National accreditation standards for self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) providers are necessary if the growing SMSF sector is to elevate itself from cottage status to a truly professional industry, according to SMSF specialist firm Heffron.
A national accreditation scheme will give current and prospective SMSF trustees confidence in the competency and skill levels of all member organisations within the SMSF sector, Heffron managing director Martin Heffron said.
"Just like the National Heart Foundation has their tick of approval, I would be hoping to develop a similar symbol that enables consumers searching for an SMSF provider to look for this symbol and know that organisation is accredited and meets the professional industry standards for service," he said.
"For consumers to have confidence in the level of service being offered by accountants, auditors and financial planners, we need to accredit the organisation, not the individual."
The SMSF industry accounts for $400 billion of the total superannuation pool and is one of the fastest growing sectors in the superannuation industry, but despite its size there are currently no uniform standards used to accredit SMSF service providers.
Heffron said statistics from the recent Cooper review supported his call for organisation-based accreditation standards.
"For example, the statistical summary of SMSFs published by the Cooper review found that in 2008, 65 per cent of SMSF audits were carried out by auditors who audited 10 funds or less annually," he said.
"When firms are doing so few audits, it's hard for them to stay on top of the industry's constant technical and regulatory changes."
Differing standards across the varying professional bodies also served to confuse consumers, Heffron said.
"The best way to ensure the SMSF consumer has the information they need is for all the professional bodies to agree on a set of high quality SMSF standards that are applied across the board and are used to accredit organisations, as opposed to individuals."
