More accountants to seek full licences
The implementation of the ‘limited licence’ regime is likely to result in more accountants becoming fully licensed to provide financial advice, according to JNP Capital director Jason Phillips.
Going down the limited licence path shouldn’t change a great deal of what accounting practices do from a day-to-day perspective, said Phillips, who is an accounting practice business broker.
“I don’t think you’ll find a wave of accountants going out and getting a licence and becoming ‘hard sell’ risk salesmen,” he said.
But he added that limited licence regime would likely result in more accountants obtaining a full financial services licence.
“Once accountants start to understand what the limitations of a limited licence are they may feel that it’s too restricting, and that the cost of getting a full licence is not that prohibitive,” Phillips said.
The onset of the limited licence regime is fuelling a perception that accounting practices are more suited to self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) work, which is likely to push the values of accounting practices up, he said.
“If you think about the type of advice the consumer would be comfortable receiving from an accountant – strategic advice and holistic tax advice – I think that lends itself to the SMSF market,” Phillips said.
A typical business-services accounting practice in a suburban area would typically have 20 to 40 per cent of its clients in SMSFs, he said.
“The most attractive client for a suburban or smaller CBD practice is a small business owner or professional. They would more than likely have an SMSF, or the criteria for an SMSF if they don’t have one already,” Phillips said.
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