FASEA should draw line between accountants and advisers: AccountantsIQ
AccountantsIQ founder, Bronny Speed, has accused the Financial Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) of not comparing apples with apples, finding that an overhaul of accountants’ qualifications might be a detriment to the industry.
Speed said she examined the confusion in the marketplace around the proposed FASEA reforms and found that accountants are well-positioned as far as the standards are concerned and should be able to continue to practice in their chosen field without further study.
Speed posed that accountants shouldn’t be subject to the same study requirements just because others in the industry had done the wrong thing by their clients.
“This thought is further strengthened by the fact that all financial advisers have to successfully complete an exam by 1 January 2021, simply to be able to advise beyond that date,” she said. “So, why should ‘study for study’s sake’ even be considered? What’s the point of further bridging courses, when the abovementioned exam will contain much of the same subject matter?”
AUTHOR
Anastasia Santoreneos
Recommended for you
BT is to launch a new low-cost “Focus” investment menu for its Panorama platform this October, in partnership with Vanguard, seeking to compete with industry superannuation funds.
Net gains of financial advisers have already doubled since the start of FY25, according to this week’s Padua Wealth Data, with momentum gathering pace far faster than the previous financial year.
National advice firm MiQ Private Wealth has appointed a new chief executive to lead the business through a “transformative era” after penning a partnership deal with AZ NGA earlier this month.
WT Financial’s managing director, Keith Cullen, believes the firm’s Hubco model with Merchant Wealth Partners will be a “repeatable growth model” for the business as it scales its adviser numbers.
