Accountants have been acting mostly rationally in their reluctance to become fully licensed under the new accountant licensing regime, according to Premium Wealth Management chief executive, Paul Harding-Davis.
Commenting on recent data confirming that accountants had been slow to take-up the limited licensing option, Harding-Davis said that, objectively, many accountants had probably made the judgement that it was more expedient to become a limited authorised representative.
“That would explain what we are seeing,” he said. “It is possibly a case of accountants simply deciding against taking the full licensing route and opting to undertake RG 146 — something that they can complete in two or three months.”
Harding-Davis’ analysis has come at the same time as a number of dealer group executives have expressed concern that the new accountants licensing regime has not been appropriately understood by professional indemnity insurance providers.
They said insurers had been quoting premium prices which they did not believe were commensurate with the level of risk involved in having accountants working under umbrella licensing.
