THE Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) has today announced that it is seeking member feedback on advocating for a return of the ‘accountants’ exemption’ to provide financial advice related to self-managed superannuation.

“Since the accountant’s exemption was removed on 1 July 2016, we believe some Australians have simply opted out of advice altogether which may ultimately place their financial future at risk,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.   

“Simply, trusted accountants have been hamstrung, unable to respond to clients’ questions, particularly around superannuation.

“The public rely on their annual interaction with their accountant to finalise their tax affairs and seek guidance on issues which unfortunately is now considered financial advice as part of this process.

“Without this guidance many will receive no financial advice at all for important matters such as retirement planning.  Before Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) became law less than one in five had any interaction with a financial planner.

“FoFA has failed to achieve its policy objective of making financial advice affordable and removing accountants from providing any assistance has made the situation worse.

“As trusted advisers accountants can play an important role in helping clients manage their financial affairs and revisiting the accountant’s exemption is paramount to restoring access to basic financial advice. 

“Seventy percent of the population and 95 percent of all businesses have a trusted accountant behind them and denying them access to any guidance is not in the public interest.

“We have always maintained that we will act in member’s best interests, and recently members have been asking us to take the issue of the removal of ‘accountant’s exemption’ up with the government.

“The principle at play here is ensuring Australians have access to affordable financial advice.

“The capacity of an accountant to provide advice on self-managed superannuation funds has long been held as not being a systemic risk to the integrity of the financial services system.

“We will engage with members over the next week to inform our advocacy and representation to the Minister to ensure our views are heard. I would encourage any member of the IPA or any other practitioner to make contact with me if they wish to make their views known,” said Mr Conway.

About the Institute of Public Accountants

The IPA, formed in 1923, is one of Australia’s three legally recognised professional accounting bodies.  In late 2014, the IPA acquired the Institute of Financial Accountants in the UK and formed the IPA Group, with more than 36,000 members and students in over 80 countries.  The IPA Group is the largest SME focused accountancy organisation in the world. The IPA is a member of the International Federation of Accountants, the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants. 

publicaccountants.org.au

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THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will hold a public hearing with the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Dr Philip Lowe, in Canberra from 9.30am to 12:30pm on Friday, 17 August 2018.

Since the previous hearing with the RBA in February 2018, monetary policy has remained accommodative with a cash rate of 1.50 percent, following the RBA’s recent decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

Commenting on the decision to keep rates on hold, the RBA Governor said low interest rates are "continuing to support the Australian economy’ and that ‘further progress in reducing unemployment and having inflation return to target is expected, although this progress is likely to be gradual".

The Governor expects growth in the Australian economy to average just above 3 percent in 2018 and 2019, which should further reduce spare capacity in labour markets.

In its August Statement on Monetary Policy, the RBA noted softer than expected inflationary pressures in the Australian economy in the near term, and said it did not expect underlying inflation to reach the middle of its 2-3 percent target band until the end of its forecast period in 2020.

The Chair of the House Economics Committee, Sarah Henderson, said, "The committee will examine these issues in more detail and will ask the RBA if it remains confident that current monetary policy settings will encourage growth and inflation consistent with the target for coming years."

Public hearing details: 9.30am to 12.30pm, Friday, 17 August 2018, Main Committee Room, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be webcast at www.aph.gov.au/live

FINTECH AUSTRALIA is pleased to announce that the Victorian Government will increase its support for the startup and FinTech communities by signing on to be the major sponsor of Intersekt for both 2018 and 2019, as tickets for this year’s event go on sale today.

FinTech Australia Chief Executive Officer, Brad Kitschke said, “The Victorian Government and Minister Dalidakis continue to demonstrate their leadership and support for startups and the FinTech ecosystem, through the sponsorship of this important conference for the next two years.

"Intersekt is a must-attend for anyone involved in FinTech and we are extremely excited that our partnership with Minister Dalidakis and the Andrew’s Government will Melbourne the home of Intersekt for the next two years.

"Intersekt is great value for money. The early bird prices for the 3-day conference are discounted heavily as we want as many startups as possible to attend. FinTech Australia is a not-for-profit industry body, and we reinvest in our members and the ecosystem.

We are doing our best to make 2018 better than ever, with three days of jam-packed value from the 29th to 31st of October,” Mr Kitschke said.

Victorian Government Minister for Trade and Investment, Innovation and the Digital Economy Philip Dalidakis said he looked forward to opening the conference and to the ongoing partnership with FinTech Australia.

“Attracting delegates from the Asia Pacific region and beyond, Intersekt brings together the most creative minds in the Fintech sector," Mr Dalidakis said.

"Innovations in financial technology are revolutionising the way we do business and are crucial to Victoria’s future economy and jobs.

"I look forward to joining FinTech Australia in welcoming all delegates to this not to be missed conference in October.“  Minister Dalidakis said.

FinTech Australia was also pleased to announce that LaTrobe University will be a Gold Sponsor of the event and its exclusive education partner. 

CEO Brad Kitschke praised the University's leadership in FinTech education and welcomed their support for Intersekt.

This year’s conference will feature an official opening by Minister Dalidakis, the launch of the EY FinTech Census Report, the launch of FinTech Australia’s open banking campaign, an investor matching deal day, bringing together startups and investors, and a graduate match powered byCSIRO Data61’s Ribit.net and LatTrobe University for tertiary students looking for roles and FinTechs looking for potential employees.  

Tickets can be purchased and delegate registrations lodged at www.intersektfestival.com.

Early bird prices are available all throughout August.

About FinTech Australia

FinTech Australia Ltd. is the peak body for the Australian financial services, technology and innovation - Fintech industry.  We were founded by Startups, and are a startup ourselves. We work with founders, startups, scaleups and the Fintech ecosystem. We represent our members and advocate for outcomes that facilitate the growth of the Fintech ecosystem with the goal of making Australia a leading Fintech market. For more information visit www.fintechaustralia.org.au

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FEDERAL Treasurer Scott Morrison said the Turnbull Government was  continuing to protect the integrity of Australia's corporate tax system by tightening the rules on stapled structures.

"These entities have been used by foreigners to reduce the tax paid on the income they earn from their Australian investments," Mr Morrison said.

"Today I released exposure draft legislation dealing with additional integrity rules that will apply to stapled entities that access the infrastructure concession and/or transitional arrangements. This will give effect to the policy announced on 28 June 2018."

The conditions include:

• The extension of existing integrity rules that apply to Managed Investment Trusts (MITs) to ensure that all staples eligible for the transition rules or the infrastructure concession are required to comply with the existing non arm’s length income rule; and
• The introduction of statutory caps on the amount of cross-staple rent that is able to access the concessional 15 per cent rate of withholding tax (available under the MIT regime) for economic infrastructure projects during the transition or concession period.

"The staples measures demonstrate the Turnbull Government’s continued action to protect the integrity of Australia’s corporate tax system and to ensure that foreign investors pay their fair share of tax," Mr Morrison said.

The exposure draft legislation and explanatory materials are available on the Treasury website.  The Treasurer said the Government encouraged all interested parties to make a submission. Submissions close on 14 August 2018. 

www.treasury.gov.au

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