Financial advisers and accountants must acknowledge the scope of their fiduciary relationships, particularly where their duties may exist beyond the direct client to other family members, an expert SMSF lawyer has said.

Most people who have established an SMSF were not motivated by dissatisfaction with the returns generated by a retail or industry super fund, but by a greater level of control and choice over investments, new research has found.

Independent financial planning dealer group Fortnum Financial Group is now offering a limited Australian financial services licensing arrangement for accountants servicing SMSF clients.

The take-up of exchange-traded funds (ETF) by SMSFs will rise strongly over the coming years as the number of trustees currently invested in the products was comparatively low against the 520,000-plus funds in existence.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is seeking interim and final orders from the Supreme Court of New South Wales to prevent property investment promoter Park Trent Properties Group from operating a financial services business without a licence.

Financial services software provider IRESS has engineered an integration between its wealth management and financial advice platform Xplan and SMSF administration software specialist Class Super.

Analysis into SMSF investors has revealed the rotation out of cash into growth assets, a movement from listed Australian equities into international equities via managed funds and the move to direct property have persisted as key themes over the past two years.

SMSF specialist document provider Super Central has made a bundle of its superannuation documents as well as access to the Macquarie Cash Management Account available to trustees when they establish their own retirement savings fund.

The use of properly structured pension reserves can be a very powerful SMSF tool as amounts allocated to replenish these reserves will not be not be considered a concessional contribution, a sector expert has said.