Apricot Actuaries chief executive Jim Hennington said the lack of take-up of formal advice among SMSF clients was surprising and would make it difficult for accountants to see the value in getting a licence.

“The average number of transactions per accountant is low... at this rate, it would take years to acquire sufficient practical experience in the application of the new laws and even longer to amortise the cost of acquiring and maintaining technical proficiency,” Mr Hennington said.

Respondents to the research said in cases where their client did not get licensed advice, 66 per cent said it was because the client was reluctant to get extra fees, 53 per cent said the cost of advice was too high and 51 per cent said the client did not trust advisers.

A further 83 per cent of accountants said they provided tax advice and factual information to assist their clients in at least some of cases where the client didn’t have a statement of advice.

Mr Hennington said the results revealed that limited licensing was not working as intended by the corporate regulator.

“When the accountants’ exemption was repealed in 2016, it appears that ASIC was labouring under a bizarre belief that SMSF trustees would trust and voluntarily choose to pay for licensed advice under a framework riven [by] scandal and, in relation to which, the holding of a licence provided no impediment to unethical conduct,” he said.

“If ASIC removed the exemption to improve the quality of advice received by SMSF trustees, it has failed. In fact, it has increased the risk that trustees will not receive any advice other than tax advice.”