Overview:

The Project Trust Account Ledger and Retention Trust Account Ledger on a Job are built with different types of transactions and events. Some are system-generated (Job transactions), and some require manual entry (events) from the Contract Manager or the accounts person in charge of the project. On this screen, a user can enter or confirm some of the events required for the Ledgers.

Below is a high-level diagram that describes all the Workbench transactions and events that make up the Ledger. Those events managed from the PTA Transfers screen are referenced in the diagram as Manual Entry or Manual Confirmation.

Screen Guide:

Open

PTA TRansfers

PTA Transfers are used for all Projects. Users can navigate from the Trust Accounts tab in a Contract to this screen or from Mond End Processes.

There are 3 types of events that can be recorded here:

• PTAtoRTA: Retentions withheld from subcontractors transferred from the Project Trust Account to the Retention Trust Account.

• PTAIn: Head Contractor funds top-up on PTA.

• PTAOut: Head contractor funds withdrawal from PTA.

Process:

• PTAtoRTA:
  When a subcontract claim batch is exported to the financial system, after a successful export of the batch Workbench automatically creates a PTAtoRTA entry here for each subcontract claim that has withheld Retentions. The Amount is populated with the Retentions local currency (LC) Amount + GST.
  
  The legislation requires that retentions that are withheld from a subcontractor are to be kept in a Retentions Trust Account, and not in the Project Trust Account. An Accounts Payable team member will be responsible for making the funds transfer from one account to the other (PTA to RTA), and a confirmation of this has to be sent to the subcontractor within 5 business days.
  
  This transfer must only be included in the PTA & RTA ledgers once it has actually happened, and not before that. So to that effect, the events are ready to be confirmed with all the correct data pre-populated, and a user must confirm the transfer has taken place by ticking the Done check box for each transaction and updating the Transfer Date to the correct date.
  Once the PTAtoRTA is confirmed as done, the ConfirmedDate and ConfirmedBy are populated. Also, a significant detail to know is that every change or update made is recorded in the History log on the event, which is reflected as a number in the column with a clock. This is for auditing purposes. The Amount can be changed if for any reason the transfer done was for less, or more. Manual entries can also be done afterwards.
  
  By default, it is populated with the date the record is created, which is the date the subcontract claim is exported. Year/Period is controlled by the Other period in Period Maintenance. If the Other period is closed, the system will use the earliest Other opened period available.
  
  There is an option to include any comments or bank transaction references in the Reference or Details columns. The Details column will be displayed in the Ledger. The Source is the Subcontract Claim number, From Account is the PTA defined in the header Job to which the Subcontract belongs to. To Account is the RTA defined in the subcontract.
  
  Once the PTAtoRTA is confirmed, it will be included in the Ledgers, in the PTA ledger as funds leaving the account, in the RTA Ledger as funds going into the account. And also under each subcontractor/supplier to reflect an entitlement of the funds.
  
  This has to be a manual confirmation because Workbench, even though it is integrated with the financial system, has no means to know if this transaction has taken place.
  
  To assist the Accounts Payable Team, there is a Project Trust Account Eligible Costs report (it can be found under Contract Reports), that includes eligible unpaid AP Invoices and unpaid Subcontract claims, and it displays the Retention amount for each Subcontract claim, which is the amount that needs to be transferred to RTA.
  
  Automatic notifications to Subcontractors: QBCC requires that a Subcontractor be notified about this transfer within 5 business days. Workbench has a Scheduled Utility called Notice of Subcontract Claim Retentions transfer designed to send an email to the subcontractor Commercial Contact informing about this. The Utility is disabled by default, and you can enable it with a date/time schedule of your preference. On success, a new event log entry will be created on the corresponding PTA to RTA event in the PTA Transfers History log.
  
  

• PTAIn:
  Head Contractor funds top-up on PTA. If at any point there are no sufficient funds in the PTA to cover AP Invoices or Subcontract claims that are due for payment, the Head contractor must deposit funds in the PTA to be able to cover them on time. Register this event by creating a PTAIn entry. These events are reflected in the PTA Ledger as soon as they are saved (under the PTA Bank Account & the Head Contractor sections). The funds will have to be withdrawn using the financial system or the Bank app. The source will be the Job the PTA belongs to, and the To Account will be prepopulated. Same as all events in PTA Transfers, the Year/Period is controlled by the Other period in Period Maintenance.
  
  

• PTAOut:
  Head contractor funds withdrawal from PTA. The only time a Head Contractor can withdraw funds from the PTA is when at exactly that point in time there are no eligible AP Invoices or Subcontract Claims due for Payment. It is important to know this part of the process as PTAs may affect the company’s cash flow. When the PTA Bank Account balance is greater than the Header Contractor balance in the PTA Ledger, it means that there are extra funds in the PTA that can be withdrawn. Register this event by creating a PTAOut entry. The funds will have to be withdrawn using the financial system or the Bank app. This event will be displayed under the PTA Bank Account & the Head Contractor sections. The source will be the Job the PTA belongs to, and the From Account will be prepopulated. Same as all events in PTA Transfers, the Year/Period is controlled by the Other period in Period Maintenance.

Next Steps:

At month end, when the reconciliation has to be done between the Project Trust Account bank statement and the transactions for the month on the PTA bank account section on the Ledger in Workbench, the PTA transfer screen can be used to fix any mismatches. Examples below of mismatches could be:

1. Ledger PTAIn or PTAOut was entered for a different amount than the actual bank transactions.

   1. This can be fixed with another PTA/PTAOut manual entry to balance it.

2. Ledger is missing a PTA In (top up)/PTAOut (withdrawal) included in the Bank transactions.

   1. Can be fixed by creating a new manual entry.

3. Ledger has PTAin/PTAout, not in bank transactions.

   1. Record can be manually deleted as long as the Other Period is opened (In Period End Maintenance).

   2. A new PTAIn or PTA Out can be added to reverse the original transaction.

4. Balance difference due to interest earned in the Bank Account

   1. A PTAIn manual entry could be used, with an appropriate comment.