Commonwealth Bank-owned dealer group Count is finalising a new offer for accountants, which will form a key plank in its three-year strategic growth plan.
Count welcomed 19 new member firms in the year to June 30, 2013, including nine firms in June. It is preparing for an influx of new groups in the lead-up to the removal of the accountants’ exemption on July 1, 2016.
Count chief executive, David Lane, said the dealer was “working on the pricing” of a new limited licensing solution for accountants, noting that many suburban accountants only provided advice on self-managed superannuation funds to a handful of clients, therefore revenue from financial advice was small. He said any limited-licensing solution would need to be priced appropriately to reflect that.
“Accountants tend to progressively get into financial advice. A small number of their clients may ask for help, so they have 10 advice clients in the beginning, which grows to 20 in the subsequent years and then 30 before they realise it’s a full-time business which requires dedicated resources,” Lane, pictured right, said.
“There could be no revenue or profit in the early years, and our model has always supported those types of businesses. They need a lot of help and we’re able to grow up with them and train them. That helps us create our special culture, which is like our secret sauce.”
Lane said recent data from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which showed only two limited Australian Financial Services Licenses had been granted in the last three months from 19 applications, suggested accountants were not interested in owning their own AFSL given the costs, responsibilities and liabilities associated.
“Every week people are handing back their AFSLs because they’re a giant liability and no one wants to buy licensees,” he said.
“If a client makes a claim, you’re responsible, but a large licensee can provide the benefit of scale and other dealer services.”
Lane said Count’s relationship with a large network of suburban accountants was appealing because the majority of accountants wanted to be associated with other accountants rather than financial advisers. He said the primary concern of existing Count member firms and potential newcomers was how the dealer would be able to support the growing number of authorised representatives.
“They all want to make sure we’ll be able to properly support the influx of new accountants into this business,” he said.
“We’re currently helping advisers evaluate their client bases to identify the clients that they could potentially provide financial planning services to, and we’re also looking at how we can support them with new investment solutions.”
Lane admitted that some accountants and advisers preferred not to use administration platforms, which meant the dealer had to find off-platform solutions to suit their needs.
