BT moves accountants onto cloud to improve SMSF services
BT Financial group has announced a partnership with software provider BGL Corporate Solutions, in a move that it hopes will help accountants make the most of BT Panorama’s self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) solution.
The partnership will allow accountants to better collaborate with advisers and investors on the establishment and management of SMSFs. Accountants will be able to access BGL’s Simple Fund 360 from BT Panorama, giving them insight into investment data, data entry and the processing of transactions in Simple Fund 360.
BT Financial Group’s head of distribution, Jo Moxey, said that she hoped the new partnership would lead to better collaboration in the management of SMSFs.
“We know that many accountants collaborate with advisers in managing their clients’ SMSFs and they are looking for smarter ways to work together to best serve trustees,” she said.
Investment Trends’ March 2017 SMSF Accountant report, which was based on a survey of 1,248 accountants in public practice, found that two thirds of accountants wanted better accounting and planning system integration to make it easier to collaborate with advisers.
Moving to the cloud would also help give accountants a holistic view of their client’s position more easily. BGL managing director, Ron Lesh, said that previously accounts had to rely on manual or paper-based systems, limiting efficiency.
“Today accountants are increasingly looking to cloud-based solutions to help drive efficiency and service their clients,” he said.
This partnership reflects a wider trend in the SMSF industry of moving onto the cloud. According to the Australian Taxation Office’s March 2017 SMSF Statistical Report, approximately 250,000 of Australia’s 590,000 SMSFs are already administered via the cloud.
BGL has seen growth in use of the cloud over the past three years, estimating that 30 per cent of its SMSF administration clients have moved onto the cloud in that period.
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