Regulation must come with accountability

The recommendations from the Hayne Royal Commission’s to create a new ‘super-regulatory’ body to oversee the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) should come with accountability and appropriate resources, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).

However, the IPA argued, the fundamentals of this process, which would require appropriate funding and resources for the regulators, should be also addressed.

“While on face value, having a regulatory body regulating the regulators may appear a regulatory overkill, if it achieves the desired accountability outcomes, it may have merit,” Andrew Conway, IPA’s chief executive, said.

Also, the institute stressed that further regulatory burden being filtered down on the shoulders of small business operators and, in particular, the research showed that am increasing number of small businesses would continue to be concerned with the impact of laws and regulations on their ability to run their businesses and innovate.

“We also do not want to see the targeting of small targets due to additional pressure placed on ASIC to enforce, while there are more complex and yet, bigger fish to fry,” Conway said.

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“Up until recent times, ASIC have had the regulatory teeth on paper but not the resources and funding to actually bite so they should be given the good grace to prove themselves.”