SPAA has announced it plans to have an SMSF Specialist Advisor (SSA) working on every SMSF within five years.
Already there are 320,000 SMSFs, with an additional 2000 added each month.
The SSA designation could apply to lawyers, actuaries, auditors, accountants or financial planners, SPAA chief executive Andrea Slattery said.
“Our next priority is to get the community out there to understand what the SSA brand is,” Slattery said.
SPAA also plans to get out to rural and regional areas.
There are currently six SPAA centres in different states and three regional areas in New South Wales. There are plans to move into two regional Victorian locations soon.
Slattery said SPAA had 100 people on voluntary committees in six states.
“We’re working closely with other associations and there are currently 95 members working directly with the ATO [Australian Taxation Office] on committees,” she said.”Eight members are on the ASIC consultative financial services committee.”
Outgoing SPAA chairman Peter Hogan said the board had been working on a number of issues in the past 12 months, including the SSA designation.
“SSA is now fully trademarked as well as the auditor designation and the standards are close to being bedded down,” Hogan said.
“The idea is the campaign will target the general public and there was some suggestion that we use it as a marketing tool to show to colleagues in the industry.”
“We’ve done a lot of work on the website. It’s an ongoing job; it doesn’t stay static for long.
“Recognition in the industry is as high as ever and we would like to thank members who have given us a lot of their time.”
Slattery said the association did not want the membership to grow at the expense of quality.
SPAA has quarterly reviews for members, with 10 per cent of its membership being audited each financial year from July. Last year, three expulsions were made with seven people currently sitting on warnings.
