When the asset is a bank or building society account, a cash account will be required in the name of that account in order to follow the flow of cash from the balance at the date of death until the bank account is finally closed and the balance transferred.
The first entry will be the balance held in the account at the date of death. You will be prompted to “realise” this value into the cash account at the outset. This sum will not have been received by your firm but by “realising” it into the cash account it will appear in the balance sheet as a credit under the name of the bank.
For example :
- Create the details of the bank account under the list of assets for the estate by adding a new asset to the estate.
- Probate Plus will prompt you whether you wish to create a cash tracking account. Answer "yes" and use the name of the asset as the name of the cash tracking account.
- You'll then also be prompted as to whether you wish to "auto-collect" the opening balance of the bank into a cash tracking account. Normally, choose "yes". This will mark the bank asset as notionally collected and the balance placed in the externally managed cash tracking account that you're using for this asset.
- From now on, any postings that are on the bank statement for this asset also need to be recorded against the cash tracking account. These can only be bill payments, transfers of money, or income receipts.
- Eventually you will build up a copy of all transactions that have gone through the bank account since the date of death, usually culminating with a final "closing account transfer" from the bank account into your firm's client account.
More information on the definition and creation of cash accounts here.