A senior industry stakeholder has highlighted the increased importance of the role SMSF auditors play in light of the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) review of whether the ATO is an effective regulator of the sector.
“[This] review does underline something fundamental. A regulatory system is only as effective as the information entering it. The ATO depends on reliable accounts, defensible audit opinions and properly framed statutory reports,” Saul SMSF chief executive David Saul told delegates of the SMSF Association Audit Day 2026 held online last week.
“Approved SMSF auditors sit at that gate. We do not regulate the system and we do not prosecute misconduct, but we do determine whether the evidence supports the opinion that leaves our desk.
“That is a significant public interest responsibility.”
In this context, Saul emphasised the need for better-founded audit opinions and reports, regardless of the conclusion any evidence presented supports.
The ANAO review will focus on several aspects of the ATO’s role in overseeing the sector, including how it manages risks associated with SMSF regulation, how it ensures compliance and monitors non-compliance, and how it investigates and sanctions non-compliant funds.
The final report from the review is expected to be tabled in March next year.
Saul took the opportunity to dispel any perceived negative reflection with regard to current audit practices.
“That review does not reflect widespread audit failure. It’s important that we do not overstate it,” he said.
“This is a spotlight. Not a verdict.”
The review of the ATO’s regulatory role of the SMSF sector commenced in July.
Upon the announcement of the exercise, the SMSF Association applauded the action, given a review such as this has not been conducted since 2007 and the time that has passed since has seen the sector experience substantial growth.
Darin Tyson-Chan
Editor
Darin is the founder and publisher of Benchmark Media, an independent publishing house whose mastheads include financialobserver, selfmanagedsuper and smstrusteenews. He has been covering the financial services space for over a decade and in this time he has worked for a variety of trade publications. Darin has also written for the Money section published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
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