The SMSF Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA) conference has outgrown all hotels in Australia and for next year's event will have to look at purpose-built conference facilities. From a start-up over a bottle of wine at the Orient Hotel in the Rocks, Sydney, the self-managed super funds (SMSF) group had 700 attendees attend its recent conference.
Big hitters were included in its program line-up - the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) sent the boss, commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo, and deputy commissioner Raelene Vivian, ASIC sent deputy chair Jeremy Cooper, while from federal politics, South Australian Liberal Senator Grant Chapman, Assistant Treasurer Peter Dutton and Labor retirement spokesman Nick Sherry were on the bill.
The association released its new industry and consumer advertising - a porcelain egg wearing a seatbelt - which is designed to reflect the preciousness of retirement savings. Grahame Colley replaced Peter Hogan as SPAA chairman, and Hogan stepped into the deputy's chair.
The ATO promised SPAA delegates it would be working more closely with practitioners and associations to provide them with educational material to make sure they were complying with ATO rules.
Vivian said while the ATO would act accordingly if an SMSF was not compliant, it would be working with trustees to restructure their funds or help them work with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to wind up the funds if necessary.
Meanwhile, both major political parties found time to grandstand, Chapman lashing out at industry funds that criticised the parliamentary inquiry on the structure and operation of the superannuation industry. He said the inquiry found the debate about advice should shift from the cost of advice to the value of advice.
Dutton said it took the Government 205 days to agree on the latest superannuation changes and the reforms were likely to push more people to set up SMSFs.
Sherry vowed to make super even simpler, with exit fees to go and automatic super consolidation to be implemented through the ATO, which would have its numbers boosted to give greater regulatory control to SMSFs.
Cooper said the regulator was currently looking at many things, including the four-member rule, which he said he was personally interested in, having three children, and the extra costs of early wind-ups. He said there were serious consequences in doing things people were not supposed to do with their funds and tax implications could be severe.
"We live in a blame society and people usually blame the government and then look for someone else to blame," he said. Most options [of blame] are closed off when people have an SMSF. You live in a closed loop and have to take responsibility for your own mistakes and you have to have discipline to weather tough times."
He said there was also the added complication of insurance. "There is nothing automatic about getting life insurance in an SMSF. In the euphoria of setting up super funds, people invariably forget to set up life cover," he said.
