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Despite noting a recent pick up in interest, one firm said accountants looking to offer SMSF advice post-2016 are yet to commit to a licensing option.
Still ‘all talk, no action’ with limited licensing
01 October 2014
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4 minute read
Accountable Financial Group director David Moss said only 40 accountants have had licenses approved, a far cry from the 10,000 expected by treasury when the initial 1 July 2012 accountant’s exemption due date was announced.
Speaking to AccountantsDaily, Mr Moss said that over the last three months he has received an influx of calls from accountants looking for information on licensing.
“So it has gone from being an area where we call people and provide them with information to people constantly calling us,” Mr Moss said.
“That has been a significant change over the past few months.”
However, it remains the case that not a lot of that talk is translating into accountants actively seeking a limited licence, Mr Moss said.
“A lot of it tends to be about people wanting to know what to do as [easily] as possible,” he said.
Mr Moss said one of the main reasons accountants have been reluctant to get their own limited AFS licence is because of the expense involved.
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“There has been a lot of talk, the accounting bodies have put stuff out, but what we have seen is most accountants don’t really want to go and get a license just to talk about superannuation when they have been doing it up until now with no objections or requirement to have a licence.
“If you tell them they need to pay $10,000 or $20,000 to become licensed and be able to continue doing what they have always done… there hasn’t been a big take-up because of that.”
Mr Moss believes the industry will remain hesitant and largely unwilling to either obtain a limited license or join a licensed group until early 2016.
“In the six months leading up to 30 June 2016 we will see a bit of a movement in this space,” he said.
“You will see a lot of people starting to look at getting a license and there will be a rush.
“But when the option is to join a licence or start a licence I think the vast majority will go with joining a licence. We will see that industry convergence.”
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