Paul Hilton, chief executive of accounting and advice firm Power Tynan, contacted InvestorDaily to respond to comments from Count Financial chief executive David Lane that “it really is a very limited licence… In reality, you’ll see very few accounting firms take this up”.
Mr Hilton said a number of his firm’s accountants will be applying for the limited licence, which provides much needed clarity and certainty. To straddle everything required with the full licence would be too difficult for many practitioners, he added.
“You do your RG 146, no issues, but then to try and give proper, knowledgeable advice across the unconstrained side and keep up to date on the tax laws, I don’t think there’s many people that really can do it,” he said.
Mr Hilton said the most important aspect of the new licence is “knowing where we stand”.
“We were nervous about even talking SMSFs with our clients [previously],” he said, “whereas now we know exactly what we can say, what we can do and that will whet the appetite for the client.”
If a client needs a full plan they can easily be referred to the firm’s in-house planning arm, he added.
Mr Hilton said Power Tynan, which is one of 13 mid-tier firms in the Walker Wayland Australasia network, has around 14 staff in the financial planning division, including about five authorised representatives, and six in a specialist SMSF division, including two authorised representatives who are fully licensed but who only give SMSF advice.
There are also around 40 accountants and eight to 10 of those are likely to obtain the limited licence, he said.
“Many of the firms in our community have substantial SMSF businesses,” Mr Hilton said. “The accountants I have been talking to will be applying for the new licence and I have had no one complain about any extra professional development required to maintain this licence.”
Mr Hilton said the three-year transition period for a “recognised accountant” to obtain a limited licence provided time to apply and work within new guidelines.
He said the limited financial services licence was “very specific and offers no ambiguity around what advice can be given.”
“The requirement to maintain a certain level of professional development is good practice and the accounting profession has already demanded from its members a minimum level of professional development to ensure members keep their membership level within the organisations,” he added.
