The National Tax & Accountants’ Association (NTAA) has established a new financial planners’ association.
The NTAA Financial Planners’ Association will provide an umbrella organisation to protect the interests of tax agents, accountants and their clients, the association’s spokesperson Roger Cotton said.
“The new NTAA Financial Planners’ Association has been set up exclusively to help tax agents and accountants become qualified financial planners and to maintain their financial planning qualifications,” he said.
“Australia’s tax agents and accountants are already the trusted advisers to over 95 per cent of businesses and thus the new NTAA Financial Planners’ Association will be perfectly positioned to provide educated financial and investment advice.”
The NTAA represents 7500 firms of accountants and tax agents and is launching the new financial planners’ association to “take back ground” from the financial planning industry, he said.
FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said he did not see the NTAA Financial Planners’ Association as a threat.
“I think many of our members are accountants and obviously they are looking for another string to their bow, and if they are able to do that I don’t see that it is going to take from our membership,” he said.
In July, Count Financial, Professional Investment Services, Securitor, WHK and Lonsdale already joined forces to represent the interests of financial planners who also work as accountants.
The organisation, called the Accountant Financial Advisers Coalition (AFAC), was established in response to remuneration guidelines issued by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board (APESB), which includes a ban on commissions and asset-based fees.
The key focus of the group is to ensure “alignment of any proposed professional standards with the emerging regulatory framework determined by government, especially the Future of Financial Advice changes and any regulatory changes arising from the Cooper review”.
