New super association aiming to launch next year
In abid to provide adequate education and professional standards for advisers specialising in the self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) industry, The Strategist Group is planning to establish an SMSF adviser association by early next year.
“There is an existing association that looks after the trustees of the funds, but there is no group that actually looks after SMSF advisers,” Strategist Group managing director Grant Abbott says.
“There are 250,000 funds out there and a lot of them are looked after by accountants or financial planners without the specialist knowledge. We wanted to start to raise the education standard of the industry, rather than have the tax office audit all the funds,” he says.
The association, expected to be called the Association of SMSF Advisers, has already established a working party to discuss possible structural issues.
Abbott says to accurately cover issues such as professional standards, research and education, he will look for guidance from associations already in existence.
He says the proposed new association will not in any way compete with either the Financial Planning Association (FPA) or Small Independent Superannuation Funds Association (SISFA).
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