(a) Each licensee shall submit to the commissioner, at the licensee’s own expense, an audit report containing audited financial statements covering the calendar year or, if the licensee has an established fiscal year, then for that fiscal year, within 105 days after the close of the calendar or fiscal year, as applicable. At that time, each licensee shall also file additional relevant information as the commissioner may require.
(b) Within 30 days after receipt of a request from the commissioner, a licensee or other person subject to this division shall submit to the commissioner, at the person’s own expense, an audit report containing audited financial statements covering the 12 calendar months next preceding the month of receipt of the request, or for another period as the commissioner may require. Unless the public interest shall otherwise require, the commissioner shall exempt a licensee from the provisions of subdivision (a) in whole or in part if the licensee has complied with a request pursuant to this subdivision as of a date within the calendar or fiscal year for which the exemption is granted.
(c) A licensee whose license has been revoked shall submit to the commissioner, at its own expense, on or before 105 days after the effective date of the revocation, a closing audit report as of that effective date, or for another period as the commissioner may specify. The report shall include the information specified by the commissioner. A licensee who has complied with this subdivision is exempt from subdivision (a) of this section.
(d) The reports and financial statements referred to in subdivisions (a) and (b) shall include at least a balance sheet and a statement of income for the year ended on the balance sheet date together with other relevant information as the commissioner may require. The reports and financial statements referred to in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) shall be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and shall be accompanied by a report, certificate, or opinion of, an independent certified public accountant or independent public accountant. The audits shall be conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and the rules of the commissioner.
(e) A licensee shall make other special reports to the commissioner as the commissioner may from time to time require.
(f) For good cause and upon written request, the commissioner may extend the time for compliance with subdivisions (a) and (b).
(g) A licensee shall, when requested by the commissioner, submit its unaudited financial statements, prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and consisting of at least a balance sheet and statement of income and expense as of the date and for the period specified by the commissioner. The commissioner may require the submission of these reports on a monthly or other periodic basis.
(h) If the report, certificate, or opinion of the independent accountant referred to in subdivision (d) is in any way qualified, the commissioner may require the licensee to take action as he or she deems appropriate to permit an independent accountant to remove the qualifications from the report, certificate, or opinion.
(i) The commissioner may reject any financial statement, report, certificate, or opinion by notifying the licensee or other person required to make the filing of its rejection and the cause of the rejection. Within 30 days after the receipt of the notice, the licensee or other person shall correct the deficiency and the failure so to do shall be deemed a violation of this division. The commissioner shall retain a copy of all rejected filings.
(j) The commissioner may make rules specifying the form and content of the reports and financial statements referred to in this section, and may require that those reports and financial statements be verified by the licensee in the manner as he or she may prescribe.
(k) Upon completion of the reports and financial statements referred to in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c), the independent accountant shall submit to the commissioner complete copies of the reports and financial statements at the same time that copies of the reports and financial statements are submitted to the licensee.
(l) A licensee who engages an independent accountant or other third-party contractor to reconcile trust account records shall request the independent accountant or third-party contractor, at a minimum, to immediately notify the commissioner and Fidelity Corporation in the event of any of the following:
(1) The termination or voluntary withdrawal of the independent accountant or third-party contractor from the engagement.
(2) The discovery by the independent accountant or third-party contractor of an unreconcilable trust account debit balance. A debit balance exists if an escrow agent withdraws, pays out, or transfers money from an escrow account in excess of the amount to the credit of that account at the time of the withdrawal, payment, or transfer.
(3) The discovery by the independent accountant or third-party contractor that trust account reconciliations have not been performed for two months after the end of any calendar month.
(4) The discovery by the independent accountant or third-party contractor of exception items in trust account exception reports, that remain uncorrected for two months after the end of any calendar month.
Notification pursuant to this subdivision may be accomplished by transmitting to the commissioner and Fidelity Corporation, in either electronic or paper form, copies of trust account reconciliation exception reports. Nothing in this subdivision imposes any duty or obligation on an independent accountant or third-party contractor to Fidelity Corporation, members of Fidelity Corporation, or the commissioner.
(m) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require a licensee to contract with a third party to reconcile trust account records.
(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 285, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2009.)