SPAA name change a ‘captain’s pick’

Yesterday the SMSF Professionals’ Association announced it will rebrand to reflect its ‘all-embracing” leadership of the entire SMSF sector, not just practitioners.

A number of SPAA members – speaking to ifa and sister title SMSF Adviser on condition of anonymity – questioned whether the decision may be a precursor to the introduction of trustee members, with one suggesting few benefits to the current membership.

Similarly, SPAA member and Quantum Financial principal Tim Mackay took to social media to raise questions about the process behind the move.

“Don’t know what it means to be honest. Doesn’t feel like they’ve brought the members with them on this – if there was a call for member discussion I don’t recall it,” Mr Mackay wrote in a public statement on LinkedIn.

“Maybe a good call but you could argue it’s a captain’s pick.”

A subsequent tweet clarified he believes the name change to be a "smart move", but added there is "no downside" to consulting with members. 

However, the captain in question, association chief executive and co-founder Andrea Slattery, said the membership was consulted and that there is no change in remit or strategy, just name.

“There is no mischief in this, it’s just an evolution and a way in which people can actually intuitively find specialists and intuitively find an association to represent them,” Ms Slattery said.

“We are a professional association, we always have been a professional association, there is nothing now to question whether we are a professional association,” she said.

Asked a number of times whether the body will introduce trustee or consumer members in the future, Ms Slattery responded: “We do not currently have any trustee members”.