The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) has appointed Jacqui Murdoch as its new chief operating officer.
Murdoch brings more than 18 years of executive management, administration and international event management experience to the role. Her more recent activities have been in the management consulting arena.
Here Murdoch has had involvement in winning global contracts for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 summer games to be held in Rio de Janeiro. Her prior roles have also included being vice-president of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and Paralympics, as well as being director of games delivery for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
“We are very fortunate to have someone of Jacqui’s experience join our close-knit team,” SPAA chief executive Andrea Slattery said.
“As part of the SPAA team, Jacqui will be heavily engaged in stakeholder engagement. She will ensure we utilise our resources efficiently to provide genuine value for our members.”
Murdoch said she was privileged and excited at the opportunity of joining the professional body.
“It’s my goal to use the skill set I have accumulated over the past 18 years to ensure that SPAA is fully engaged with its members, and to give them every support they need as professionals to grow their businesses in this fast-paced, maturing industry sector,” she said.
In other SPAA news, the association has used its 2014 budget submission to call for a higher concessional contributions cap limit and a more accurate costing of tax concessions associated with superannuation.
“In our opinion the current general concessional contribution cap level of $25,000 and $35,000 for older Australians is too low to facilitate adequate savings for retirement,” Slattery said.
“The low concessional contribution cap base, together with the absence of adequate indexation, will deny many thousands of Australians, who typically have a greater financial capacity to save for retirement later in life, the opportunity to do so.”
In relation to the tax concessions, SPAA has asked for these to be assessed in the context of the three pillar retirement income system so the long-term nature of superannuation can be accurately reflected.
“SPAA has previously argued that the Treasury tax estimates method of measuring the value of these concessions is biased against them and misinforms the policy debate,” Slattery said.
“Although the cost of the concessions has not been a prominent issue with this government, we still believe that it is important that their cost to government is measured in an accurate and appropriate fashion. This will better inform government, the public and the superannuation industry when forming future retirement income policy.”
