FPA urges explicit TPB acknowledgement on CPD

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has sought a clear-cut and unequivocal acknowledgement from the Tax Practitioner’s Board that advisers who meet the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) continuing professional development (CPD) standard will have more than met the TPB continuing professional education (CPE) regime.

The TPB has mirrored many of the FASEA requirements in its proposed new CPE policy, but the FPA wants it to be more explicit in acknowledging the status of the FASEA CPD regime.

“…unless the TPB explicitly accepts CPE completed for meeting FASEA’s CPD requirements without exception or being subject to conditions, tax (financial) advisers will unfairly face an unnecessary level of duplicated red tape that will create a significant regulatory burden with no additional benefit to the client,” the FPA said.

In a submission filed with the TPB the FPA said it “strongly recommends that the revised TPB CPE policy explicitly state that the TPB will accept the tax practitioner’s compliance with the FASEA CPD requirements for the purpose of meeting the TPB’s CPE requirements”.

The submission pointed to the differences between FASEA CPD and proposed TPB CPE requirements and claimed they “demonstrate the disparity between the standards that will result in the unfair, costly, and unnecessary regulatory duplication for one type of tax practitioner – tax (financial) advisers – which will deliver no benefit for clients”.

“Rather, requiring these practitioners to adhere to a second lower standard requirement will take time to complete and only serve to drive up the cost of providing advice, which will be passed on to clients in higher fees and less time for client services.