The article below by Miranda Brownlee appeared in SMSFAdviser Tuesday, 17 November 2015.<\/p>\n
Accountants who are currently unlicensed have run out of time to have in place the correct processes required for providing compliant advice by 1 July 2016, warns Smithink founder David Smith.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith told SMSF Adviser<\/em> that while accountants may already be providing the type of advice they intend to provide under the limited licence next year, the licence will require additional processes to be incorporated into the advice they currently provide, something which many accountants are not prepared for.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of activity around licensing at the moment but what a lot of accountants are not thinking through is what they actually have to do from a process perspective come 1 July,\u201d said Mr Smith.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of a sudden they\u2019ll need to have different processes because they\u2019re actually going to need to generate statements of advice and engage with a client to ensure they\u2019re gathering all the information they need to provide the advice.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Smith said he is concerned that few accountants have actually thought through these processes and so will not have enough time to introduce them before the accountant\u2019s exemption ends mid-next year.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who isn\u2019t currently licensed won\u2019t be following the processes they need to follow come 1 July,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of firms will get the licensing piece right because that\u2019s what people have been telling them to do, to go out and get the training and the right licence, but I think many of them haven\u2019t thought about this processes piece.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Smith said the cost of certain processes is one of his major concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the licensees are requiring fairly lengthy statements of advice, which could add significantly to cost and make it difficult for accountants to be able to charge their clients and recover those costs from their clients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr Smith added that those who are not planning to become licensed at all may also find it difficult to provide advice that is in their client\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n \u201cCome 1 July next year, a good accountant will be able to have a broad-based discussion with their client about everything to do with their business and financial affairs, and it will be very hard for an accountant without a licence to have that discussion without discussing things like superannuation, which is getting into the realm of needing a licence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The finance wise RG146 course\u00a0facilitators concentrate on the actual tasks accountants are required to perform once authorised and demonstrate a unique web based portal that automates the provision of FSG\u2019s, the Needs Analysis & Risk Profiler into the templated SMSF SoA. The finance wise accounting exemption solution even prepares third party authorities and file notes.<\/p>\n