A number of financial advisers raised concerns about the following post on the ATO website, which features a hypothetical example of a financial adviser providing a consumer with “illegal” information:
Speaking to SMSF Adviser’s sister title ifa, Henderson Maxwell principal and Sky News Business host Sam Henderson said the ATO should be held accountable for the damage this kind of implicit bias can have on the livelihood of Australian professionals.
“The anti-adviser mindset is pervasive across many channels at the moment, including within our own ranks and associations,” Mr Henderson said.
“Advisers are hard-working people with their clients’ best interests at heart. I’ve been on the receiving end of criticism to the highest level and frankly it’s exhausting, so disappointing and not reflective of the great value we add to so many people’s lives.
“This ATO comment is divisive, misleading and denigrating to an important industry on the rise.”
The ATO has subsequently amended the post, removing any reference to a financial adviser and replacing the image with the following:
SMSF Adviser understands that the AFA, FPA and advisers associated with the XY Adviser community group separately voiced concerns to the tax authorities.
egg of face?
Please do not think that its only Financial Advisers who may give inappropriate advice—with the change in legislation, the number of rogue accountants is on the rise as well—in the past they did not have to put any advice in writing (unlike financial advisers) and would get away with a lot of bad advice. Just wait and see how many issues start cropping up with the accountants backdating paperwork for SMSF clients with no advice documents to support it. You have rotten apples in every industry.
Whilst I think that this dig by the ATO is certainly defamatory, I do think that it has stemmed from some truth. As an accountant and financial adviser, we have seen some frankly shocking advice, and this type of situation is, unfortunately, not uncommon.
Maybe financial planners should be looking in the mirror about their own actions – otherwise why do financial planners rank so low in Roy Morgan’s Image of Professions Survey. Nurses rate at 94 and financial planners at 25