SMSFA unveils 2020 priorities
The SMSF Association will focus on strongly growing engagement with its SMSF trustee membership in 2020, as well as boosting both the technical content it produces for practitioners and educational content for advisers to share with SMSF members, according to its 2019 annual report.
The report details the association’s key plans for the coming year which form part of its five-year strategic plan. The SMSFA said the plan would “focus on delivering more value to our members, inform[ing] trustees and future trustees and ensuring we continue to lead the SMSF sector”.
Key priorities for the association’s five-year plan include ensuring its place as the premier SMSF voice with government, regulators and policymakers; supporting SMSF specialists to provide appropriate, accurate and timely advice and support services; and providing relevant and timely information to trustees to help them achieve quality of life in retirement.
In support of its goal to produce more high-quality members, the association revealed it had increased the incidence of disciplinary action against members in the 2019 year, with 23 disciplinary actions taken including 11 cases where members had had their membership cancelled and 11 where members had been suspended.
This compared to just two membership cancellations and nine membership suspensions in the 2018 financial year, according to figures published in the report.
The SMSFA also detailed the key projects it would implement in 2020, among them a refresh of its website to improve functionality, a boost to the amount of technical content delivered to SMSF specialists, providing greater support to those progressing through the SMSF Specialist program, and providing co-branded content for SMSF advisers to share with clients.
Among its targets for the 2020 financial year, the association said it was aiming for 95 per cent retention of its specialist members, a 30 per cent increase in its engaged trustee community, and growing numbers for its recently established community-facing event, the SMSF + Investor Expo.
