Planners instigating more SMSFs than accountants – survey

Financial planners are now involved in instigating more self-managed super funds (SMSFs) than accountants, according to a new Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA)/Investment Trends survey of the sector.

However, the survey, ‘SMSF Trends’, also found that both planners and accountants were generally falling in number as the instigators of SMSFs.

The survey of 2,775 SMSF members found that planners had established 35 per cent of SMSFs since 2002, compared to 23 per cent for accountants.

By contrast, 36 per cent of respondents who set up a SMSF before 1999 claimed to have done so mainly on the advice of an accountant.

These figures related only to the role of accountants as instigators, with the majority of SMSFs still being set up with the assistance of an accountant.

Accountants were still more widely used for ongoing SMSF advice than planners, used by 53 per cent of respondents, compared to 27 per cent for planners, and 13 per cent for stockbrokers.

IFSA chief executive Richard Gilbert said the decline in the role of accountants as instigators of SMSFs reflected the increased regulatory scrutiny of accounting advice in this sector.

He added that the fall in the use of planners and accountants collectively as instigators was consistent with another survey result that investors found it easier to launch SMSFs.

“This reflects a broader trend in the market, with SMSFs increasingly being established at the behest of investors, rather than at an adviser’s suggestion,” he said.

The survey also found that SMSFs were now the second largest category of super behind retail super.

As of March 2006, the survey found SMSFs held $208 billion in super assets, up 26 per cent on the assets figure as of March 2005.