A.S.A.P. is proud to announce that we have officially launched our platform for early subscribers.
As of nine o’clock this morning, several hundred SMSF accountants across Australia received early access to the Accountants Scaled Advice Platform (A.S.A.P.), allowing them to request financial product advice for their clients, whenever they need it.
A.S.A.P.’s statements of Advice are digitally signed by our licensed advisers, meaning accountants who use the platform don’t require an AFSL – it is a referral to a (digital) adviser. The company’s inception was in response to new legislation, which saw an end to the accountants’ exemption. On 1 July 2016, ASIC changed the licensing requirements for accountants which has meant that certain SMSF advice they used to provide now must come from an AFSL holder.
“The way it works is an accountant who doesn’t have a license can log onto our system, enter some details from the client and what their scenario is, and our process will provide compliant Statements of Advice to the client that the accountant can implement,” says A.S.A.P.’s CEO, Jim Hennington.
“The beauty of A.S.A.P. is the Confirmation of Compliance tool (affectionately known as COCO). The elegant ‘drag and drop’ features let accountants and their clients sit together and quickly identify when financial product advice is needed. It provides documented evidence of exactly who is taking responsibility for what, helping accountants stay within the law and ensures all parties meet the ‘best interest’ laws. Our process for integrating with the SMSF accounting process has received sign-off from top financial services lawyers and we’ve just filed our patent application.”
A.S.A.P. is dedicated to offering a low-cost and efficient online service for accountants who don’t have an AFSL. A webinar will be held on Tuesday 1 November 2pm talking through our service while explaining in more detail the need for SoAs when giving advice to SMSF trustees.
If you would like to register for one of our weekly webinars, please email chorwood@asap-advice.com.au.