The overwhelming majority of SMSF auditors believed their existing skill set would exempt them from having to sit an exam to gain Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) registration, according to the latest survey conducted by the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia.
The research showed 80 per cent of auditors servicing SMSF clients thought they had adequate experience, allowing them to avoid the competency exam associated with the new compulsory ASIC registration regime.
Another 17 per cent of participants indicated the registration process provided them with a new opportunity to further enhance their SMSF specialisation, but thought their SMSF knowledge only needed strengthening in a few specific areas.
A final 3 per cent of those surveyed recognised they were not performing a significant enough number of SMSF audits to continue the practice and would not comply with the registration requirement, effectively dropping out of the space.
This group indicated it would be outsourcing the audit function in the future as it could see no value in joining the ASIC register.
New regulations arising from the Stronger Super or Cooper review dictate any auditor providing auditing services for SMSFs needs to become an ‘approved SMSF auditor’ by registering with ASIC.
