Boutique financial planners, HNW Planning, will limit the number of accounting firms it authorises under its Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) to a maximum of 10.
With the accountants’ exemption expiring in July 2016, accountants will be required to either hold their own AFSL or become authorised under another group’s licence, if they wish to continue to set up self-managed superannuation funds for clients.
HNW principal, Robert Cumming, said the group would not offer accountants “limited licensing” under its AFSL.
“We’re mostly interested in the quality of the people we engage and partner with,” he said.
“If an accountant new to AFSL licensing requirements wishes to limit the scope of advice they can offer, then we’ll prefer to do this with our open license through restrictions to authorisation. We don’t want to mess around with the limited licensing.
“HNW is one of the licensees that independent firm, Licensing for Accountants, recommends to accountants as part of its Matching Service and we’re keen to maintain that relationship.
“We’ll only do that by ensuring we can deliver the effort needed to add the new line of business to the accounting firm.
“It needs a serious business decision to be made. The licensing is just the piece of paper that’s effectively the start gun on a long, slow and steady journey.
“So for this reason, no more than 10 accountant businesses will be on our dedicated mentoring course at any one time.”
Licensing for Accountants chief executive, Kath Bowler, said HNW was no alone in capping the number of accounting firms it licenses under its AFSL, and warned accountants that they may have limited options if they leave it until the last minute to get licensed.
