Accountants urged to have licensing back-up plan
Perpetual has advised accountants pursuing their own limited AFSL to investigate authorisation under other licences as a back-up arrangement, with the deadline only months away.
Dermot Lindsay, the Perpetual Private national manager of Alliance Partners, said that during the completion of their training for the limited licence, accountants should simultaneously be talking to different licence holders with authorised representative offers, given they could miss out on their own licence in the short time left.
“If [they] don’t get their application in on time, then the only option available to them at that point will be to become an authorised representative,” said Mr Lindsay.
“I am suggesting they commence RG 146 and that they also simultaneously talk to licensees, asking them the right questions around what support they will get, what the payment process looks like, what involvement the licensee has in regards to interactions with clients and who owns the clients.”
Mr Lindsay said if accountants do this, by the time they complete their training they will be aware of their available options and the path they want to take.
In his view, accountants do still have time to apply for the limited licence, but they will need to have their training completed soon.
“If it looks like they’re going to finish that in the first quarter then they could still, essentially, with plenty of time, apply for their own limited licence,” he said.
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Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.
