Parliamentary committee chair signs off on concept of SMSF professional

The concept of an SMSF profession was endorsed by Senator David Fawcett, Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, in his address to the 2015 SMSF Association National Conference in Melbourne.

Senator Fawcett, whose committee handed down an important report into proposals to lift the professional, ethical and education standards in the financial services industry in late December, told the 1500 delegates to the conference that the SMSF industry was changing and this was opening up fresh opportunities for the SMSP professionals who service it.

“The industry is undergoing rapid change and as it does so will create both fresh demands and new avenues for the professionals that now provide varied services to the more than one million SMSF trustees and members.”

He also urged delegates to read the committee’s report on the financial services industry and “take the opportunity” to voice their views on its proposals – a critical part of the process.

Sir Anthony Mason, the SMSF Association Patron, in his opening address to the National Conference, told delegates that this parliamentary report provides practical proposals to generate a class of SMSF professionals whose relevant capacities will extend well beyond that of accountants and financial planners.

“The report’s recognition of the SMSF Association’s (position on) advice as a separate specialist area is a reflection of the Association’s long-standing stance on this issue and of the way in which many businesses servicing the SMSF sector are presently being structured.

“And the Report’s proposals to lift the standard of education for financial advice to an Australian Qualifications Level Seven (bachelor degree) with higher specialisations and rebadging ‘general advice’ as product sales information and ‘personal financial’ as ‘financial advice’ accord with the Association’s submissions.”

SMSF Association CEO/Managing Director Andrea Slattery says it was exciting development for the profession to get this public endorsement by the head of this parliamentary committee.

“It’s been a longstanding position of the SMSF Association that there is a flourishing SMSF profession. It’s been recognised by research, by what’s actively happening in the marketplace, and now is getting the seal of approval from an important parliamentary committee.

“It’s another critical step in developing the professional standards of advice that SMSF trustees and members are entitled to expect,” she says.