Speaking to SMSF Adviser, the Institute of Public Accountants executive general manager, leadership Ms Stylianou said early indications from various industry surveys suggested that 30 per cent of accountants were interested in getting licensed in 2013, but only 25 per cent in 2014.
“Over the last six months it was expected, or hoped, that accountants would start applying to either obtain a limited license through ASIC or become authorised representatives of AFSL holders. Early estimates do not seem to have been realised,” Ms Stylianou said.
In relation to the limited license, treasury estimated that about 10,000 accountants would apply, Ms Stylianou said. So far, approximately 20-30 have obtained a limited license.
However, Ms Stylianou said this figure may improve “dramatically” once accountants realised that the requirements for applying for a limited license were not as onerous as they were at the beginning of the transition period.
“To its credit, ASIC has made the application process more practical; and has issued extensive guidance on how to apply,” Ms Stylianou said.
“Compliance once a license has been granted is another matter; and some accountants may not fully realise that about 90 per cent of the Corporations Act applies to the limited license including the licensing obligations in section 912A.”
Ms Stylianou also indicated getting a licence cannot be left to the last minute, and that accountants need to allow themselves enough time to deal with ASIC’s requirements.
“Accountants have to accept the changes and get on with deciding how to respond to them,” she said.
I attended a seminar on this very topic, put on by a very reputable group and the message was clear – there is no need to register yet and there is no need to hurry to obtain a registration.
I looked at the accountants cases…
a majority related to Tax Fraud and NOT Client Fraud!! The others related to Claiming unlawful Deductions on behalf of clients.
I wouldnt recommend a financial planner because I havent come accross one that actually provides any benefit. Im not saying im any better… Im saying they serve no purpose. and if anything given their costs and performance they are a wast of money
[quote name=”Rick”]Don’t waste your time Ken. George VC is still living in a stone age Commodore-64 past that no longer exists. Let him and his like minded colleagues bathe in their delusional, self congratulatory bubble for a little while longer. Sooner or later, inward looking elements of the Accounting profession will be faced with serious competitive disruption, forcing them to finally think and behave more collaberatively, or perish. Until then, these flat-earthers (as with any industry) will continue to kid themselves into believing that they are indispensable. By contrast, most Financial Planners have already embraced the future and are moving forward.[/quote]
Really? Well Rick, you probably drive a rusty 64 Commodore to see your clients, except that you park it around the corner so they cant see they are dealing with an uneducated salesman. Put a tie on as well, you all look like slobs!
Yet another divisive comment Fred Flintstone. Clearly George has too much time on his hands. It would be interesting to see a list of Accountants responsible for mis-selling SMSFs and managed investment schemes, but then I’d hate to pop George’s little bubble.
I googled financial planner jailed + Australia.
Unfortunately, the 1000 word limit here prevents me form listing all 15 pages of hits.
Try it yourself, it reads like a rogues gallery and I found it a good laugh!
Well said Stefano and “Voice of Reason!”
Ayrton, you couldn’t recommend a FP because you’re better and more experienced than them all! You’re the epitome of the egotistical, under informed fool I was illustrating. There is not an industry or profession on the planet that is so pure as to be devoid of crooks and thieves. None, it’s simple, human nature. We have a duty to our clients, not ourselves. I believe that more and more of yours and my colleagues already recognise this and I sincerely hope that your antiquated way of thinking self-eradicates soon. The beneficiaries of this will be clients firstly and secondarily our combined industries.
Ayrton, as an financial planner with an undergraduate degree in accountancy, a masters in financial planning, specialist SMSF qualifications, decades of experience in the financial markets and investments and who is independent and doesn’t accept commissions, I take extreme umbrage at your ill-considered rant.
There are dishonest bastards in any profession and accountancy attracts more than its fair share. Out of interest I Googled “accountant sentenced to jail” + Australia and this is a small sample of what popped up including date, sentence and size of fraud:
7/14, 5 yrs, $335k
4/14, 3 yrs, $8m
7/13, 4 yrs, $2.4m
10/13, 8 yrs, $1.7m
9/13, 2 yrs, $119k
3/13, 6 yrs, >$1m
8/12, 9 yrs, $5m
8/10, 8yrs, $19m
11/12, 5 yrs, $159k
2/12, 7 yrs, $45.3m
8/12, 8 yrs 11m, $5m
10/13, 1 yr, N/A
I could not resist anymore once Ayrton has made the sweeping claims.
We should (all) be very careful with inflammatory remarks where there is little if any clear basis that anything can be ‘black and white’.
Our business applies across all areas of advice, admin and accounting so I am reasonably placed to comment and simply suggest that anyone who thinks any vocation is purer than another,really needs to re-think that position.
Ayrton, I am saddened to read that you have not been able to find an adviser to recommend to your clients in the whole time you have been helping them with your expertise.
All the best….
