A high number of accountants who are not accredited to provide investment advice have been referring their SMSF clients to one rather than several financial planners, according to the latest Investment Trends research.
The OneVue/Investment Trends “2013 SMSF Accountant Report” revealed 28 per cent of accountants no longer preferred to refer their SMSF clients to a range of different financial planners, but instead used one trusted source they had cemented a relationship with.
This figure was up from 22 per cent last year.
People who were recommended to seek advice from a third party expected to be referred to someone who was skilled in SMSFs and who their accountant had confidence in, OneVue head of partner solutions Brett Marsh said.
“If accountants are going to encourage SMSF clients to engage with a new specialist, having a trusted relationship with that specialist is vital both in terms of client satisfaction and client retention,” Marsh said.
“With a number of mergers taking place between financial planning and accounting practices across the board, those that don’t offer an all-encompassing service for SMSF clients are seeing greater value in building alliances with trusted professionals in order to remain competitive.”
The report also found 85 per cent of accountants had SMSF clients with investment-related queries, thus having the qualifications or the contacts to provide that advice was a valuable service advantage.
“It’s not just the relationship between accountant and adviser that’s important though, it’s also the means by which they can work together,” Marsh said.
He said the accountant/adviser relationship was an issue OneVue was focused on, particularly with the rollout of its new SMSF services for accountants and advisers.
In August, the independent platform provider launched an accountant login so accountants could get secure online access to comprehensive reporting on the Unified Managed Account that was provided both daily and as part of the end-of-year tax report.
OneVue also created the Accountant Ready solution, which included data loading into BGL Simple Fund software and electronic workpaper preparation.
“These initiatives allow the accountant who the adviser is working with to view the client’s investment portfolio and more efficiently complete the accounting, compliance, audit and lodgement as required,” Marsh said.
“We see there is a growing importance being placed on adviser and accountant relationships and it is something that service providers need to support and make simpler going forward.”
