The latest Australian Taxation Office (ATO) commissioned research into the superannuation reforms has revealed the requirement to have auditors of self-managed super funds (SMSF) register with ASIC has received solid support among practitioners.
The study, conducted by Colmar Brunton to assist the ATO to implement the Stronger Super reforms, showed 77 per cent of SMSF auditors said they were likely to comply with the proposed mandatory registration process.
“That’s quite encouraging. It shows the auditors out there are ready to embrace ASIC registration. It is certainly something that we support as well and there seems to be quite good support in the industry,” SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) technical director Peter Burgess said.
However, the findings confirmed the costs associated with the registration process were still of great concern among practitioners, with 57 per cent of participants admitting it was an important issue.
“It was particularly important for those that do not do many audits (fewer than 20),” Burgess said.
“They are somewhat concerned about the cost of registration through ASIC and I guess there is concern there if the costs do work out to be substantial, then you’re going to see a lot of these providers who only audit a small number of funds drop out of the market – that’s not ideal because it may drive up costs and so forth.”
The research also highlighted some of the proposed changes to the SMSF audit activity might not be necessary.
For example, 88 per cent of auditors surveyed who had recently attended a continuing professional development (CPD) training course rated the usefulness of the course as high.
“We think that’s important because we know ASIC are looking to bring in their own CPD training obligations and requirements and so forth and it seems to us the associations are doing a pretty good job,” Burgess said.
In addition, 82 per cent of respondents were confident transactions involving SMSFs and related parties in regard to off-market transfers were being performed in a correct manner.
Burgess said the finding contradicts the government’s perception the current off-market transfer rules were being abused and as such needed amending.
