Often the single largest cost
For many trusts and estates, the accounting is the single largest cost of the whole administration. The reason is the work itself: every deposit, withdrawal, dividend, fee, purchase and sale on every statement, for every account, for the whole period, has to be classified to the right schedule; each security’s carry value has to be followed lot by lot; gains and losses have to be calculated; and both sides of the summary have to balance to the penny. With several accounts or a brokerage portfolio, that is days, weeks or even months of manual work, and it is repeated for every annual, interim and final account.
Why the bill is so hard to predict
No two accountings are alike. They vary enormously in length, in complexity, in how much activity the accounts saw and in the issues they raise, which makes the cost of preparing one very difficult, and often impossible, to predict.
- Hourly billing. Most accountings are billed by the hour, by attorneys, paralegals or CPAs, so the cost is not known until the work is done.
- Complexity shows up late. The number of accounts, transactions, trades, transfers and corporate actions often is not clear until the statements are open.
- An accounting that will not balance can take as long to fix as it took to build.
- Revisions after a beneficiary’s questions or a court’s review add more hours.
Unless you get a fixed-fee quote, two similar accountings can cost dramatically different amounts.
What to ask before you hire
- Is the fee fixed, or hourly with an estimate?
- What is included: every schedule, market values, the principal and income allocation, a tax summary?
- What happens, and what it costs, if it does not balance or needs revisions?
- Who does the work, and who reviews it?
A fixed price, known up front
Balanced is a new kind of technology with one price: $699 per accounting, paid once when you place your order. No hourly bill, no estimate that grows. Add the PDF bank and brokerage statements, and Balanced generates the accounting, each account reconciled to its own statements and the summary balanced to the penny, in one fully editable Excel workbook for your review and verification.
See exactly what you get: a complete sample trust accounting.