Suggestions of a turf war between financial planners and accountants as a result of Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms are misguided and inaccurate, according to Alex Malley, CEO of CPA Australia.
“Some people in the industry have painted this as future accountants versus financial planners’ showdown,” said Malley, who was one of the headline speakers at today’s No More Practice Live Event in Sydney.
“We don’t see that at all. The vast majority of our members do not wish to provide product advice and want to establish professional referral networks to other ‘trusted advisers’”.
As accounting clients become more financially literate or if they are in need of a specific product recommendation, he said business relationships formed between accountants and the advisers will play an important role in servicing such clients.
Under FoFA, accountants will be able to provide limited financial advice and Malley acknowledged that there had been some jostling for the advice space from a number of different sectors – however, what is best for the consumer can almost get lost in the process, he said.
Advisers and accountants need to acknowledge their differences and proactively build relationships, he said.
“There is no point in building relations at the eleventh hour when governments are talking about policies, often on the run,” he said.
“If we have an agreement to disagree on some fronts, but overridingly a healthy respect for collaboration, we have a much better chance of being strategic as a sector.”
“Small territorial issues” would most likely be resolved by market forces and Malley said it was important for accountants and advisers to focus on opportunities and drivers to collaborate more often.
