ASIC repeatedly reminded those accountants intending to provide SMSF advice this financial year that they needed to loge their licence application by 1 March or face significant risk of not having their licence issued by 1 July.
For some of those who have not had their applications assessed, possibly numbering as many as 500, ASIC has sent letters advising they will make contact “in due course”.
Licensing for Accountants’ chief executive, Kath Bowler, said the letter basically implies “don’t call us, we’ll call you”.
While Ms Bowler has no concrete guide from ASIC on time frames for processing applications, she said she’s heard some delays can be “up to 12 months”.
“We’ve got a large number of accountants that are now in the holding pattern. [My understanding is] ASIC had funding until 30 June, which is not actually when ASIC needed the funding,” Ms Bowler told SMSF Adviser.
“They had a lot of analysts sitting idle, because the applications didn’t come in then,” she added.
“ASIC made it very clear in the media in the lead-up to 1 March, but I guess it’s human nature to leave things to the last minute. Accountants did that, and now, they’re suffering.”
However, Ms Bowler reiterated ASIC’s very public messages – that there will be resources dedicated to compliance and monitoring.
“My take is that they will focus on the people who have done nothing,” she said.
In its corporate plan for 2016-17, ASIC pointed to a special focus on the surveillance and monitoring of accountants.
According to the corporate plan, accountants who have recently entered the financial advice industry, and unlicensed financial advice by accountants, will be part of one of ASIC’s key surveillance projects.
Agreed anonymous. But i guess many accountants are accustomed to both them and their clients leaving things to the last minute and then simply applying to the ATO for extensions. Obviously ASIC doesnt work the same way as they are finding out. It also shows the penny pinching nature of most accountants in not wanting to spend a single penny more than they think they have to. Penny wise, pound foolish as it’s now costing them more in the long run.
3 years to apply was more than generous. What advice would those accountants provide to their clients had they been facing something similar in their industry? They certainly would not have told them to wait until the last minute!!! To protect those that have done the right thing ASIC should be out there going hard on those providing advice with no license today.
Accountants had 2 years to get the applications in. ASIC warned accountants at many forums on the need to get their applications in early so they could be licensed by 1 July
Points to a failure of adequate planning/budgeting by ASIC. Why have a cut off date of 30 June and then make the effective date three months earlier? And then have the funds for the assessments dry up on the closing day without finishing the job? Entirely predictable that this would happen. Surely they should now be devoting some of the 2017 “surveillance” budget for this year to finishing off the licence issue assessments first?