Although the Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) has welcomed the Cooper report’s recommendations on the self-managed superannuation (SMSF) sector, the association has flagged concerns over particular proposals.
“While SPAA supports the removal of the accountant exemption in relation to SMSFs, we are disappointed that Cooper has now recommended a full Australian financial services licence in relation to the establishment of an SMSF, which we believe will be unnecessarily costly,” SPAA chief Andrea Slattery said.
SPAA also expressed disappointment about the Cooper recommendation to ban exotic assets.
“SPAA is disappointed the Cooper report has not only sought to ban the use of exotic assets in SMSFs but has reduced the timeframe from 2020 to five years to dispose of existing assets,” Slattery said.
“This contradicts its own policy principle that the Government should not seek to direct super fund trustees to invest in particular assets or asset classes.”
However, SPAA strongly supported recommendations for higher competencies for SMSF auditors and advisers.
“SPAA agrees with Cooper that the time is right for higher professional standards for auditors across the $400 billion SMSF sector,” Slattery said.
“As such, we are pleased the Cooper report has adopted our recommendation that SMSF auditors be registered with ASIC and that appropriate competency and independence standards be developed and policed appropriately.”
SPAA has also welcomed Cooper’s decision not to recommend that the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) have jurisdiction in the SMSF sector.
Under Cooper’s initial recommendations, all SMSFs would have had to pay an increased levy to the SCT where only a few SMSFs may use the service.
SPAA said the MySuper model, if implemented, will be a boon for the SMSF sector.
“SPAA believes the cost of bells and whistles in APRA regulated superannuation funds is likely to increase following the introduction of MySuper, which may persuade many superannuation fund members of the attractiveness of self managed super, where costs are more controllable,” Slattery said.
