The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has cancelled the registration of 117 approved SMSF auditors who failed to lodge their annual statements.
It comes after ASIC sent a final warning to 404 approved SMSF auditors with outstanding annual statements. The regulator warned these auditors on several occasions it would cancel their registration if they did not lodge their outstanding statements and pay their fees.
Of the auditors sent a final notice, 287 lodged their annual statements.
The 117 auditors whose registration was cancelled were sent a notice of cancellation on 20 February.
ASIC also disqualified Western Australian auditor Paul Tattersall from being an approved SMSF auditor for breaching independence requirements.
ASIC found Tattersall breached the auditor independence requirements of “APES 110: Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants” after he audited his own fund and the fund of an immediate family member.
He also audited a fund where an immediate family member had prepared the financial statements.
He was referred to ASIC by the ATO under section 128P of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act).
From 1 July 2013, the SIS Act required all SMSF auditors to be registered with ASIC to ensure they met basic standards of competency and expertise.
