Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand has been strongly urging its members to progress their decision-making around if and how they intend to operate under the new limited licensing framework.

SMSF auditor registration has effectively been in place for 12 months now, with mandatory ASIC registration for anyone offering SMSF audit services from 1 July 2013. It is timely to reflect on what has changed since the introduction of this new regime and where the focus of the regulators lies.

The one-year mark of the three-year transitional period for moving into the new limited licensing regime. There are some that will have made the decision already about how they are going to operate within the new framework, but many are still to decide. 

The new government’s promise of a hands-off approach to superannuation (for the time being) was greatly welcomed by those in the super industry as well as the broader community. Given the vast amounts of reform and change experienced in recent years, a period of consolidation is warranted.

When the following question is asked: “Who is the regulator in the SMSF market?”, the answer is nearly always “the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)”. For the most part, this is correct. The ATO is the regulator of SMSFs.