Committee backs accountant super advice extension
Accountants have received support to provide advice on all non-self managed superannuation structures after a recommendation by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (PJCCFS) was tabled in parliament yesterday out of session.
The report opens the way for accountants to provide a wide range of advice on superannuation structures without holding an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), however, they will still require an AFSL to give underlying investment advice.
The release of the recommendation ends months of lobbying by both the accountancy and financial planning industries to seek clarification on the amendments to 7.1.29a of the Financial Services Reform Act (FSRA) handed down by the Government in February.
The committee suggested accountants be required to provide clients with a disclosure document in relation to advice on superannuation fund structures, but says it is up to the accountancy industry and Treasury to discuss when disclosure is required and what form it will take.
A further qualification of the PJCCFS recommendation is that there be a dispute resolution scheme set up for the accountancy industry, similar to the Financial Industry Complaints Service (FICS).
Committee chairman, South Australian Liberal Senator Grant Chapman says the PJCCFS agreed as a general consensus that most accountants who were giving advice on SMSF structures were competent to do so, but says in light of the committee's recommendation, the Government must consider the minimum levels of education accountants should have, looking at models such as the National Finance Industry Training Advisory Board competencies.
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