Advisers and accountants servicing clients on the transfer balance account report (TBAR) requirements need to revisit existing processes and business models within their businesses, according to an SMSF expert.
Smarter SMSF co-founder and chief executive Aaron Dunn told a recent webinar, titled “TBAR – the game has changed”, that advisers need to contemplate how they will structure their pricing model within their business when fulfilling clients’ TBAR requirements.
One poll conducted during the webinar found that among the 270 poll participants, most are going to segment their clients on a quarterly basis for TBAR rather than on an annual basis, while another poll found most advisers will take on the responsibility of fulfilling TBAR requirements while collaborating with their clients.
“If you’re only charging clients annually but you’re going to be taking on this responsibility, are you therefore going to be prepared carrying that cost over the year or are you going to have to think about rewiring the way you do your [reporting] and the way therefore in which you’re going to be charging your clients?” he said.
He said while half of the industry has transitioned to the cloud and receives data feeds on file to increase efficiency, the time has come to fundamentally change the way advisers engage with clients on an ongoing basis.
“My goal, when I think about what I try and do and try and help out practitioners out there is that I reckon we have the technology in our hands even at a smaller size practice to compete with the bigger businesses that are now running between 10, 15, 20,000 funds,” he said.
“But it’s the preparedness to change that is absolutely fundamental here to get right. The only missing ingredient here is to make sure that we get the model right and right every time.”
