Open Forum

I'm looking for insight on how other title companies handle wire release responsibilities and how duties are separated between closing staff and accounting.

At our company, we follow ALTA Best Practices for gathering and independently verifying wire instructions. Currently:

• The closer enters the wire information into our title software

• The closing assistant enters the wire details into the bank portal

• Ideally, we would like a third-party verification where the accountant, closing manager, or closing team lead performs the final review and actually releases the wire

We are receiving pushback from our accounting department, who feel that releasing wires is not an accounting function. As it stands, our accounting team is not involved in closing-related tasks such as receiving wires, verifying wires, or resolving clerical wire issues.

My questions for the group:

• How do you define what is a closing function versus an accounting function when it comes to wire handling?

• Who performs the final verification and wire release at your company?

• Is your accounting department involved at all in the wire process, or is it fully handled by the closing team?

I'd appreciate hearing how others have structured this to remain compliant, secure, and practical. Thanks in advance! 

------------------------------
Rebecca Wollet
Executive Vice President
Frontier Title & Closing LLC
Hartland WI
+1 (262) 361-4466
------------------------------

Hi Rebecca,

Great questions and ones we've had lengthy internal discussions on as well. The key for us is that releasing wires is not "accounting" by definition, but it is a financial control function that should be handled by someone with authority who is independent from intake/entry. That separation of duties is what protects the company and holds up under audit.

We draw the line this way:

• Accounting function: anything involving the release of funds via wire

• Closing function: anything involving the release of funds via check

Our closers do not have access to our online banking, so they are not able to release wires.

Our Process:

• Closers gather the amounts due and collect the initial wire instructions

• Our funder (accounting department) independently verifies the wire instructions using a third-party system (we previously used CertifID and now use CloseSimple)

• The funder then enters the verified wire details into the bank portal

• Our CFO reverifies that the information in the portal matches and releases the wire, with the CEO as backup when needed. 

This structure gives us clean separation of duties and keeps the responsibility for releasing wired funds with designated financial authority, while the closing team focuses on the closing-side details.

Hope that helps!

------------------------------
Natalie Gaines
CEO
H&H Settlement Services
Glenside PA
+1 (484) 207-6701
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-08-2026 10:07
From: Rebecca Wollet
Subject: Release of Wires

I'm looking for insight on how other title companies handle wire release responsibilities and how duties are separated between closing staff and accounting.

At our company, we follow ALTA Best Practices for gathering and independently verifying wire instructions. Currently:

• The closer enters the wire information into our title software

• The closing assistant enters the wire details into the bank portal

• Ideally, we would like a third-party verification where the accountant, closing manager, or closing team lead performs the final review and actually releases the wire

We are receiving pushback from our accounting department, who feel that releasing wires is not an accounting function. As it stands, our accounting team is not involved in closing-related tasks such as receiving wires, verifying wires, or resolving clerical wire issues.

My questions for the group:

• How do you define what is a closing function versus an accounting function when it comes to wire handling?

• Who performs the final verification and wire release at your company?

• Is your accounting department involved at all in the wire process, or is it fully handled by the closing team?

I'd appreciate hearing how others have structured this to remain compliant, secure, and practical. Thanks in advance! 

------------------------------
Rebecca Wollet
Executive Vice President
Frontier Title & Closing LLC
Hartland WI
+1 (262) 361-4466
------------------------------