One of Australia’s primary accounting bodies, CPA Australia, has launched a new financial advice company in a bid to “shake-up” the sector.
CPA Australia Advice has been set up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPA Australia, and will be led by CPA CEO, Alex Malley. The company has yet to secure an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) but plans to begin advice operations in 2016.
In a statement released last week, the accounting association said CPA Australia Advice would set a new benchmark for professional and ethical conduct, delivering advice free from commissions and asset based fees.
“CPA Australia Advice represents a game changer for financial advice in this country,” Mr Malley said.
“CPA Australia Advice will have an ethos of integrity and transparency built into its charter and consistent with the culture of CPA Australia over its history.
“This means the operation of CPA Australia Advice will be consistent with Section 923A of the Corporations Act 2001 which allows us to use terms like ‘independent’, ‘impartial’ and ‘unbiased’.”
CPA Australia Advice represents a game changer for financial advice in this country
Mr Malley said the new company would also be consistent with APES 230, the accounting profession’s standard for members engaged in the provision of quality and ethical financial planning services.
“Our focus will be on what is right for the person seeking the advice – not what is financially beneficial for the advisor,” he said.
Mr Malley acknowledged that CPA Australia Advice would face significant competition from the big financial institutions, but said that the decision to establish the new company had received unanimous support from the CPA Australia Board.
“We see it as critical that our new company has the same culture and professional standards that are the cornerstones of CPA Australia, which includes a fundamental objective to act in the public interest.
“There’s no doubt that quality financial advice has the potential to make a real difference to a person’s well-being and quality of life, particularly in retirement. It’s equally true that the community’s trust in financial advice has been undermined in recent years.
“With our new company, CPA Australia Advice, we are making a watershed commitment to rebuilding the community’s trust and confidence in seeking the highest quality financial advice,” Mr Malley concluded.
Hey guys I am thinking of setting up a new AFSL. Aaaaaand it will be fee based. Aaaaand the “advisers will be all accountants, not those nasty vertically integrated planners
Can someone ring my mate Mr Medcraft and invite him to the PR stunt we are putting on so we can kick-start our new endeavour with Regulator endorsement
I wonder if CPAAA will attract all those accountants who sold forestry products to their clients as a way of minimising their tax?
I once visited an accountant do discuss the super platform I was working for at the time. In his foyer he had a massive photo collage of him at a Wilmot Forests inspection tour. He proudly told me in his FIRST year with Wilmot he placed $10M of clients money and received a cheque for $1M. “How good is that!!” he exclaimed. “Good for you” I replied, “how are your clients doing?” “oh, they all got a tax deduction, they’re happy”.
Needless to say that when I informed him that there was no inbuilt comms in our platform, and that he would have to agree to a fee with his clients, his interest dropped away completely…
Just because you’re an accountant doesn’t make you a paragon of virtue.
“set a new benchmark for professional and ethical conduct, delivering advice free from commissions and asset based fees”.
New benchmark, as if you will be the first?
A whisper in your PR’s media release ear is suggested. Cold coffee?
This is a stroke of genius on behalf of CPA and the FPA and AFA are too close to product providers and licensees to follow suit right now.
With the regulators asking for increased eduction standards and the utter failure of 3 in 4 banks to effectively monitor their advice business you can see easy justification for the separation of product and advice that the industry has always needed.
APES 230 was ahead of the FOFA program when it was initially discussed and here they are now, perfectly aligned.
This group, free of conflict could use RG51 to request exemptions from Corporations law (like anyone else can except they would probably get them) and utterly disrupt the traditional market with a significantly lower price point for advice.
The only thing that will save the traditional planner? Accountants generally suck at financial planning and the industries penetration is terrible.. there are clients out there for everyone.
Oh and you thought a computer was going to take your job?
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