One in five SMSF accountants currently offer their clients and advisers the option to access, review and action client data online, according to data from the OneVue/Investment Trends 2013 SMSF Accountant Report.
However, 23 per cent of SMSF accountants stated they wanted to offer this service in the next 12 months, and 47 per cent are considering this offering for the next few years.
“The report revealed that the perceived benefits of offering an online solution include greater administration efficiencies, accessibility and improved client interaction, as well as more timely information,” said OneVue’s head of strategy, sales and service, David Storm.
“For those not interested in providing such a solution, the main reasons were assurance of data security, cost and lack of client demand. However, one in four said they would reconsider if they were assured data was secure,” he added.
“One of the big pushes we’ve seen in the SMSF sector has certainly been around cloud-based computing solutions, particularly when it comes to administration efficiencies, greater accessibility and providing more timely information.”
These figures surprise me, but then again they don’t.
Only 20% of SMSF accountants making client information available online? I suppose the reason is that most accountants only do SMSF accounts once a year, in arrears, and it is almost an afterthought. Not much good publishing that information online!
This is NOT GOOD ENOUGH and clients and especially advisors should expect access to accurate and up to date SMSF information – how else can accurate advice be given or decisions be made?