25Requirements regarding computer accounting systems

25 Requirements regarding computer accounting systems

(1)  The law practice must ensure that its computerised accounting system is not capable of accepting, in respect of a trust ledger account, the entry of a transaction resulting in a debit balance to the account, unless a contemporaneous record of the transaction is made in a manner that enables the production in a permanent form, on demand, of a separate chronological report of all occurrences of that kind.

(2)  The law practice must ensure that the system is not capable of deleting a trust ledger account unless –

(a) the balance of the account is zero and all outstanding cheques have been presented; and

(b) when the account is deleted, a copy of the account is kept in a permanent form.

(3)  The law practice must ensure that any entry in a record produced in a permanent form appears in chronological sequence.

(4)  The law practice must ensure that each page of each printed record is numbered sequentially or is printed in such a way that no page can be extracted.

(5)  The law practice must ensure that its computerised accounting system is not capable of amending the particulars of a transaction already recorded, otherwise than by a transaction separately recorded that makes the amendment.

(6)  The law practice must ensure that its computerised accounting system requires input in every field of a data entry screen that is intended to receive information required by this Part to be included in trust records.