A new industry body has been launched with the hope of raising industry standards amongst financial planners operating in the self managed super fund (SMSF) sector.
The body, the SMSF Professionals’ Association (SPA), will aim to work closely with theAustralian Securities and Investment Commission(ASIC), theAustralian Taxation Office(ATO) and other regulatory bodies, to promote compliance and education to financial planners working in the SMSF field.
“There are significant penalties in place for financial planners and other SMSF advisers who give poor advice, and recent news reports show there is a less than ideal public perception of the activities of financial planners,” SPA chief executive Andrea Slattery says.
Slattery says due to the risks for SMSF trustees and advisers in cases of compliance breaches, proper education and information was warranted.
“It is fair to say that only a handful of trustees and their advisers in the SMSF industry are fully aware of their compliance obligations. This is in stark contrast to activity in mainstream funds which have compliance committees and legal teams to monitor and control,” Slattery says.
According to SPA chairman, Peter Fry, the absence of formal requirements needed to be a licensed SMSF adviser has also resulted in an expansion in the number of professionals providing advice and recommending SMSFs to clients. In response to this issue, SPA will be working with the National Financial Industry Training Authority Board (NFITAB) to develop specialist accredited SMSF courses.
Funding for the association will be provided through membership fees and as yet unnamed sponsors.
The association will also have an alliance with the Strategist Group, which sponsored the industry body in its formative stages and will now provide an education course for the group. Strategist Group managing director Grant Abbott will also sit on SPA’s education board.
Slattery says the fledgling group is now in the market for another sponsor, although she says the group will remain independent.
According to the new association, more than $100 billion worth of assets reside in Australia’s SMSFs, an industry which has grown at a compound rate of 20 per cent each year since 1994.
SPA is also planning to support and educate accountants and auditors on issues surrounding self-managed superannuation funds.
