Financial advisers needed to assist SMSF trustees to dispel some of the myths about the sector and superannuation in general to ensure the best strategies could be implemented for those funds and that they remained compliant, according to a former ATO official said.

SMSF auditors should be revising their retainers and reconfirming the veracity of the information being used in the process immediately as the instances of trustees challenging the audit report when a fund suffers loss is on the rise, a specialist lawyer has said.

SuperAuditors today announced a deal with DocuSign, resulting in the integration of its eSignature capabilities into its audit portal.

Even amid falling interest rates, SMSFs allocated record amounts to Australian cash investments in the June quarter and virtually ignored overseas assets despite returns being pumped up by a falling Australian dollar, according to global brokerage firm Invast.

SMSF investors are showing interest in portfolios that move away from the standard market-cap-weighted approach and instead use a smart beta or equal-weighted approach, particularly in the international space.

The number of qualified audit reports regarding SMSFs with asset acquired before 1999 was likely to rise in the coming years as record-keeping for those assets began to decline due to the passage of time, according to an audit specialist.

Fractional property provider DomaCom has revealed it will push its Property SMSF to gen Ys, following early interest coming through from children of advisers’ clients.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has introduced two new online services for SMSF members using its CommSec or NetBank services.

Recent changes to Victorian legislation required advisers to pay extra attention to any new enduring power of attorney (EPOA) arrangements put in place, as all new appointments made must now meet the requirements in order to be valid.