Can planners help accountants in tough new world?
Planners need to take the initiative in reaching out to accountants to handle the new licensing arrangements following the expiration of the accountant's exemption, according to Melbourne-based financial services consultant, John Wiseman.
According to Wiseman, one of the consequences of the new licensing regime is that the real cost of running a compliant self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) is about to be revealed and many trustees and members may be unwilling to pay the higher cost or adhere to more stringent requirements.
He said that in these circumstances he believed planners should be seeking to work with accountants on the new licensing arrangements even in circumstances where the planners did not have a particular expertise in SMSF advice.
"A major reason why more planners have not sought to contact accountants is their speciality and competency is not related to SMSF. I strongly believe all planners irrespective of their expertise should be acting NOW to engage with accountants," Wiseman said.
"Furthermore, I would suggest that there are a very large number of SMSF trustees and members that if they are not aware now — they soon will be that things are going to change — and change significantly," he said.
Wiseman said that for those accountants who have deferred making a decision or are unlikely to continue providing SMSF advice, a meeting with a planner could well be the solution to their difficulty.
He also claimed that the provision of insurance/risk protection would be another area that would be closely scrutinised by authorities and added that "past practices, of a cursory tick to the insurance and protection question in the annual audit will simply not be acceptable".
"A more robust and compliant review will be required in order to insure the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are satisfied that meets the requirements of the fund compliance auditor (not the SMSF auditor), the professional indemnity (PI) providers — and hopefully not the legal team required to defend your actions in a court of law or ASIC enquiry," Wiseman said.
"The SMSF insurance requirements will need to be supported by well documented needs analysis, appropriate quotes and recommendations with all details included in a statement of advice (SOA)," he said.
Recommended for you
The FAAA is hopeful the education and experience pathway deadline will be the “last big thing” that could cause an adviser exodus but concern now turns to advisers moving to the wholesale space.
Invest Blue’s managing director says the firm is aiming to implement responsible private market access to its retail clients following the launch of its SMA last month.
After launching its digital advice offering earlier this year, AMP has announced the next phase of its strategy, providing its users with more personalised guidance.
Advice firms are increasing their base salaries by as much as $50k to attract talent, particularly seeking advisers with a portable book of clients, but equity offerings remain off the table.
