From the 1st July 2016 it is prohibited by legislation for accountants to provide advice on SMSFs, unless they have an Australian Financial Services Licence (“AFSL”) issued by Australian Securities Insurance Commission (“ASIC”); or be an authorised representative of another AFSL holder.
SMSF’s has now become a specialist area and so far the feedback we have been receiving, only a small percentage of accounting practices in Australia have applied for an AFSL license to provide advice in the area of SMSF in accordance with the new changes.
The process to obtain an AFSL license is extensive and time consuming, and one needs to satisfy a very stringent number of criteria, in particular experience, technical knowledge, educational qualifications and financial stability.
Client centric is part of VCO’s DNA. As much of a duty as it is a requirement, we ensure our team assist in lifting the burden of managing your Self Managed Super Fund.
Although there are huge benefits to SMSFs; like increased control over your assets, allowing for investment choice and effective tax rates, there are also massive burdens in managing them.
An SMSF requires members to be responsible for complying with current legislation and super regulations. Monitoring and implementation of administrative & compliance tasks as well as preparing & analysing reports are essential and required.