‘Substantial portion’ of accountants to shun AFSL
A “substantial portion” of the accountant market has no intention of obtaining a licence to provide SMSF services, according to research released yesterday.
CoreData’s 2014 SMSF Professionals Report suggested financial planners should be capitalising on accountants’ sentiments towards becoming licensed to give SMSF advice.
“By 2016 [accountants] will need to find alternative arrangements to deal with existing and future clients with SMSF establishment or advice needs,” said CoreData head of financial services Kristen Turnbull.
“Planners should be building these relationships today as a foundation for future growth.”
The research also found that a majority of respondents believe strategic advice services will be the biggest contributor to future business growth.
“Strategic advice is seen as by far the greatest source of future SMSF revenue growth, as cited by the majority (55.3 per cent) of accountants and two in five (40.4 per cent) financial planners,” the report stated.
It also stated that three quarters of respondents view client referrals as the top source of new SMSF clients.
“Interestingly, referrals from external accountants is cited by more than half of planners as a future source of SMSF clients,” the report said.
The report also found more financial planners hold specialist SMSF qualifications than accountants, but three quarters of accountants believed the qualifications are not necessary.
“The needs of SMSF trustees are often unique and complicated in comparison to the average super fund member, so it stands to reason that professionals servicing the sector should have appropriate qualifications and experiences,” said Ms Turnbull.
In addition, financial planners were found to be more “bullish” on SMSF revenue growth than accountants, with more than three quarters of planner respondents anticipating revenue growth of more than 10 per cent.
