The SMSF Auditors Association of Australia (SMSFAAA) has announced it is offering a new tier of membership in response to feedback from its members.
“I’m really excited to announce today that we will be offering an associate membership and that will include allowing your staff, who aren’t registered auditors, to take part in our education programs with 20 hours of CPD (continuing professional development) included,” SMSFAAA president Lina De Marco told delegates at the industry body’s conference held in Sydney last Friday.
“So we really encourage you to help us educate your staff and prepare upcoming auditors for after we all retire because it’s really important to leave a legacy and improve the education of the younger people coming through the system.”
The new membership level will cost $330 annually and has been made available based on a member survey where 72 per cent of respondents suggested an initiative of this kind would be a positive development.
The same survey showed the reduction in the number of registered SMSF auditors currently occurring may be set to continue, with 38 per cent of participants saying they intended to retire in the next one to five years and a further 32 per cent indicating they plan on taking the same course of action within the next five to 10 years.
“That’s quite an alarming statistic, especially as we already have a decreasing number of registered auditors. We currently have about 4600 auditors, which has dropped from 5200 in the last 12 months,” De Marco noted.
She pointed out the SMSFAAA is looking to make a submission to Treasury about the proposed 30 per cent tax on superannuation member balances in excess of $3 million.
To this end, she encouraged association members to complete a questionnaire with which they have been provided to share their opinions about the measure as those thoughts will be include in the final submission.
