John Evennett, from New South Wales, has been disqualified from being an approved SMSF auditor by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The banning comes after the corporate regulator found Evennett had breached his obligations in regard to independence and other audit procedures.
Specifically ASIC found Evennett had audited an immediate family member’s SMSF, meaning he had not complied with the auditor independence requirements under APES 110 Code of Ethics For Professional Accountants as issued by the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board.
He was also deemed to have breached audit evidence requirements under the Australian auditing standards.
“SMSF auditors are fundamentally important in promoting confidence in the SMSF sector,” ASIC commissioner John Price said.
“It is crucial that auditors adhere to ethical and professional standards. ASIC will continue to take action where the conduct of SMSF auditors is inadequate.”
Further, the regulator encouraged trustees to check the ASIC SMSF auditor register to confirm the practitioner they are using is in fact registered and has not been disqualified.
The ATO referred Evennett’s actions to ASIC under section 128P of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.
