Accountants may prefer AR route
Many accountants will take the authorised representative route rather than set up their own Australian financial services licence (AFSL) as they move to become licensed to provide advice.
That is the view of self-managed super fund (SMSF) expert and SMSF Academy managing director Aaron Dunn, who suspects 80 per cent of those wanting to give SMSF advice would opt to become an authorised representative, while only 20 per cent would venture into the self-licensing space.
"Many accountants would be confident in their ability to provide advice but within the financial services framework they need the support at least for the first few years to get them through that," Dunn said.
"At some point they may fold themselves back into self-licence but not until they're comfortable they could take the training wheels off."
Accountants will have to be proficient and have the resources to do statements of advice, and understand financial services guides and AFSL obligations.
Accountants are also going to delay starting the licensing application process, which means they will allow insufficient time to transition into the new regime.
They also would not have given enough attention to education requirements, such as becoming RG146-compliant.
Dunn said accountants have not been given any "magic pill" to get the process right to date.
But with the SMSF Association and the professional accounting bodies trying to lead them on the right path, he said accountants can expect to see more information available to help them make decisions.
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