The upcoming licensing and regulatory changes in the financial services sector have made continuing education a higher priority, industry experts have said.
Speaking at the launch of the SMSF101 online course at the American Club in Sydney yesterday, financial education professional Catherine Birchall said there is increasing demand for financial advisers and accountants to re-skill.
"We believe employers in the financial services sector require their employees to be multi-skilled across the industry and regulation compliant," said Ms Birchall, who is chief executive of education service provider Money101.
"The Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms and general regulatory environment has made continuing education more important," she said. "Compliance is a major focus of this [SMSF1010] course."
The course - a joint project of Money 101, the SMSF Academy and Deakin University's corporate arm Deakin Prime - aims to provide both gap-filling and comprehensive online training to financial advisers, accountants, lawyers and other professionals working in the SMSF space.
Course participants will have the ability to tailor modules to their specific needs and skill level. For example, participants who have not already completed the RG146 qualification are able to do so within the parameters of the SMSF101 course, while those who are already RG146-compliant can study more advanced modules.
Aaron Dunn, managing director of SMSF Academy, said the course aimed to fill the knowledge gap required for advisers to become specialists.
"Research shows a lot of people offering SMSF advice services probably aren't sufficiently knowledgeable, and this is backed up by the findings of the Cooper Review," he said.
"Across the board there is need for greater competence and specialisation. Specialisation is the future."
Offering the analogy of a GP referring patients to medical specialists, Dunn said he envisaged a future where advisers would refer clients to certified specialists.
The SMSF Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA) - which recently awarded the SMSF101 course an official 49 CPD points - said signs of an increasingly specialised SMSF advice profession were already emerging.
"In the last year, applications for SPAA SMSF specialisation overtook applications for general membership for the first time," said SPAA director of membership and business development Richard Magney, who attended the launch.
Course organisers have been encouraged by the interest in SMSF101 so far, with one sale completed prior to launch and interest from bodies such as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), as well as major dealer groups.
