Speaking to InvestorDaily's sister title AccountantsDaily, Hayes Knight chairman Greg Hayes said many accountants are concerned that joining a major financial institution for licensing services may make them susceptible to a negative “stigma”.
“From the accountants' point of view, in terms of being aligned to one of the large institutions, there's probably the greater proportion of accountants saying they don't want to do that,” Mr Hayes said.
“They see that institutional alignment, even if it is only on a limited authorisation, they actually see that institutional alignment carrying with it a perceived stigma with clients and even if it doesn't come with that stigma for the clients, accountants have that perception themselves.
The Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) said that while it has not seen hard evidence suggesting a trend away from institutionally-aligned licensees, it wouldn’t be surprised if this trend was underway.
"It doesn't surprise me if that is the case, simply because of everything going on at the moment and the problems the institutions are having with CBA and Macquarie and all that."
At the same time, Vicky Stylianou, IPA's executive general manager, leadership, said it can be hard for accountants to resist the institutional offers.
"Price is a driver ... despite all the scandals, the reality is that quite often the institutions can offer licensing at a better price because they have scale," she said.
