Accountants will be able to provide broader, strategic, holistic advice to clients under the Government's new limited licensing regime replacing the accountants' exemption, according to the chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), Lee White.
Discussing last week's government announcement on the ICAA website, White said the limited licensing regime represented the best outcome for which the organisation could have hoped.
He said that after more than two years of concerted advocacy work, consultation and a high visibility public awareness campaign "we're finally satisfied that the Government's solution – a conditional AFSL [Australian financial services licence] for accountants – addresses the deficiencies of the current accountants' exemption and enables accountants to provide a broader range of advice to assist their clients".
White said that while the new limited licensing regime would not be without its challenges, it "will enable accountants to provide broader, strategic, holistic advice to their clients".
