7 Signs of Good SMSF audit services

Posted by Atlas Auditing on November 24th, 2020

Do you manage a Self-Managed Super Fund? Are you trying to find SMSF audit services to verify and audit your books? With so many service-providers, it can be hard to find and choose reliable ones.

Use these tips to find trusted SMSF audit services. If they seem to possess most of these qualities, you should probably hire them.

1. Should be registered

This is one of the simplest signs. Make sure you shortlist only those SMSF audit services that are registered with ATO. By choosing unregistered consultants, you run the risk of not having the job done well, being overcharged for it or ignoring compliance breaches (if any) causing bigger problems in the future.

2. Timely completion

Regardless of whether you want to conduct an SMSF audit in Sydney or an SMSF audit in Perth, or any other city for that matter, the auditor must be able to tell you upfront what the duration of the audit will be. While the trustee members will understand that any audit will take time, it mustn’t be presumed that they can be taken for a ride. When the audit agreement is being drawn up, the nature and duration of audit work must be mandatorily mentioned on it.

3. Great reviews

In your search for great SMSF audit services, make sure you ask around and read up reviews. When you want the best quality of audits, reviews of previous customers can be very helpful in making the decision. Look out for comments about the professional and accurate nature of the SMSF audit reports to determine if they will be good for you or not.

4. Customer-centric

It’s really important that the SMSF audit service tailors their processes to suit your specific needs. The best ones are hands-on, offer personalization to cater to each business’ unique requirements and aim at building long-term partnerships.

5. Experienced

Whether you ask for providers of SMSF audit in Sydney or an SMSF audit in Perth, you are likely to be given names of experienced SMSF auditors. This mainly because, they are generally expected to offer in-depth technical know-how and tremendous experience on various SMSF strategies. Trusted names will also stay abreast of changing regulations and compliances.

6. Independent

The latest changes in audit regulations bring the focus on SMSF auditor independence. Until recently, SMSFs could have the same firms drawing up the accounts as well as conducting the audit, based on an apparent Chinese Wall separating the two. Since this is now being seen as unacceptable, changes were made in the regulations itself. SMSF auditor independence implies that now, auditors are not allowed to conduct an SMSF audit as well be accountants or bookkeepers for that SMSF.

7. Keeps data safe

A good SMSF audit service will ensure they keep your data private and secure, and is not shared by any other parties not involved in the fund’s affairs. Find out if they use any security systems or encryptions to keep all your information safe.

Use these signs to identify the perfect self-managed super fund, and you’ll be done with the SMSF audit in much less time than you ever imagined.