Accountants deserve financial advice authority: submission
Accountants are more qualified to give financial advice than planners, largely due to their working knowledge of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), a small business owner believes.
In a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, sole practitioner and accountant Keith Compton called for an extension to accountants' advising powers because of perceived knowledge gaps when it came to advisers around complex investment and tax schemes.
"Yes the planner may know where and how to invest a fund's monies — albeit with their preferred investment organisation, but other than that they generally have a limited knowledge of the day-to-day matters affecting a self-managed fund," he said.
Compton dismissed the need for a financial adviser step in when a client establishes or closes an SMSF and said accountants could manage the procedure adequately alone.
"Accountants in practice should be able to retain their ability to provide common sense advice as to the setting up, running and organisation of a self-managed fund, without the need to include another level of advice from an adviser who it may be argued would provide very little additional comfort," he said.
"After all, we have been doing it for a long time."
When it came to more complex investments, like derivatives, Compton claimed there were no current qualifications that prepared planners to advise on such schemes and said higher standards were a necessity.
"What is needed is for financial planners to be degree qualified, not qualified by what is nothing more than a "cereal box" qualification," he concluded.
Recommended for you
Compared to four years ago when the divide between boutique and large licensees were largely equal, adviser movements have seen this trend shift in light of new licensees commencing.
As ongoing market uncertainty sees advisers look beyond traditional equity exposure, Fidante has found adviser interest in small caps and emerging markets for portfolio returns has almost doubled since April.
CoreData has shared the top areas of demand for cryptocurrency advice but finds investors are seeking advisers who actively invest in the asset themselves.
With regulators ‘raising the bar’ on retirement planning, Lonsec Research and Ratings has urged advisers to place greater focus on sequencing and longevity risk as they navigate clients through the shifting landscape.
