Paradigm joins chase for accountants
With the accountants' exemption expiring in eight months, Paradigm Group has joined the growing number of advice firms offering accounting firms an outsourced Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) facility.
Paradigm founder and managing director, Patrick Nalty, said the firm's accounting licensing model, had attracted two "sizeable" accounting practices, who have shortlisted it as a possible outsourcing option.
Nalty said that both firms were committed to having a solution in place to enable accountants to provide limited advice to self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) before the 30 June 2016 cut-off.
"Paradigm's offer reflects both the opportunities and challenges that accounting firms face in providing financial advice and the group expects its end-to-end outsource solution to provide a steady stream of enquiries and interest as the July 2016 deadline approaches," he said.
The firm's move to offer accountants an alternative to securing their own AFSL comes after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed that less than half of the 160 accountants who had applied for a licence, before August 2015, had been approved.
ASIC deputy chairman, Peter Kell, said the regulator had granted just 70 licences to accountants since the process began two years ago.
"Accountants should ensure they've allowed enough time to properly prepare an application and to undertake any relevant training," he said.
"Where an application is in good order ASIC can assess the application within four week, but if further details are required because the information provided is insufficient this will take longer."
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