In an email dated July 3, obtained by SMSF Adviser, the NTAA – an industry body claiming on its website to represent more than 8,500 accounting firms – took aim at a “turf war” within financial services, singling out AMP and its push into SMSFs.
The communication, which was signed by “NTAA co-founder Tony Jones”, stated:
“AMP… is running full page newspaper ads titled ‘Need help with your SMSF compliance?’. It then has the audacity to state that it is ‘Australia’s experts in self managed super’. Big call!
“The ad also says that AMP can ‘help with the day-to-day paperwork, from organising tax returns and arranging the annual audit to creating the official minutes of trustee decisions’.
“Turf War? No – a full on offensive, a blitzkrieg, launched against accounting practices to entice clients away from their most trusted adviser and into the arms of a huge financial empire.”
The document then goes on to spruik the association’s ‘NTAA Advice’ service which, it says, is a separate association that provides “an arsenal for you to protect your clients” including [via] telephone advice on the accountants’ exemption and an opportunity to join its Australian Financial Services Licence.
Last Monday, the same association issued a statement questioning the integrity of the financial planning sector which drew the criticism of shadow financial services minister Mathias Cormann – who described the comments as “reckless and irresponsible” – and calls for an apology from the Financial Planning Association.
To be fair, there are duds and dodgemeisters amongst both accountants and financial planners. Neither is better for the client by virtue of their label. It’s what they personally offer that’s key.
If you actively pushed your client into an MIS scheme you’re either a dud or a dodgemeister, no matter the badge you where.
My five second advice to a relative looing to invest was to halve the forecasts and only take it further if that scenario looked good (advising on MIS schemes was never that complicated). But he went with his financial planner’s advice instead and it blew up in his face.
For the record, I’m sure there were also some accountants involved in the arrangements!
Funny post below! I spent the early 2000s trying to get clients to see the MIS schemes their Accountants were promoting were going to end badly. Around $10bill or more still went and hello! what happened!!! The Accountants involved are still running, ducking, weaving saying. … Who me!! Accountants have had better skills in deflecting blame than they will ever have with investment. Masters of hindsight and the calculation of history.
Oh dear, how on Earth can a financial planner be compared to an accountant? The accountant tells the client how poorly his financial planning investments are going while the financial planner distracts the client from the miserable reality.
I am still astonished that commission focused financial planners actually believe they contribute meaningfully to their clients’ wealth.
Is the accountant’s lobby that weak that these simple truths cannot be conveyed clearly?
[quote name=”Rob Cappelletto”]I am in full agreement with the NTAA.
AMP wants nothing but to sell their products. They have no interest in the welfare of members of SMSFs. I have come accross many AMP reps in my time, and the only thing they’re interested in is fees. Why leave a trusted, long-standing advisor to go to a team of AMP sharks?[/quote]
Trusted long-standing adviser? Are you referring to the once a year tax return transaction or the long-term stragegic and investment advice a planner provides?
Take off the blinkers NTAA – how do you think AMP “helps with organising tax returns and arranging the annual audit”?
By outsourcing these tasks to reputable and suitably qualified & experienced accountants, that’s how.
Is this really a threat to NTAA Members, or is it an opportunity?
So the NTAA has a problem with AMP? well for all my years in advising on SMSF’s I have seen most of the worst advice and 90% is direct from un-licensed accountants who think they have a mortgage on knowledge and are experts on all things financial. Sorry NTAA look into your own glass house first. Reference the last ASIC shadow shopper survey pointing to accountants who provided the worst advice in regards to super. PS I am not an AMP adviser either.
I’m an AMP planner for 25 years and have been providing superannuation advice all that time. I’m not aggressively encouraging clients to move to a SMSF or to move from their accountants. That said, from time to time clients referred to me may be disappointed with their accountant’s service or lack of. Maybe the NTAA might want to take a close look at the state-of-the-art admin service AMP have been building up. It puts the control back into the client’s hands with less compliance risk. That sounds safer to me than a once a year tax return from a suburban accountant under pressure.
NTAA seem to be scared of something. I’m an AMP planner and a chartered accountant. I don’t run the admin service for clients SMSF tax returns, I outsource them to my local NTAA accountant…. My job is to advise them on the trustees responsibilities and help them with investment advice, a lot of which goes into properties. I wonder what the NTAA are getting so worried about, they should be focussed on working with financial planners, as we both do different jobs 🙂
Independent advice, particularly relating to appropriateness of product, is essential. How many non-AMP products are offered to AMP clients presently? Non-disclosure of commissions has affected the financial planning industry in the past. Who and where will AMP outsource their compliance work to? And who will blow the whistle on inappropriate investment advice? AMP itself?
It’s not obvious from the article, but does the NTAA believe the switch would be bad for clients? Or just accountants profit margins?
I am in full agreement with the NTAA.
AMP wants nothing but to sell their products. They have no interest in the welfare of members of SMSFs. I have come accross many AMP reps in my time, and the only thing they’re interested in is fees. Why leave a trusted, long-standing advisor to go to a team of AMP sharks?