I’m an accountant and i often get asked by clients if I could recommend a financial planner… My reply is, “I know many but couldn’t recommend one!”. In the 25 years I have been practicing as an accountant I have had dealings with many financial planners and recommending a financial planner was a quick way of losing my client base. Clients respect accountants above all professions so we have to be careful to not abuse their trust. The reason why accountants are more respected than financial planners is because we don’t sell anything. We provide a service. Accountants care for clients whereas financial planners are self driven and care for where their next bonus holidays comes from… And you only have to look at the law courts to see proof… How many tax agents have gone to court for ripping of their clients… How many financial planners have gone to court? It’s pretty simple and black and white to me. George, save your breathe. It’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic
@ Rick – do you treat everyone who disagrees with you in such an insulting manner? Perhaps George’s comments struck a little too close to home?
Consider this, and I await your insults, perhaps accountants feel resentment at having to get another license to do what they have been doing for years mainly due to some financial planner’s misconduct and their addiction to trailing commissions that have adversely influenced the impartiality of their advice. The reforms have not come about primarily due to accountants actions.
Perhaps the reason “most Financial Planners have already embraced the future and are moving forward” is because the past is not that complimentary to sections of the profession.
Well said Rick. George VC uses words like “most” and “majority” based on his “lifetime” of professionalism and thinks he knows best for his clients. Some accountants and FPs actually care about their clients. Unfortunately, some like George, care more for their egos.
“Most” of my colleagues prefer to work with Accountants because theyre actually complimentary professions. We understand that nobody (sorry George, not even you) knows everything and we place our clients first. Better to pool our resources and work together for the financial well being of clients. So George, embrace the future and collaborate or just resent me and my kind. Our industry recognises that OTC based on quality research like most” or “majority or your lifetime of narrow mindedness is dangerous for financial wellbeing.
No-one is telling you to say or do anything. Just get a licence to give advice or stick to (ac)counting. Better still, collaborate with a professional adviser!
Don’t waste your time Ken. George VC is still living in a stone age Commodore-64 past that no longer exists. Let him and his like minded colleagues bathe in their delusional, self congratulatory bubble for a little while longer. Sooner or later, inward looking elements of the Accounting profession will be faced with serious competitive disruption, forcing them to finally think and behave more collaberatively, or perish. Until then, these flat-earthers (as with any industry) will continue to kid themselves into believing that they are indispensable. By contrast, most Financial Planners have already embraced the future and are moving forward.
George VC – what source of stats do you have which enables you to state “the majority of FPs” and imply that all FPs only completed a 1-week course??
Most professionals find it hard to believe in the term “Financial Planner”. It implies expertise in taxation, superannuation, finance,insurance, estate planning and of course investments. Lawyers,accountants,stock brokers, bankers, mortage brokers and insurance specialists work all of their lives to develop expertise in just one of these disciplines as they are so complicated that they require it.
I have no problem with a financial planner who works as a “project manager” to ensure all of these areas are covered off. By definition a project manager will delegate the required services to the appropriate professional. They may indeed maintain expertise in one these areas themselves.
Unfortunately, the majority of FPs will bluff their way through ALL of these disciplines as a so called expert.
Your FP license does not make you an expert. Like most professionals I resent being told what I can and cannot say by someone who became RG146 compliant after a one week course.
What a narrow minded, poorly formed and ignorant viewpoint George. I just finished unwinding a SMSF that a couple who at ages 60 and 61 and with zero previous financial experience were advised by their accountant, to start. Now 64 & 65 and ready to retire and having only ever owned TD’s, they couldnt justify paying $2,500 pa audit fees for under $300k funds. Same accountant charged them $350 to advise them that it wasn’t worth their while converting to pension phase.
Is this what you mean when you say that youre …clever enough to do it without requiring 80 page, backside covering disclosure and is that the quality of advice you offer your clients?
In my view and experience, most accountants are better than this illustration and equally most FP’s are better than the minority involved in the CBA saga so to tar them all with one fat brush is unbelievably nave and petty. Perhaps you may also benefit from a broader truth source than TV Nightly News?
Well, Ralph, from my experience, many accountants completely ignore crucial components of clients’ financial well-being, including wealth protection (personal insurances) and investment, adopting a “neutral” position resulting in lost opportunities, and not helping clients. Your comments (like those of many accountants in this forum) are very generalised and dismissive of the majority of financial planners who, like you, have close relationships with their clients and work hard to achieve positive outcomes for them, including referral to other professionals where necessary.
I agree with George. From experience, Real Estate agents always say it is a great time to buy real estate, Financial planners always spruik shares and managed investments and both highlight the perils of the other investments. Mainly I suspect as there is no financial benefit for them if they can’t sell something to the client. Accountants tend to take a more balanced view and point out the positives and minuses of both without making specific recommendations based n trying to make a commission. I find it strange that the professionals that are most likely to give impartial advice get more limitations on what they can advise on and now require a licence to do so.
And usually without insulting people who disagree with them!
I strongly believe that George has made a great statement. I do not personally believe that his intention is to offend. He has stated facts that are publicly known and I do also believe as previously stated that as qualified accountants in private practice we are most certainly well equipped with the knowledge of setting up a self managed Superfund. This we have done for years. I am not suggesting that I advice clients as to the types of investments they should make within the fund but surely advising on setting up the structure and the tax related benefits is what we are qualified to do!!! What tax knowledge does the average financial planner have, some comments would be appreciated?
