Accounting and financial planning practices must ensure their businesses are not dominated by a single service in order to remain competitive in financial services, particularly as the convergence of both industries in the advice arena increases.

The quality of evidence an SMSF auditor gathered and used to assess the compliance of a particular superannuation fund must match the risk characteristics of the fund’s assets, according to a specialist industry practitioner.

The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia has claimed the latest tax office statistics further disprove many criticisms of the SMSF sector, such as young people being inappropriately enticed to establish this type of fund, the volume of allocations to residential property and the overuse of gearing.

The Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board (APESB) is looking to find a compromise with the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) for the APES 230 measure, with both bodies committed to an open dialogue.

Accountants must be clear about why they wanted to add financial planning services to their practice in order to make that business arm a success, according to the head of an institutionally owned dealer group.

Property investment specialist Future Estate has predicted domestic house prices will continue to increase on the back of several influencing factors, including improved loan affordability, solid economic fundamentals and a stable mortgage market. Other elements leading to the optimistic forecast were strong investor demand and pent-up demand for homes. “Australian house prices are not only […]

The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) has become the latest industry body to provide an education program for trustees.

Perpetual Investments’ first listed investment company (LIC), Perpetual Equity Investment Company Limited (PIC), aimed at SMSF trustees has received a recommended rating from research houses Lonsec and Zenith. In awarding its recommended rating, Lonsec said the manager’s long-standing investment philosophy and process was one of the key strengths of the offering. In regard to Perpetual’s […]

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider BetaShares has released a new market offering specifically to service SMSF investors and retirees looking for an income stream solution through share dividends.