Lonsdale supports accountants specialising in SMSF advice

Lonsdale Financial Group has offered extended support to accountants wishing to continue giving self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) advice after the financial services industry reforms are introduced, by allowing them to align with Lonsdale as authorised representatives.

The exemption for accountants providing SMSF advice may end once the reforms are pushed through, as they will be required to become authorised representatives of an Australian Financial Services licensee.

Lonsdale’s executive director, Kon Costas, said under the company’s Self Managed Superannuation Fund Specialist Package, accountants will be able to retain their SMSF clients and continue to provide them with strategic and structural advice, “rather than outsourcing this valuable revenue stream”.

“In recent times we have had a high level of enquiry and demand from both our aligned accounting and non-aligned accounting practices looking for licensing solutions to authorise their SMSF specialists so that they can continue to provide the advice their clients are accustomed to receiving whilst protecting their business from the regulatory minefield,” Costas said.

According to Costas, the biggest hurdle and deterrent for these accountants is the minimum training requirements prior to becoming licensed, noting they will be offered access to preferred pricing training for those that decide to pursue licensing.

There are currently 120 SMSF Specialist Authorised Representatives in the Lonsdale network.