How much is reasonable for an audit of a SMSF that only has cash in the bank & one managed investment?
Audit of SMSF - how much?
- Thread starter thesuperman
- Start date
I am an SMSF Auditor
If only two investments (one bank account and one managed fund), my fixed price is $300 + Costs (which most likely is an ASIC search fee, if you have a corporate trustee)
So total (with ASIC Search Fee) would be $316.81 (GST Inclusive). Note this fee is for up to 4 investments.
If only two investments (one bank account and one managed fund), my fixed price is $300 + Costs (which most likely is an ASIC search fee, if you have a corporate trustee)
So total (with ASIC Search Fee) would be $316.81 (GST Inclusive). Note this fee is for up to 4 investments.
If a SMSF were to hold 10 different shares, does that classify as 10 different investments to an auditor or one investment because it's all shares?
With me that counts as 10 investments. Each additional type of share purchased increases the work required.
You can not check all your shares in one go.
eg. If I need to check say your Wesfarmers holdings I need to go to Computershare and then if I need to check your Telstra shares I need to jump to link market services.
If its in one managed account (ie Comsec, Westpac Broking etc) the portfolio may count as a single investment to be confirmed. This can often be done online and at no cost. I find most SMSF auditors know the tricks to doing it fast and cheap.
I made a decision to be a SMSF adviser and didn't apply to be a auditor to avoid any conflicts of interest. I outsource all mine to a very independent Melbourne CA specialist with a fixed price of $484 incl GST. SMSF Compliance Audits. Approachable and a good adviser happy to discuss any possible issues and strategies to address them.
I have been approached by many who offer these services and some are foreign outsourced, backyarders and questionable. Agree its wise to choose carefully as cost can vary and price alone is no indicator. I would never use one just because they are cheap. Quality first. Price competitive second as this is paid by my client.
Best tip I can give is to speak to the auditor personally.
Comsec statements or Westpac broking statements are not to used as Audit evidence. You can not get a GS007 report for them. Full wraps are a different story. Comsec and Westpac broking statements are not wraps. The auditor still needs to go to Computershare or link market or other registrar to do their third party checks.
Also note to everyone. Good auditors do not accept transaction statements for bank accounts. Most banks these days have the bank statement in the online system. So no reason to just print transaction statements.
$484 for a fixed fee is getting expensive these days. My fixed fee for accounting firms using a software package like BGL is cheaper than that by quite a bit.
I do not have an office these days. Which helps with costs. No need when everyone is sending documents electronically.
the foreign outsourcing is an issue with audits as it is with tax. It is a worry and personally wish the government would put a stop to it.
How we have so many Registered Indian, Philipino and Malaysian SMSF Auditors is beyond me, I have raised this in forums many a forum to deaf ears - seems the focus is on 'free SMSF providers, when the focus should be on the qualifications of the 'gatekeepers' who are the auditors themselves. I don't outsource anything - major reputation and fraud risk - although it cuts costs I prefer to maintain the quality of our audits with a experienced team that can deal with our clients direct.
Fees wise it depends on the size of the accountant/ planner.
For a firm that provides us with 150-200 audits, we fix fees at $350 inc GST. Independence is important on this scale.
For smaller accounting firms with 20-100 funds - we have a scale - equities only are easy - Property additional cost due to title search and borrowing incur additional cost.
For direct dealing with trustee costs are fixed as we cannot rely on economies of scale.
I think you will find there will be less auditors by July 2015, with a significant number under scrutiny.
Cheers, Ivan
Most would have been educated here and done CPA ec... my bigger concern is the data you give them access to and what they could do with it. They can tell you all you want to hear but you just do not know. I make sure that as much as possible I control the data I receive from clients.
Also they run under the ethical, political situation of there own country not Australia's. Things can change quickly.
Your fees are inline with my fees and what is becoming standard in the industry, as more specialised firms come along.
Hi Redwing,as an FYI under the penalty regime, if you were to be fined, it is up to $10,200 per trustee, in the example above with individual trustees that is 2 X $10,200, if you have a corporate trustee, the max fine is one unit or $10,200.....more reason to convert to corporate trustee.....
All our clients are corporate trustee.
Cheers, Ivan
