APESB to ratify amended APES 230 on Friday
The Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board (APESB) will meet on Friday, at which time it is expected to ratify its APES 230 standard along lines much more acceptable to the major accounting groups and accountants involved in the financial planning industry.
The APESB's approach is outlined in documentation released ahead of the board meeting and appears to reflect the intense lobbying efforts put in by both CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, particularly with respect to asset-based fees and the treatment of insurance advice.
The position expected to be ratified on Friday is substantially different to that released by the APESB last November. That previous stance created warnings that many accountants providing financial advice might be forced to exit the major accounting bodies to protect their commercial positions.
Count Financial chief executive David Lane yesterday welcomed the changes indicated in the board papers and said they represented a significant improvement on those originally released in November last year.
"I regard this as a win for the end client and a win for accountancy-based financial advisers," he said.
Lane said he regarded one of the most important elements of change indicated in the APESB papers as being those related to the best interests duty, which was now much more closely aligned with the requirements contained in the Future of Financial Advice changes.
He said he now believed the direction being taken by the APESB was far less likely to act as an impediment to accountants acting in the advice arena.
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