Academic questions FASEA filings

Financial services academic, Adrian Raftery has questioned whether the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) has fallen foul of Corporations Law by failing to lodge its financial statements.

Raftery, who was recently appointed as chair of the Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals (AIOFP) has taken to social media to suggest that, according to his reading of Corporations Law, FASEA should have lodged its annual audited financial statements and report with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and that he had been unable to find such a lodgement on the ASIC web site.

He suggested that the only exception for FASEA would have been if the company’s turnover was less than $250,000 with other limited reporting if under $1 million.

“With cheques coming from the five big players, I am doubtful that the Authority is under either of these thresholds (unless they are treating these contributions for accounting purposes as either loans or capital rather than revenue),” Raftery said.

“In light of the Royal Commission, it’s time for the public to see just how much the four banks and AMP are funding the Authority (together with their various submissions to date) - I’m sure this is a surprise to many including Commissioner Hayne!” he said.

“Time to see the Directors’ Remuneration and Related Parties note. Time for the public to assess the performance of this board based on output to date.

“Time to stop these selected invited ‘representative’ consultations and release the updated standards and Legislative Instrument.

“Time to start making public appearances and announcements.”