Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on Corporations and Financial Services chair Senator David Fawcett has thrown his support behind the concept of an SMSF profession.

The ATO has affirmed the SMSF auditor registration requirement is already making a difference in improving the quality of audits in the industry, particularly through the elimination of practitioners who were servicing a very small number of funds.

SMSF auditors would need to remain vigilant when reporting contraventions and ensure trustees understood how these would be dealt with according to the new penalty regime the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) introduced this financial year.

Accountants will need to adopt a new business model if they want to continue to be successful in the SMSF space in years to come, one specialist practitioner has said.

Recreo Financial Technologies has launched its next-generation platform in the SMSF market after identifying a need for planners and clients to have more time to focus on financial plans, rather than working through administrative and compliance challenges.

The SMSF industry needed to “fly the flag” for the sector and defend itself against the common criticisms it has received over the years, a technical specialist has said.

The segregation strategies for SMSFs have their benefits but advisers and trustees must take on board that segregating assets solely for tax benefits was not the best approach.

The parliamentary joint committee (PJC) examining the education, ethics and professionalism of financial advisers believed the industry needed to take a proactive approach to the systems and frameworks in place for product disclosure, its chair said today.

SMSF practitioners must be wary of the proposed legislation for limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBA) this year, following the recent change to the treatment of the investor as the owner of the assets held by the holding trust.