded within specific timeframes and include specific information (notably the account details for where all payments have been made to). Similar to the trust account ledger, the software system must not be able to delete all or any part of the record of deposits and withdrawals.

The trustee must complete a monthly bank reconciliation for the trust account. The legislation outlines the timeframes and process that must be followed. The software must be able to produce a trust account ledger trial balance statement to support this process that includes the balance of funds held in the trust account for the trustee as well as all beneficiaries. This cannot be produced if the ledger is not separate and the chart of accounts has not been set up correctly.

The trustee must be able to produce and provide copies of trust records and documentation for specific time periods and for particular beneficiaries. These may be requested by the QBCC, a beneficiary or used as part of a mandatory review by an external auditor.

The trustee must keep copies of all other trust related records and documentation including payment claims, payment schedules, contract documentation, notifications to other parties, training and auditing documentation for a period of 7 years.

All transactions to or from a trust account must create an electronic record of the transfer (no cash or cheque payments allowed).

Beneficiaries must be paid from the trust account. There are specific definitions for who is a beneficiary of a trust account.

There are restrictions for when funds may be deposited or withdrawn from the trust account including restrictions on when a trustee may withdraw funds to pay themselves. There are also restrictions on who may deposit funds into a trust account.

The trustee must give a notice of payment to beneficiaries when transferring amounts that relate to them. These notices must be sent within specific timeframes and include specific information.

A trust account may be required partway through a project after a contract variation or amendment to the head contract. The head contractor would be required to set up a project trust account and all future payments from the owner/developer to the head contractor must be paid into the project trust account and all payments from the head contractor to subcontractor beneficiaries must be paid from the project trust account. For any party working on this project, a retention trust account may be required for any cash retention amounts already withheld and all future cash retention amounts to be withheld. All retention amounts already withheld must be transferred into a retention trust account.

The trustee may engage another party or delegate their responsibilities and powers to another person to assist with the administration and running of the trust account. However, the trustee remains liable for all acts and defaults of the agent or delegate. For this reason, certain access rights and restrictions for trust account projects and actions would be beneficial within the software system.

General notifications are required to the QBCC and other parties when opening a trust account, when engaging additional subcontractors or when making any changes to the trust account itself. These notifications must be given within specific timeframes and include specific information.