Olivia Long

SuperGuardian, Australia’s most innovative specialist administrator for self-managed super funds, was named “SMSF Administrator of the Year, Advisor and Trustee” at the CoreData Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) Service Provider Awards ceremony held last night in Sydney.

The award, rated by SMSF trustees and SMSF-advising financial planners and accountants and presented by Self-Managed Super Magazine, recognised Super Guardian’s high quality service and efficiency.

SuperGuardian CEO Olivia Long says: “We’re delighted to be acknowledged by our industry peers and clients. Our business objectives are strongly focused on exceeding client expectations and supporting their evolving administration needs, so it is excellent to see that our efforts are being recognised by the industry.”

All the awards presented were decided using results from CoreData’s SMSF Service Provider Study 2017, which consulted more than 1,100 SMSF trustees, financial planners and accountants who advise on SMSFs.

Long says: “Given the increasing complexity and compliance around accounting for SMSFs, we’re seeing strong demand from smaller accounting practices looking to outsource their SMSF clients’ administrative needs.

“To remain ahead of the market, we consistently work to deliver innovative solutions to make SMSF administration simple and efficient for clients. For instance, we’ve recently launched our own App to give SuperGuardian clients easier access to important updates via their mobile phones or tablets.”

SuperGuardian has grown its client base by 25 per cent over the 2016-2017 financial year, attributing this growth to its ability to meet clients’ requirements quickly and accurately.

“Being fully independent, we can make decisions quickly and implement change easily as we don’t have the bureaucracy of a large institution slowing us down. This means that our clients benefit from flexibility and fast adaptation to market change.”

Long adds a wonderful night was capped when SuperGuardian’s auditor, the Sydney-based firm Evolv, won “Auditor of the Year” in both the trustee and advisor categories

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Olivia Long

The evidence shows that the vast majority of service providers to the SMSF sector are offering value for money, says Olivia Long, CEO of the SMSF administrators Xpress Super and SuperGuardian.

Long was commenting on a recent media article that suggested the SMSFs are being undermined by low cost platform providers charging high commissions and having close relationships with the banks.

“I find it very interesting that people that go to the trouble to look after their own superannuation are somehow going to be satisfied with a service provider that over charges and under delivers.”

“Common sense would suggest that people who are prepared to invest the time and effort to manage their own retirement savings are likely to be the last people to allow themselves to be short changed by their SMSF administrator.”

“In any industry there will always be some bad apples, but I am confident they are few and far between in our industry. After all, the number of trustees and members continues to rise at a solid rate, suggesting they are satisfied with the service they are receiving.”

Long says there is an increasing tendency for any business that “clips the ticket” when servicing people in the superannuation sector to somehow to be viewed as exploiting the consumer.

“The fact is they are offering a service and they are entitled to be rewarded for it. After all, there is no compulsion here: if you don’t like it, don’t use it!”

Long says it is true that people who set up SMSFs with low account balances can pay disproportionately higher administrative fees (depending on the provider). “But that’s the price they are prepared to pay to be actively engaged with their retirement savings.”

“This is why low cost providers offer a valuable service when trustees have smaller superannuation balances. We help keep the cost down and as their FUM grows they can ‘trade-up’ to a service provider offering a more flexible package.”

She says: “The fact remains that SMSFs have been proven to generate better investment returns with enhanced member engagement, and if low-cost providers can help facilitate this (albeit via commercial relationship with bank), then surely that’s a win/win for everyone.”

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Sarah Penn

The current business model for accountants is not going to work unless they adapt to the coming technological changes, says Mayflower management consultancy principal Sarah Penn and Xpress Super and Super Guardian CEO Olivia Long.

“Technology is accelerating the rate of change of SMSF administration and accountants need to make some tough choices if they are going to keep up with client expectations,” Ms Penn says.

Ms Penn was speaking at the 2015 SMSF Association annual conference about the need for accountants to transition their businesses in order to service the growing demands of SMSFs.

“It is no longer enough to have a friendly voice on the phone and the right coffee when your clients come in for their annual review,” she says. “Clients want online access to their SMSF, along with greater transparency, quicker response to queries, and facilities to send information to their financial planner whenever they want at the click of a button.

