An SMSF Academy survey of accountants working in the self-managed super fund (SMSF) sector has revealed differing levels of preparedness for licensing requirements, with 36 per cent indicating plans for early adoption.
SMSF Academy managing director Adam Dunn polled 350 attendees of a webinar on 'the future of SMSF licensing' - a vast majority of which were accountants seeking to provide advice to SMSFs - on their plans for compliance with the licensing requirements of the Future of Financial Advice reforms.
Mr Dunn, who offers business coaching services to SMSF advisers, told InvestorDaily the poll results were encouraging.
"There's a significant pocket of the industry getting ready and preparing for implementation," he said. "Most people are trying to work out strategically when makes most sense for their business to think about licensing."
Licensing was "top of mind for a range of practitioners", he added, with 36 per cent indicating they intend to enter a licensing framework on the implementation date of 1 July 2013 or shortly thereafter.
"I would suggest many of these early adopters are looking to consolidate on their specialisation into SMSFs and see the opportunity to expand services around the growth in the sector," Mr Dunn said.
A further 32 per cent of survey respondents said they intend to make licensing arrangements during the three-year transition period to 30 June 2016, when the current accountant's exemption expires, while only 2 per cent indicated plans to worry about licensing closer to the end date.
The remaining 30 per cent of respondents said they were unsure about when they will enter into licensing arrangements. Mr Dunn advised that for people in this position, "continued uncertainty must become crystal-clear once the regulations have been finalised and [they must] think about how they will approach licensing and their SMSF client offer".
In addition to the question of intended licensing dates, attendees were also polled on which path they intend to take to provided SMSF advice (that is, whether they are looking at a restricted Australian Financial Services Licence, authorised representative or referral model).
Almost half (47 per cent) of respondents said they are still "unsure" about which path they will ultimately take. Mr Dunn said this uncertainty may be largely attributable to the fact that the final regulatory guidelines are yet to be released by Treasury.
However, those who indicated they were still uncertain but had not given serious thought to any future model, or who wished to simply continue operating as usual, could be looking at a "dangerous option", he warned.
"Businesses really need to get their due diligence done and begin seriously examining the requirements as well as the opportunities of the new licensing regime," Mr Dunn said.
