# Power of Attorney Accounting When Family Asks

- Author: PreciseBankFlow (https://precisebankflow.com)
- Published: 2026-10-17
- Category: Forensic review in disputes
- Canonical: https://precisebankflow.com/blog/power-of-attorney-accounting

> Power of attorney accounting when family or a court asks: what the agent must show, reconciling the principal's accounts and gaps to explain.
A power of attorney accounting is the agent's report of what they did with the principal's money: assets at the start, every receipt, every payment and assets at the end, with bank statements proving each figure. When family or a court asks, the agent must explain each withdrawal, especially cash and payments to themselves.

## What must a power of attorney accounting show?

A power of attorney accounting must show four numbers that tie together: the principal's assets at the start, money received, money spent, and the assets left at the end. Opening balance plus receipts less disbursements must equal the closing balance. Each line needs a source document, and each payment needs a reason.

The format is borrowed from the accounts that trustees and executors file. The heading names the principal, the agent, the power of attorney and the period. The body has schedules. The last page is a summary that ties to the bank.

### The four schedules

1. **Assets on hand at the start**, account by account, with the statement balances on the start date.
2. **Receipts**, grouped by type: pensions, Social Security, interest, sale proceeds, refunds.
3. **Disbursements**, grouped by type: care, housing, medical, insurance, taxes, household, payments to the agent.
4. **Assets on hand at the end**, account by account, again tied to statements.

### What an accounting is not

An accounting is not a narrative of how hard the agent worked, and it is not a list of what the agent remembers. Family members asking for it usually suspect something. A clean, documented schedule is the fastest way to settle those suspicions or to show they were justified.

## Records an agent gathers for a power of attorney accounting

The records an agent gathers are every bank and investment statement for the principal's accounts during the period, receipts for purchases, bills that were paid, and notes explaining payments that lack a receipt. Agents who kept good records as they went can assemble an accounting in days. Agents who did not may need months.

The CFPB's guide for agents, [Managing someone else's money: help for agents under a power of attorney](https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_msem_national_agents_guide.pdf), sets out four duties: act only in the principal's best interest, manage money and property carefully, keep the principal's money and property separate from the agent's own, and keep good records. It advises keeping a detailed list of everything received or spent, with amounts, dates, reasons and names, and keeping receipts and notes even for small expenses.

### The checklist

- Statements for every checking, savings, brokerage and retirement account, for every month.
- Statements for any credit card in the principal's name.
- Pension, annuity and benefit payment notices.
- Bills paid: care facility invoices, medical bills, insurance, property tax, utilities.
- Receipts for purchases, especially anything bought in cash.
- Records of any sale of property, such as a car or a house.
- The agent's own log of time and expenses, if the agent was paid or reimbursed.

### When the agent is not available

Sometimes the agent has died, refuses to cooperate, or is the subject of the complaint. Then a forensic accountant rebuilds the accounting from bank records alone, usually after the lawyer obtains them from the banks. The results are presented in a report like the one described in [what a forensic accountant expert report contains](/blog/forensic-accountant-expert-report).

## Reconciling the principal's bank accounts for the accounting

Reconciling the principal's accounts means proving that the accounting's figures come from the statements and that nothing is missing. Each account's opening balance must match the statement on the start date. Total receipts and disbursements across all accounts, less transfers between them, must explain the change to the closing balances.

### Watch for transfers between the principal's accounts

A move from savings to checking is neither a receipt nor a disbursement. It shows in both accounts and should be removed from both schedules, or it will inflate the totals. Mark each transfer and pair it with its other side. A transfer that has no other side in the principal's accounts left the principal's control, and it is a disbursement that needs a reason.

### A worked summary, with example values

The summary below is an example for one year. The names and amounts are invented.

| Line | Amount |
| --- | ---: |
| Assets on hand, January 1 (checking 11,800.00, savings 30,500.00) | 42,300.00 |
| Receipts: Social Security | 22,800.00 |
| Receipts: pension | 14,400.00 |
| Receipts: interest | 310.00 |
| Receipts: sale of car | 6,000.00 |
| Total receipts | 43,510.00 |
| Disbursements: care facility | 36,000.00 |
| Disbursements: medical and pharmacy | 4,200.00 |
| Disbursements: insurance premiums | 2,880.00 |
| Disbursements: household and utilities | 1,950.00 |
| Disbursements: cash withdrawals, receipts attached | 1,200.00 |
| Disbursements: reimbursed to agent, receipts attached | 640.00 |
| Total disbursements | 46,870.00 |
| Assets on hand, December 31 (checking 12,940.00, savings 26,000.00) | 38,940.00 |

The check: 42,300.00 plus 43,510.00 less 46,870.00 equals 38,940.00, which matches the two December statements. If the computed figure and the statements disagree, there is a missing or misclassified item, and the accounting is not done.

