Quality of advice review final report released: accountants included in regulatory framework
The Quality of Advice Review final report, just published, has recommended including accountants within the advice regulation framework.
It will soon be easier for accountants to offer financial advice to their clients, according to the findings of the recently published Quality of Advice Review (QAR) final report. The report's author, Michelle Levy, could find no reason for excluding accountants from the regulatory framework for financial advice. She noted that the inclusion of accountants in the regulatory framework would allow for easier provision of personal advice, limited advice, or one-off advice.
"The recommendations I make in this report will make it easier for all advice providers, including accountants who are authorized by an AFS licensee to provide this advice, to provide personal advice to their clients," Levy stated in the report. "It will also make it easier for them to provide limited or one-off advice."
Levy acknowledged that some accountant associations wanted the ability to provide broader advice about superannuation without an AFS license or being a representative of an AFS licensee, but emphasized that accountants should not be given an exemption from the regulatory framework.
"They play an important role in assisting their clients with their financial arrangements," Levy said of accountants. "However, this does not mean they should be given an exemption from the framework that regulates the provision of financial advice."
She went on to explain that, although accountants have expertise in tax matters, advice on superannuation products, including SMSFs, is considered financial product advice and should therefore be regulated as such. This would provide the same protections for consumers as all other recipients of financial product advice.
"This will ensure that consumers who receive this advice will do so with the same protections as all other recipients of financial product advice, including that the advice is good advice (if it is personal advice), the requirement for advice providers to act in their best interests (if a fee is charged for the advice) and access to AFCA, just to name a few," Levy added.
Levy also noted that research indicated that consumers were willing to seek financial advice from a range of providers, including accountants. And while there is little merit in holding a limited AFS license, the recommendations will not stop those who choose to do so or take it away from those who already have one.
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