Speaking in a recent webinar to launch the new integration, BGL head of APIs Jeevan Tokhi said the partnership came about due to the software company’s drive to provide compliance-friendly documents for SMSF advisers, given the rising incidence of cases where inappropriate documentation had been legally challenged.
“Our focus is on producing specialised SMSF administration software, it’s not in legal documentation, so we see it as a large risk given the amount of examples of recent cases,” Mr Tokhi said.
“For us to do that in a way that is going to meet both the legal and client requirement would take some resources we don’t have, so hence the partnership with Smarter SMSF.”
Smarter SMSF chief executive and co-founder Aaron Dunn added that following numerous requests to customise documents from BGL users, the integration would ensure better version control for both the software provider and accountants.
“We are trying to provide a more seamless process whereby we’re in control of the version control of documents and where we see a change is important, we can make that very quickly in saying to [users] here’s a template, you’ve got to add that stuff in,” Mr Dunn said.
“That to me is a significant change and one of the benefits of having cloud technology and the APIs to interact with each other.”
Mr Dunn added that SMSF advisers would have the peace of mind of knowing that the documents had been checked over by a specialist lawyer, minimising the risk of legal challenges down the road.
“Many people would have attended the training that we have been a part of, but we also have specialist SMSF-based documents and we maintain them through myself, my business partner and Chris Hill from Hill Legal,” he said.
“It’s the ability to tap into that expertise through SMSF specialists, having a practitioner hat through myself but also the legal foundations that sit within those documents.”
Mr Dunn added that users would be able to bulk-buy documents for their trustee clients or purchase on a one-off basis depending on their needs.
“If you want to buy documents on a pay-as-you-go basis, the ordering process will allow it to naturally occur with the ability to pay for that on completion,” he said.