“The key for accountants to making a successful transition to accommodating the growing client needs is to make hard choices about what suits their business best, and then implement those choices.

“While the technology is causing seismic shifts in financial administration, accountants are well placed – they are analytical thinkers who understand what makes a business profitable.

“The main thing is to get started, writing down all your business services and then reviewing  the value of each one, not just for your clients but also for the business model.

“The time has come for accountants to move past a dollar per hour basis and price according to the value you add to your clients. It’s classic economic theory – don’t get caught in the middle,” Ms Penn warns.

“At one end, low price high volume SMSF administrators will price accountants out of the market, while at the other, specialist groups focusing on family offices and HNW individuals will need to charge more.

“The average accountant is going to need to make some tough choices whether they want to be either ‘low fees, high volume’ or ‘high fees, low volume’.

“Accountants also need to be careful who they get into bed with,” says Ms Penn. “They must carefully consider the long-term plan and IT capabilities of each outsource provider they use.”

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Olivia Long

A seasoned industry practitioner is highly critical of the Federal Government’s decision to push back the date by which superannuation funds must comply with the SuperStream contributions data standards. Superannuation funds now have up to 1 July 2015 to meet the new standards.

SuperGuardian and Xpress Super CEO Olivia Long says that the Australian Taxation Office has given the industry “ample opportunity” to start complying with the new standards, and industry associations that are supporting the delay “are merely serving the interests of their under-performing members”.

“The ATO has given plenty of notice to the industry. Frankly there’s no excuse for practitioners not to be ready for these changes. Firms that have invested capital and made the effort to get ready are effectively being penalised.”

She agrees that SuperStream might have some impact on self-managed super funds (SMSFs) as some funds will have to get professional advice to meet the new standards.

“Going forward all SMSFs will be required to have a bank account and an electronic service address that are able to receive employer contribution payments and messages sent electronically using the SuperStream standard.

“This is yet another example of why accountants should consider outsourcing their SMSF work to SMSF accounting specialists.  The industry is continually changing and for many small accounting practices it is simply proving too difficult to stay ahead of the game,” Long says.

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Olivia Long, Chief Executive Officer of SuperGuardian, one of Australia’s largest fully independent SMSF administrators with nearly 2000 SMSFs, says: “We are excited to offer a comprehensive product that will boast a pricing structure to rival the cheapest provider in the market.
 
“Called Xpress Super, it will provide an SMSF service to rival the top end of the market with fees positioned at the lower end; it will offer free SMSF establishment, no fees in the first year, an annual $799 fee thereafter, daily online reporting and one-stop shop trading, accounts and compliance.
 
“By developing a business model where a default trading platform, cash hub and term deposit service can integrate seamlessly, you create significant efficiency gains that can be passed on to the end client by way of extremely competitive fees,” says Olivia Long.
 
“Although SuperGuardian’s service is a premium offering with distribution primarily through intermediaries, we’re now ready to increase our presence at the other end of the market with an offering designed to capture Investors running their SMSFs without an investment adviser.
 
“Xpress Super is set to revolutionise this end of the market. We are pioneers with this level of offering in this space.”
 
Ms Long says Xpress Super will provide a superior daily online reporting service leveraging off the online capabilities and data automation of Class Super software.
 
“Rajarshi Ray, Class CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome XpressSuper as a Class Super user whose price, service and delivery model are clearly supported by the market leading SMSF technology of Class. 
 
“For too long the SMSF industry and its participants have been held back by inferior, incumbent technologies that ill serves administrators and trustees alike. The work of Olivia and her team is changing that perception through the launch of this service – and we are excited to be part of that story.”
 
“Xpress Super will partner with the Commonwealth Bank and has selected the CBA Accelerator Cash Account as the platform hub and will use Commsec Adviser Services trading platform as the online share trading facility for clients.
 
“Australian Money Market has been selected to provide a paperless term deposit service providing SMSF investors with online automated applications and simple switching between institutions.
 
“Xpress Super will also offer SMSF trustees a group insurance policy via the AIA SMSF Master Insurance Plan. Xpress clients can access the benefits of a wholesale insurance arrangement including a simplified application process and competitive rates,” she said.

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