News : Accounting

No existing referral threshold

January 18, 2021

Accounting firms do not have a prescribed number or percentage of referrals from one source they must avoid in order to comply with the amended auditor independence standards, a specialist practitioner has said.

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Accounting, Auditing

Cheap audits lack expertise

December 22, 2020

Tharshini Ashokan

Expertise and reliability are crucial when choosing an SMSF audit service and the decision should not be based on price alone, a specialist auditor says.

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Accounting, Auditing

Auditor links with accountants must be clean

December 17, 2020

Jason Spits

Auditors using former employees to complete financial statements for SMSF clients will fall foul of independence standards.

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Accounting, Education

FASEA reforms a licensee tipping point

December 9, 2020

Tharshini Ashokan

The limited licensing model has become untenable due to a number of factors, the most impactful of them being the introduction of FASEA’s latest education requirements.

Licensing reform should span all SMSF advice

December 8, 2020

Tharshini Ashokan

Any potential changes made in an effort to reform the licensing framework should apply to everyone in the SMSF advice space, not just accountants, an accountant licensing expert says.

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Accounting, Administration, Auditing

Admin services likely to win out

December 7, 2020

Darin Tyson-Chan

Two senior industry specialists have questioned the prudence of accounting firms retaining auditing services over providing administration and financial statement preparation for SMSFs

Advice use could inject $600b into economy

November 25, 2020

Jason Spits

Widespread use of professional financial, superannuation, tax and accounting advice could provide billions in economic benefits to the nation, according to new research.

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Accounting, Strategy

Workflow mapping key in meeting client demand

November 12, 2020

Tharshini Ashokan

Planning annual workflow is essential to a firm’s ability to complete SMSF client work, but is a commonly overlooked area by accounting business owners, an accounting outsourcing specialist says.

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Accounting

Reciprocal auditing will be under scrutiny

November 9, 2020

Jason Spits

Auditors entering into reciprocal arrangements may have no way of reducing the threat to independence, the ATO has warned.

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Accounting, Tax

Accounting method not Part IVA

November 4, 2020

Darin Tyson-Chan

A technical manager has allayed adviser fears over the use of tax-effect accounting in an SMSF being captured under Part IVA provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act.

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