[quote name=”New Cassandra”]Spot on George. History will look back on the barring of allowing disinterested accounting professionals from using what they have been trained for to advise clients as a disaster. The insurance salesmen who did a mickey mouse course to call themselves “Financial Planners” will be the ruin of many gullible people.[/quote]
Seriously? Is that really your viewpoint about all Financial Planners? If you are an Accountant, your myopic remarks imply woeful ignorance and poor character, you should know better.
Spot on George. History will look back on the barring of allowing disinterested accounting professionals from using what they have been trained for to advise clients as a disaster. The insurance salesmen who did a mickey mouse course to call themselves “Financial Planners” will be the ruin of many gullible people.
[quote name=”George VC”]With the CBA CEO recently apologising “unreservedly” for almost the last decade of financial planning advice, and planners being jailed and/or banned at least daily according to the press, is it any wonder the Government wants/needs Accountants, who are the only true financial professionals in Australia, to step in and clean up this mess they call the financial planning “industry”. We would probably be more enthused if we could self-regulate as we have done for the last 100 years. However, if under this “ill-conceived by public servants” licensing regime ASIC have created over the last 20 years?…forget it! We are clever enough to do it without requiring 80 page, backside covering disclosure in financial plans that no client reads anyway.[/quote]
Your comments are misguided, offensive and bordering delusional. Get over yourself.
With the CBA CEO recently apologising “unreservedly” for almost the last decade of financial planning advice, and planners being jailed and/or banned at least daily according to the press, is it any wonder the Government wants/needs Accountants, who are the only true financial professionals in Australia, to step in and clean up this mess they call the financial planning “industry”. We would probably be more enthused if we could self-regulate as we have done for the last 100 years. However, if under this “ill-conceived by public servants” licensing regime ASIC have created over the last 20 years?…forget it! We are clever enough to do it without requiring 80 page, backside covering disclosure in financial plans that no client reads anyway.
I think a lot of Accountants cannot see any value in getting accredited. We have 50 odd SMSF’s we prepare the tax returns for and the cheapest arrangement we can find will cost us around $4,000 – $5,000. So I have to increase our fees by $100 a fund overnight for no net benefit so we can basically do what we have always done. One group insisted that we had to cut all ties with existing planners and only use their products.
I do not want to be a financial planner spruiking for a bigger firm who gets access to my client base and charges me for the privilege. I think you will find that most smaller accountants will just walk away from doing the work as they cannot justify bumping their fees by $200 – $500 per fund just so they can get a license.
Accountants have to accept the changes and get on with deciding how to respond to them, she said. – Perhaps the low take up is the response, just not the one the spruikers wanted.
Tim, perhaps I’m being overly sensitive, but I think you’re making some sweeping generalisations about financial advisers. While I’m delighted to read that you’ve done a great job guiding your clients over the years, the same sense of pride also applies to my practice. I’ve had my own AFSL for over 30 years and my advice has always been in our client’s best interests. The same sense of ethics and duty would also apply to many other financial advisers I’ve know over the years.
[i]Accountants have to accept the changes and get on with deciding how to respond to them, she said.[/i]
I think they have! Look at the registration results.
The basic issue is after years of relying on our good judgement of our clients needs and our own abilities, now we have to maitain a registration with attendant PD, consult the Corporations Act and document our decisions to avoid legal and administrative problems. Unfortunately for those of us who have decided against registering, this means abandoning our clients to what the government seems to think is independent advice from commission driven bank and life insurance companies. At the end of my career I look at my clients financial affairs and take pride at how much better off are those who were guided by me into appropriate investments, rather than those whose choices were restricted to products offered by their advisors employer.
I think the exact opposite of what the accounting bodies appear to be hoping will happen will transpire. Most accountants will not do anything early then 3-6 months out from D Day they will finally focus on the issue and the real fight about “accountants exemption” will start. Just like it did with the admin burden of the GST implementation leading up to June 2000. Very little preparation done leading up to it then a political firestorm behind the scenes about the admin burden etc.
So people flogging their investment services claim that compliance work is dwindling? Funny I found it increased hugely when the GST was introduced. Modern software might make the work slightly easier but will never be more than a tool. Do Doctors lose work when a chemist opens next door? The line these spruikers use that accountants have to hurry up to get signed up now shows they have not changed much from the old days when they sold life insurance and used cars.
Forgive my unawareness but how will that effect the accountants PI cover surely it would have to be the same as financial planners ?
That’s all fine but accountants are very aware that anyone who trivially jumped into doing tax returns without a proper business model backed by experienced and trained people would fail at both the commercial return and legal liability level. As such accountants are rightfully wary of just getting into a position to sell investments. They understand there is a lot more to it and are questioning if they want to be part of a converging accounting financial planning universe or something else. Cloud computing is a whole lot more close to what they have been doing and accountants are entering that in droves.