SMSF auditors should 'wait and hold' on licensing
The cost of registering with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) auditor is likely to be in the hundreds of dollars rather than thousands, according to Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals' Association director of education Graeme Colley.
"[I've been to some presentations] recently where people are trying to convince others that they should be licensed in some way prior to all this stuff coming in," he said.
"Our advice at the moment is just wait and hold, because it may not be as expensive as some of these people are saying," Colley added.
At one of the presentations Colley attended recently, it was suggested that it could cost as much as $13,000 "for an adviser to become licensed in one of these spaces that's going to be available".
"We would say that's fairly high. We've got a fairly good idea that the fee from ASIC will be in the hundreds of dollars and certainly not in the thousands," he said.
Colley's comments follow the release of Australian Taxation Office-commissioned social research by Colmar Brunton, which surveyed a number of superannuation professionals.
The survey found that 77 per cent of SMSF auditors are likely to seek registration with ASIC. In addition, 57 per cent said that the cost of registration was an important issue - and it was significantly more important for those performing less than 20 audits per year.
Eighty-eight per cent of SMSF auditors who recently attended a Continuing Professional Development training course rated the usefulness of the course as high, according to the survey.
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