Generalist Accountants Not Coping With The Demands of SMSF's

I am a qualified accountant who has worked in public practice, and has specialised Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) administration over the course of the last eight years. SMSF administration is not for the faint hearted as it is very complex and changes relentlessly.

No Federal Government has ever equalled the legislation burden of the current one and accordingly accountants are struggling to keep up to date understanding the myriad changes for their core competencies. In addition they strive to maintain a level of professional knowledge in the SMSF business segment, a segment which is completely different to any other area of an accounting practice and requires a strong knowledge of the tax strategies and administrative details that are peculiar to SMSFs.

Due to the shortage of qualified affordable staff a cursory glance at an accounting practice of any size reveals the difficulties in maintaining good staff, managing existing workloads, and training staff on the core issues on the practice, namely business advisory work and tax lodgements.

Normally the SMSF business segment is handled by only one or two individuals and accordingly the business suffers heavily when one of these key individuals departs.

SMSF administration has very little to do with balance sheets, profit and loss and reporting on past issues. It has everything to do with compliance, future planning, superannuation components and dates.

The taxation legislation which it was once possible for an individual to have a broad understanding of is now so complex that there is an increasing need for specialisation within the accounting profession. One area of specialisation is obviously self managed superannuation.

A lot of the work that is completed by SMSF Administration specialists is trying to tidy up the superannuation situations of SMSFs that have been left to run out of control for far too long. The reason that a client becomes difficult and/or complex usually stems from lack of forward planning by the accountant and recognising issues only when it is too late. In most instances the mess could have been easily avoided in the first place.

Accountants sometimes refer to the relationships they have with clients as personal. Yet they disservice the client by not being professional and recognising the limitations of their knowledge and ability to service the client needs. This means that the accountant either does not have the client’s best interests at heart and is only focusing on the fees a SMSF can generate for their practice.

The extremely poor state of many SMSFs that we have spent much time and effort getting back on track has certainly convinced me of the fact that most accountants are floundering in this area. Let us hope that accountants move to self regulate and recognise the need for superannuation specialists before the government regulates such requirements.

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