CA ANZ calls on QAR to address investment strategy issue

Speaking at a CA ANZ recent conference, CA ANZ superannuation leader, Tony Negline, said that following the release of the Quality of Advice (QAR) proposals paper, the accounting body provided information to Michelle Levy and her team on some of the issues impacting accountants.

“One of the problems that we’re seeing is in relation to investment strategies for SMSFs,” explained Mr Negline.

“Those documents don’t really fit inside the advice process because it involves a whole range of things that are unrelated to the provision of financial advice in relation to regulated financial products,”

Accountants that are not licensed under and AFSL similarly face limitations with how they can assist clients in this area, he said.

“There are certain exemptions under regulation 7.1.29 and also 7.1.33 A, but they only get you so far.”

“That means it’s very easy for unlicensed accountants to accidentally be providing unlicensed advice.”

Mr Negline said this means that the accountant can’t quite do what needs to be done, nor can the adviser.

“Investment strategies is just one example of this. There are lots of situations where things just fall through the cracks.”

“That the sort of thing that we’d like to see cleared up.”

Mr Negline said a lot of the proposed reforms in the QAR paper such as removing statements of advice have a lot of merit.

“However, we have to wait and see how these proposals are regulated, and then we’ll have to see how the compliance [departments] of AFSLs [implement them],” he noted.

“So we’re a long way from actually seeing the [final outcome] of these particular proposals.”