### Items that will not classify

Some entries will not fit a category on the first pass: a refund with no description, a payment to an unknown name. Park them in a holding schedule and work through it until it is empty. The discipline is the same as clearing a [suspense account reconciliation](/blog/suspense-account-reconciliation): nothing stays in the holding schedule when the accounting is filed.

Before classifying anything, confirm each statement is complete. PreciseBankFlow checks that every statement foots and flags possible duplicates and check-number gaps, which is a quick way to confirm each statement is whole before you classify its lines. You can [request access for your practice](/get-started).

## Cash, ATM withdrawals and agent reimbursement in a power of attorney accounting

Cash withdrawals and payments to the agent are the lines that draw the most questions in a power of attorney accounting. Cash leaves no payee on the statement, and payments to the agent look like self-dealing until a receipt shows otherwise. Each one needs a document, a note, or a frank statement that support is missing.

The CFPB guide advises agents to avoid paying the principal's expenses in cash and to avoid writing checks to "Cash." When cash was used, list each withdrawal with the date, amount and what it paid for. Attach receipts where they exist. Where none exist, say so.

### Agent reimbursements

An agent who paid the principal's bills from their own account and then repaid themselves should show both sides: the agent's payment, with a receipt, and the reimbursement from the principal's account. The guide warns that this pattern makes good records harder and says to keep receipts and a record of why, what and when the agent paid themselves.

### Compensation

If the power of attorney or state law allows the agent to be paid, the accounting should show the basis: an hourly rate, a log of the time, and the total. Unexplained round-sum transfers to the agent, labelled as fees after the fact, are the pattern that turns a family disagreement into a claim. When the suspicion is outright theft by a trusted person, the methods overlap with those in [an employee theft insurance claim](/blog/employee-theft-insurance-claim), where each diverted payment has to be proved one by one.

## Who can ask for a power of attorney accounting?

Who can ask for a power of attorney accounting depends on the document and on state law. The principal can always ask. A court, a guardian or a named relative may also be able to demand one. The CFPB guide notes that the document or state law may let someone else review the agent's records.

### Through the document

Some powers of attorney name a person, often a sibling, who is entitled to see the records or receive periodic accounts. Read the document first. If it says nothing, state law fills the gap.

### Through a court

If the agent refuses, a family member can usually ask a court to order an accounting. The lawyer on the case decides which procedure applies. A court-ordered accounting tends to follow a formal format and covers the whole period of the agent's authority.

### Voluntary accountings

Agents who expect questions sometimes prepare an accounting before anyone asks. The CFPB guide says an agent may want to let another family member or friend of the principal see the records as a precaution. An accounting shared early gives relatives facts to check instead of rumors to repeat.

## Power of attorney accounting gaps that look like theft

Some gaps in a power of attorney accounting look like theft but come from ordinary mistakes: paying the principal's bills from a joint account, mixing the principal's money with the agent's, or failing to keep receipts. They still need to be fixed or explained, because the accounting is judged on what it shows, not on intentions.

### The common ones

- **Commingled funds.** The guide says never to deposit the principal's money into the agent's own account. If it happened, trace every dollar in and out of that account during the period.
- **Joint accounts.** An account held jointly by the principal and the agent may be treated as the principal's money. Withdrawals for the agent's own use need explaining.
- **Gifts.** Birthday checks to grandchildren may be what the principal always did. Unless the document allows gifts, they can still be challenged.
- **Missing statements.** A month without a statement makes every later balance unprovable. Get it from the bank.

### Correcting them

Where an agent made an honest error, such as paying their own bill from the principal's account by mistake, the fix is to repay, record it, and show both the error and the repayment in the accounting. Hiding the correction is worse than the error. Where an error cannot be documented away, say so plainly in a note to the schedule.