Accountants and financial planners must be well matched
It is important when establishing a referral relationship between accountants and financial planners that they are properly matched - or there is the risk of the relationship turning sour for both parties, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).
Many IPA members have been coming forward with stories about how they've been burned by financial planners, according to IPA executive general manager - representation and innovation, Vicki Stylianou.
The IPA itself recently announced a partnership with both AXA and MLC to provide its 22,000 members with a comprehensive financial services package. Stylianou stressed that when a relationship between accountants and financial planners failed it was not necessarily the planner's fault and that there were stories on both sides.
What the IPA has built into its system is an attempt to minimise the opportunity to have people mismatched, she said.
"A lot of the time, apart from competencies, you have to match people up properly, look at what the accountant's speciality is and the types of clients, the things they might be interested in," she said.
"You've got to spend a fair bit of time working out what that relationship is going to be. Sometimes it's not just one planner or planning group; different clients might have different needs and specialities," she said.
The times that accountants had been let down through a relationship with a financial planner had been the result of things such as their clients being given inadequate financial advice, the planner not taking their full circumstances into consideration, or referring clients on to another provider.
"You have to match them, it's a relationship like any other," she said. "If you put the right relationship in place from the beginning you've got a better chance."
Money Management Top Stories
News: ANZ warns of FOFA timetable risks
2011 Top Five - Failures: Industry super funds' research crumbles under scrutiny
2011 Top Five - Winners: Industry super funds KO financial planners
News: HUB24 picks up two more dealer groups
News in Focus: Australia's financial planners set to pay a heavy price for euro crisis
Recommended for you
Advisers at DOD Bookkeeping, which received an $11 million penalty last week, received as much as 40 per cent of their remuneration via a bonus when clients purchased a property via a SMSF, according to court documents.
Private wealth manager Escala Partners has launched an end-to-end investment platform to strengthen its alternatives capability as clients seek sophisticated vehicles.
Perpetual Wealth Management has hired two advisers from Ord Minnett as part of five hires, just weeks after the rival firm announced it had picked up six from Perpetual Private.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a Perth financial services firm following payments to its clients by the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort after a failed managed investment scheme.
