Recent Investment Trends sector research has shown advisers who are SMSF specialists have significantly changed the approach their practices are taking with regard to servicing clients and developing professional relationships.
“What we’ve seen is that SMSF specialists have been way more active in the sense they have changed a lot of things when servicing their SMSF clients in the last 12 months,” Investment Trends analyst Yigit Gunhan told selfmanagedsuper.
To this end, the most significant area of differentiation this cohort undertook in delivering advice was accelerating the adoption of technology in their practices. Here 37 per cent of SMSF specialists, defined as practitioners servicing more than 20 funds, who took part in the survey said they had pursued this path. In comparison, only 12 per cent of study participants who service fewer than 20 SMSFs, classified as generalists, indicated they had done the same.
In addition, 21 per cent of respondents who are SMSF specialists indicated they have adopted an increased focus on reviewing and updating the risk profiles of their clients. Conversely, only 2 per cent of SMSF generalists had focused on this type of activity.
Further, 24 per cent of specialist practitioners admitted they are providing SMSF advice to a wider range of client types.
According to the research, there was also a significant shift in the attitude of all SMSF advisers with regard to relationships with other professionals.
“One thing that all SMSF advisers have done less of is deepen relationships with accountants and accounting firms compared to last year. The trend looks like it is going to worsen even more because when we asked SMSF advisers how they anticipate their relationship with accountants will change in the next 12 months, a lower proportion compared to last year said that it will increase,” Gunhan noted.
When examining this trend, 15 per cent of SMSF specialists indicated they improved their connections with accountants in the past 12 months, whereas 33 per cent of respondents in this group expressed this sentiment in the previous year.
The analysis examined data collected from an online survey that saw 652 accountants and 177 advisers take part during February and March.
