The new auditor independence standards will allow SMSF accountants to work without the additional concern of overstepping boundaries shared with auditors in their firm, a major accounting body has said.
Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) reporting and assurance leader Amir Ghandar said a key benefit of the restructured APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants was that it would alleviate SMSF accountants’ fears of encroaching on fund auditors’ territory.
“That’s the most important part. If the auditor is in another firm, the accountant becomes unencumbered in delivering on that role and [providing the] assistance that trustees need, without having to constantly be looking at the boundaries of what can be done within the same firm, which you’ll constantly be up against otherwise,” Ghandar said during a recent CAANZ webinar.
The new standards could result in improving communication between SMSF accountants and auditors, allowing trustees to benefit from a more efficient and effective service overall, he added.
“The accountant doing the administration [can have] a much greater role in actually handling the interactions with the auditor, remembering that the trustee has to have engagement with the auditor as those charged with governance, and they’re the ultimate client,” he noted.
“The accountant, while [working] independently in a different firm, can have a lot more involvement in just handling that process.”
He also said the new auditor independence standards would reinforce the essential role SMSF auditors had in protecting the retirement savings of trustees and maintaining the integrity of the sector.
In September, an SMSF audit and administration software provider said accounting firms more willing to embrace new technology and platforms would find it easier to navigate the effects of new auditor independence standards on their business.
