quick!Office Commander

Search this site

2008 News & Releases
2009 Newsletters‎ > ‎

March 4, 2009 Tracking Competing Offers and Guidelines for Back Office Audits

RECO requirements for Competing Offers and Audits

The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) is a self-managed, not-for-profit corporation, responsible for administering the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 (REBBA 2002) and associated regulations on behalf of the provincial government and protecting the public interest through a fair, safe and informed marketplace.

While these regulations are for Ontario, all offices can take advantage of the features implemented in quick!Office Commander Front and Back Office.  It is quite likely that other states and provinces have very similar regulations.  We would like to hear from you if these features apply to you in a different state or province.

quick!Office Commander Front Office
 
RECO regulations state that "If a brokerage that has a seller as a client receives a competing written offer, the brokerage shall disclose the number of competing written offers to every person who is making one of the competing offers, but shall not disclose the substance of the competing offers." 
 
Leading Edge Software enhanced quick!Office Commander to enable Real Estate offices to better monitor, track, and report on Offers Registered and Withdrawn in Version 3.47 - April 2008.  In summary:
  1. Registered offers that are subsequently withdrawn were added to the system to provide administrators with a tool to track all "real" offers for each listing. 
  2. The total number of registered offers at the bottom of a listing's screen reflects the correct number; add 1 when an offer is registered and subtract 1 when it is withdrawn.
  3. When an Offer is registered or withdrawn, Commander automatically generates a message to Listing Agents with the details needed to communicate with the other parties involved.
  4. Offer presentation details are recorded as an appointment and the notes typed in the MSG field are displayed in the Offer Presentation section of Offers report.
  5. Detailed information of all offers registered and withdrawn, including agent & company name, is recorded in the listing audit trail and "Offers" Report.
  6. The Offers Report, which includes a detailed breakout of Registered, Withdrawn and Offer Presentation can be printed for each listing to provide listing agents with details before the presentation.
  7. Managers can print the report within specific date ranges to monitor offer activity on office listings.
quick!Office Commander Back Office
 
RECO performs regular audits to ensure Real Estate offices are compliant with the Act with a view to protecting the public interest.
 
Any audit is a nerve-racking experience causing uneasiness and uncertainty about how well it will go.  Of course, Commander's Trust Ledger Module offers strong audit trail functionality and comprehensive options allowing users to deposit, disburse, deposit GIC’s, disburse GIC’s, and reverse entries made in error.  Leading Edge Software's quick!Office Back Office clients are assured that the details they need are easily found.
 
What the Auditor Wants to see

  1. Real estate trust account reconciliation completed within 30 days of receiving your bank statement and signed by the broker of record.
  2. Full disclosure of interest earned and interest held.
  3. Full disclosure of Term Deposits held.
  4. Trust Liability report from quick!Office Commander Back Office.
  5. Any discrepancies between the reconciled amount and liability amount.
  6. If you have multiple branch offices, or your accounting department is in a separate office, ensure you have access to all original records.

Print the following 3 reports to provide the information required:

  1. Trust Bank Account Reconciliation in QuickBooks.
  2. Term Deposits / GIC Account in QuickBooks.
  3. Trust Ledger Report in quick!Office Commander Back Office.
Term Deposit/GIC and Monthly Trust Reconciliation reports can be exported to Excel to provide more information required by the Real Estate Council of Ontario.  For example, Interest Liability, Interest Accrued monthly, Total Liability etc.
 
Please follow detailed instructions included in quick!Office Commander Back Office Help / F1 Help / RECO Real Estate Trust Bank Reconciliation. For your convenience, we also incorporated a link to the RECO Inspections: A Broker's Guide in case you want to review it.

quick!Office Commander Front and Back Office are registered trademarks of quick!Office Solutions.  MS Word, Excel and Outlook are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.  QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc.

general and front office support - support@les.ca OR back office support qtrs@les.ca
management - management@les.ca
Sales inquiries (new modules, updates to your system) - sales@les.ca
OR phone us at 905-944-9080 for more information
Look to Leading Edge Software for innovative solutions to grow your real estate business