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Regulatory Burden – CPA Australia launches member survey
09 May 2019
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4 minute read
In responding to the challenges faced by CPA Australia members in public practice, CPA Australia has launched an exclusive member survey to identify how regulatory complexity can be reduced.
Professional accountants providing advisory services have faced increasing regulation and compliance over the past decade, resulting in increased costs and time burden to provide these services to their clients.
Recently, the ASIC Industry Funding Model has significantly increased compliance costs as all of ASIC’s regulatory costs are borne by those it regulates, such as members in practice.
‘While we understand the objective of the majority of these reforms has been to ensure effective consumer protections are in place, one of the consequences is that seeking advice and services has become more complex and costlier, pushing it out of reach for many consumers’ said Keddie Waller, Public Practice Manager, CPA Australia.
‘We also know from member feedback that it is forcing many professional accountants to consider whether to continue to provide advisory services, while also imposing a barrier for professional accountants considering whether to expand their practice into advisory services’ added Ms Waller
CPA Australia believe it is time to rethink the regulatory framework and has launched an exclusive member survey to identify how regulatory complexity can be reduced.
This survey provides members in practice the opportunity to provide feedback on their regulatory burden experience, as well as to explore and identify the changes they believe are needed to address the growing issues of complexity and inefficiencies in the current regulatory market.
‘We need to create a regulatory framework that enables and encourages the provision of affordable, independent quality advice by professionals and seeks to engage and inform, not overwhelm, the consumer in the process’ said Ms Waller.
‘It is time to identify how we can reduce legislative complexity and harmonise obligations to remove inefficiencies and associated costs yet provide real and effective consumer protections to encourage the broader community to seek advice.’
Consideration must also be given to how regulators can be more effective and efficient in their oversight and regulation of this sector, especially when, for example, ASIC’s costs are largely borne by professional service providers and passed onto the consumers through the cost of seeking advice.
‘Importantly, we need our member’s insights, through completing this exclusive survey, into how regulation works in practice, as opposed to its strategic or policy intent, and the impact on their clients‘.
CPA Australia will be exploring how their members in practice think the current regulatory environment can be changed to build a more efficient, effective and robust regulatory system.
‘We need a regulatory framework that encourages the provision of affordable, independent quality advice by professionals and importantly seeks to engage, inform and protect the client in the process’ said Ms Waller.
‘Our members in practice completing the survey is the first step in working together to achieve this integral goal’ added Ms Waller.
‘It will directly influence the development of new policy ideas that will be assessed and examined with both public practitioners and clients, including small business owners.’
‘We are calling all members in practice to help shape new regulatory policy by completing the survey’.
Ensure your opinion counts, click here to complete the survey.
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