smsf audit related tips

  It really depends on the size and structure of the business. Some of the important things to consider are: - Number of transactions: Retail businesses or franchises can often have hundreds of transactions (sales and invoices) to process which can take up a lot of man hours as compared to  service-based businesses   which wouldn't need as many customers to be sustainable. - Number of employees: The more the employees in the business, the longer the bookkeeper will have to spend processing their payroll according to their individual circumstances. - Revenue: If the revenue crosses the GST threshold ($75,000 in AU), the business will have to submit a  Business Activity Statement  (Quarterly) as well. - Expertise of the bookkeeper: As you get more experienced and skilled, obviously the time taken to do the work would be reduced as well. There are other factors as well and you may have noticed that they are all related to each other. So really, the answer to this question could be onc

A new penalty regime has been released that will penalize SMSF auditors. This is a significant shift in the responsibility of SMSF gatekeepers.  Practice Statement Law Administration0/3 (PSLA). The PSLA guides ATO staff about how to apply administrative sanctions. This new SMSF penalty era will make it difficult for SMSF auditors to do their jobs effectively. The PSLA's primary focus is on s166 SIS, which outlines the rules for administrative penalties. A trustee who breaches s166 SIS is subject to an administrative penalty. The new PSLA provides the ATO with a clear path for determining whether remission is possible. Administrative Penalties Introduced administrative penalties in 2014. The ATO took a softly-softly approach to this issue by issuing educational directives and remitting SMSF penalties. The number of auditor contraventions reports has remained relatively stable at 2% of SMSFs since then, and trustee behaviour has not changed. Let's be very clear: The legislation h

  The long-awaited guidance from the ATO to ensure the independence of SMSF auditors has been released. This confirms the requirements set forth in  APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards). The revised Code stipulates that SMSF auditors must use the conceptual framework to identify, evaluate, and address independence threats. SMSF auditors must use professional judgment and be alert for any new information or changes in facts and conditions. SMSF auditors need to apply a litmus test. They should ask themselves if they would hesitate in writing an adverse finding or preparing an audit report. For example, an SMSF auditor could identify a compliance violation for a client and deal with it in a management letter. This would compromise independence. SMSF Auditor Independence  The ATO has provided the following information  in several scenarios these  situations will continue to pose independence threats and cannot easily be resolved.   In th

If you have a self-managed super fund , it must be audited each year. You must immediately hire a professional auditor to complete this task. The auditor must finish the job professionally, involving both the administrator and accountant and the fund. The Australian Taxation Office provided a detailed guide for SMSF auditing in the past and next year. Below are the details. Conviction by the Australian Taxation Office You are probably aware that the Australian Taxation Office has created a comprehensive SMSF auditing guide. This guide is only for auditing your self-managed super funds. The ATO also stated that SMSF accountants shouldn't be restricted to only auditing SMSFs. They should also manage an SMSF's accounting department. This service will be mandatory starting 1 July 2021. The actions of the ATO The Australian Taxation Office encourages SMSF accounting by putting in a lot of effort. This allows them to implement the various types of roaming arrangements to outsource t

  Nearly 18,000 SMSF trustees received a letter in September 2019 from the ATO...with love...about SMSF investment strategy. It pointed out a lack of diversification. The question is: What should an SMSF investment strategy look like? How should it look? ATO Letter :> What did September 2019's ATO letter about SMSF investment strategies say? The ATO wrote, Our records show that 90% of your SMSF investment strategy's funds may be held in one asset or one class. Your fund could be at risk of not meeting the... the SIS Regulations diversification requirement. You, as trustee, are responsible for ensuring that your investment strategy conforms to the needs of the law em>  The ATO then gets the big stick. They might have been worried about not being taken seriously. They continue to do so. If your investment strategy does not meet these requirements, you could be subject to an administrative penalty of $4,000. The ATO then concludes by getting the auditors involved. &quo