Low accountant licence take-ups ‘astounding’
Accountants were not realising that their capacity to provide advice next year, following the removal of the accountants' exemption, was being snatched by legislation, not regulation.
National accounting and financial advisory firm, William Buck's director, Fausto Pastro, said he was astounded and puzzled at the low number of accountants who have applied for and been granted limited Australian financial services licences (AFSL), and warned they were running out of time.
He said while accountants were listening to the corporate regulator, they did not fully understand the gravity of the situation.
He also suggested the low take-up of limited licences was due to the fact that accountants did not believe they would need to provide personal advice and could instead stick to providing general information, and preparing income tax returns and financial statements.
But he warned that if accountants wanted to be considered as trusted advisers, they would have to attain at least a limited licence.
"If I was an accountant I would want to protect my ability to continue offering personal advice even if it's not specific investment product advice. But certainly personal advice around superannuation and investment strategies, I would want to protect that," he said.
CPA Australia announced earlier this year they would establish CPA Australia Advice Pty Ltd as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPA Australia, and begin operating in the financial advice space early next year.
Pastro speculated that accountants were perhaps waiting for the likes of CPA Advice or AMP's SMSF Advice to engage with them, but said this would not necessarily make them compliant with the law.
"I don't think they can simply provide accountants a licence whether full or limited to allow accountants to operate in the manner that they've been operating because they simply won't be compliant with the law," Pastro said.
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