ASIC has said it took this action because it found breaches across a number of areas including professional obligations of approved SMSF auditors, such as complying with auditing and assurance standards, independence requirements, continuing professional development requirements or holding a current policy of professional indemnity insurance.
The breaches were also due to annual statement non-compliance, or due to the SMSF auditors ceasing to have the practical experience necessary for carrying out SMSF audits.
All SMSF auditors were referred to ASIC by the ATO.
Between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2024, ASIC:
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Disqualified four SMSF auditors.
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Imposed additional conditions on two SMSF auditors.
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Cancelled the registration of 11 SMSF auditors.
Joseph Badawy, Gareth Evans, Vjekoslav Fak, and Ryan McGrath were disqualified from being SMSF auditors. Badawy and Fak requested ASIC reconsider its disqualification decision and the disqualifications in each case were confirmed.
Brent Connor and Sam Danieli had additional conditions imposed on their SMSF auditor registrations. A full list of the conditions imposed can be accessed by searching the SMSF auditor’s name in ASIC’s Professional Registers Search.
The SMSF auditor registrations of Evan Bekiaris, David Bromet, Judy Chu, Denis Ford, Bruce Mackley, Michael Mazza, Geoffrey Page, Anthony Richards, Michel Schoers, Wayne Tilley, and Grace Wong were cancelled by ASIC in connection with the Tax Office project identifying auditors with insufficient practical experience.
ASIC is empowered to cancel the registration of SMSF auditors who do not perform any significant audit work during a continuous period of five years.
In a statement, the corporate regulator said SMSF auditors were responsible for providing assurance on assets worth $1 trillion held in over 638,000 SMSFs and are trusted gatekeepers that contributed to the integrity and confidence in the SMSF regime.
“ASIC will continue to take action where SMSF auditor conduct is deficient,” it said.
