Are you choosing the correct SMSF Auditor?

The financial statements of a SMSF need to be reviewed and scanned by an approved SMSF Auditor every year. SMSF is a long term investment which gives great returns and also allows you to manage your own money. However, it is a legal requirement for the funds investments to be audited every year so you continue to reap the benefits. 

Here are 5 tips you should keep in mind while choosing an approved SMSF auditor:

1. Free Consultation
All approved auditors who are looking for more clients give free consultation where you can ask them regarding the auditing process, FAQs, prerequisite questions and also learn about their fee. If you build trust and feel confident with their suggestions you can choose them and go ahead with the SMSF auditing procedure.

2. Compliance Check with Superannuation Rules
SMSF Auditors are financial experts in Australia, hence, they know what rules and policies you need to fulfil to file a hassle free SMSF return. They scan all your financial statements and point out any errors and non-compliant investments. 

3. Must be Registered and Certified
An approved SMSF auditor must be registered with ATO. Look for an auditor and choose the one who is CPA certified with specialisation in SMSF. You are good to go if these qualification and skill sets match. You can also go to ASIC's website to see if the Auditors SAN number is valid (https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/RegistrySearch/faces/landing/SearchSmsfRegister.jspx?_adf.ctrl-state=5cmhgy4z3_12)

4. Confidentiality Clause
While signing up your approved SMSF auditor discuss the confidentiality clause upfront. You and your SMSF trustees would need certain assurances that their financial information and sensitive details will be protected all the time.

5. Turnaround Time
Last but not the least, the time they will take to audit your SMSF. Usually, the time to finish an SMSF audit is about 7-10 days. It involves gathering information and preparing all financial reports. The auditors scan all financial records for mistakes and give you a detailed analysis after the audit.

Are you clueless about choosing an approved SMSF Auditor for your fund? Do not worry it happens with most of the non-financial industry folk. However, there are changes in the SMSF industry which you as a Trustee, Accountant & Auditor must be very aware of so as to not get into trouble with the ATO. Have you heard about the APES 110 Guidelines? 

There are a few situations where an Auditor might refuse to take the audit of a fund:

- Staff member is involved in preparing the financial statements of the SMSF. The auditor would not be able to evaluate the results of judgments of the staff member as it is directly reporting to the auditor.

- If the auditor had previously been employed at the Partner firm, then the third party would assess that threats to independence are not at an acceptable level.

- Reciprocal arrangements of auditing firms where they audit each other’s SMSF clients indicate a threat to independence.

- There is a clear chance of intimidation where a large portion of an auditor earning comes from a single referral source. The auditor needs to apply safeguards to reduce the threat to an acceptable level.

- As an admin firm, you put your funds into an audit pool and they will match another firm that does a similar number of funds to yours, so they will book you by charging a fee. There is a fee dependency risk in this case as the admin firm is promised a similar fee back from that Audit Pool.

and much more...

Solution - SMSF Auditors Hub (www.smsfauditorshub.com.au)

We have come up with a possible solution for auditors to comply with the independence guidelines. Our SMSF Auditors Hub is a platform that will be a focal point for auditors and accountants. We will ensure that the SMSF Admin Firms can get their funds audited from an independent auditor without compromising on the independence threat.

With over 50 Auditors we are able to service a large number of SMSF Admin firms. The auditors use our Online SMSF Audit software which audits close to 10% to 15% of all funds each year. SMSF Admin firms get a readymade SMSF Admin panel where they can integrate with the online software and invite trustees to upload their SMSF documents online for free.

SMSF Auditors Hub has a team of SMSF audit staff which SMSF Auditors can use on an ad-hoc basis to ensure that funds get audited within 10 working days. Lastly, with a set fe

e structure, SMSF Auditors are certain of what the funds are going to pay for audit each year and they do not have to deal with one auditor at all times.

Want to know more? Attend our Q&A session with Manoj Abichandani, Eric Taylor & Dennis Wright on 28th April 2021, 2pm (AEDT). This session aims to clear doubts of anyone and everyone in the grey area with regards to APES 110. Click below to book your seat.

 

 

This webinar is NOT TO BE MISSED if you are in the field of SMSF and are wanting clarity on how to save your business. 

 

Book your seat- "Q&A on APES 110 Guidelines with Eric Taylor & Dennis Wright" on 28th April 2021