Licensing for Accountants chief executive Kath Bowler says the “enormous” super changes have left accountants “still trying to wrap their heads around” how to best handle the new requirements and how to most effectively deliver advice to their clients.
Ms Bowler suggested the two main areas accountants should focus on are: scoping advice and asking, ‘Is this a good idea?’ when recommending solutions to a client.
“Scoping the advice, and it doesn’t matter [if it’s] licensed or unlicensed … is basically [saying] ‘What am I being asked to do?’ Because [accountants] are very used to just answering the question the client puts to them, but that’s not always what the client’s really asking. Read between the lines,” she said.
“When a client says, ‘How much can I put into super?’ they might be asking, ‘How much should I put into super?’. If they’re asking, ‘I want to buy that property’, are they asking about wanting to buy that property or are they asking about ways to grow their wealth for retirement? So it’s not about changing the clients’ goals or objectives, it’s about understanding what they really are and sometimes … leaving us to ask a couple more questions to get there.”
Ms Bowler says the second focus area asking, ‘Is this a good idea?’ stems from the need for accountants to be more confident in recommending a particular financial solution to clients, as opposed to a variety of solutions.
“Once [accountants] work out what they’re being asked to do, then they have to ask themselves, ‘Is it a good idea what’s being recommended?’” she said.
“A lot of the time, accountants will give the client options, whereas in the world of advice, they actually have to put their necks on the line and back themselves on what they recommend or don’t and have a reason for it.”
