New trust accounting software pilot program planned
A special committee looking at automated trust accounting software for Bar members has received a proposal for a six-month pilot program involving 10 to 15 law firms.
Board of Governors Parliamentarian Andy Sasso, who heads the committee working on the trust accounting effort, said the panel has received a proposal from FIS, a Fortune 500 international banking services company, which is working with the Bar.
The program would run through SunTrust Bank. SunTrust will hold an omnibus IOTA account into which the trust funds of the testing firms will be deposited and managed using a system called Advantage.
“The law firms would be able to directly deposit IOTA trust funds into a local SunTrust bank or wire the funds directly to SunTrust and the FIS system will connect directly with The Florida Bar website. Members will be able to — using their password — request distributions using this Advantage workload tool,” Sasso said. After six months, if the program works, it will be expanded statewide.
“The lawyer would no longer have to do any trust accounting work. Once the system is set up, they would put information in when they make a deposit and put information in system when they make a withdrawal. All of the required trust accounting [paperwork] will be done automatically,” he added.
The initial implementation cost will be $25,000 —which Sasso said the Bar might pay — and then $50 annually per account for the testing firms. Once the program is proven, that annual charge would drop as the number of trust accounts in the system increased. He said once that number surpasses 5,000 accounts, the cost would be $20 per account.
“This would be voluntary; it’s not mandatory,” Sasso said. “The program would be available to any lawyer in Florida who would want to use the program.”
He emphasized the committee has just received this proposal and hasn’t had time to study it.
“This is a wonderful member benefit,” Bar President Bill Schifino said, adding it would reduce the Bar’s disciplinary workload resulting from lawyers who have unintentional, technical problems with their trust accounts.
Sasso said Bar members currently have more than 33,000 trust accounts — more than 28,000 of them IOTA accounts — in 212 financial institutions in Florida with a total of around $5.1 billion in deposits.
