In the 2021-22 financial year, the regulator referred 17 auditors to ASIC.
In a statement, the ATO said SMSF auditors play a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the SMSF system and the rate of referral reflects how it is better utilising data to ramp up its compliance actions to address auditor behaviours which put retirement savings at risk.
The most common reasons for referral to ASIC were for auditors who:
- breached the independence requirements for in house audit activity
- failed to gather sufficient audit evidence for market valuations and related party transactions
- failed to adequately document audits
- failed to identify and or report contraventions for matters such as fund borrowings and inadequate documentation for LRBAs.
ASIC recently announced their outcomes for the period 1 April to 30 June 2023 and during this period they acted against eight SMSF auditors for breaches of their obligations. This is in addition to cancelling the registration of 413 SMSF auditors for failing to lodge their annual statements.
