Now is the time to revisit and review relationships with accountants in order to explore commercial opportunities, writes Brian Boggs
In a step towards consumers having greater choice of advice, the new draft accountants’ licence has now been released by Bill Shorten Minister for Financial Services, open for consultation until 21 December.
Shorten is on a roll; only recently he enshrined the terms ‘financial adviser’ and ‘financial planner’ to only be used by qualified persons – a great step forward for the industry.
If the legislation goes though in its current form, accountants will be allowed to discuss with clients a limited range of financial services solutions. This includes self-managed super funds (like this has stopped them in the past), superannuation, securities (also standard practice), general insurance, simple managed investment schemes, basic deposit products and life insurance.
This last one will be interesting in light of APES 230, however, let’s stay with the program. All this means is that this new license is limited to advising a general background and limits the accountant from making a specific product solution.
This is a bit like a travel agent that can tell you travel broadens the mind, but stops short of suggesting where to go, or a motor mechanic telling you the internal workings of an internal combustible engine and the importance of oil, yet stops short of advising where to get it fixed if it’s broken.
Now this is a big step up from the current arrangement that has exempted accountants from even having the discussion, but like all draft legislation, the detail is required before any of us can make an informed decision as to “what does it mean to me?” and “what does it mean to my relationship with a panel of accountants to whom I have been advising their clients?”
Now is the time to revisit those accountants and review relationships, now that the accountant can have a more robust conversation with the client. It is logical that the client may say “well that all makes common sense to me; who do you recommend I talk to implement this advice?”
Does anyone else see a commercial opportunity here? Some accountants will seek to provide a service in house – mindful of APES230 of course – while some will seek to outsource to a firm of trusted advisers. So have you positioned yourself as the trusted adviser in your community? CPA Australia together with the Institute of Chartered Accountant have described the draft licence as “a good step forward.”
Use this time over the Christmas break to consider how you will use this information to your advantage. Please contact us should you wish to discuss a marketing plan.
Originally published by Leading Minds Academy.
