Regulatory burden report

The growing advice gap

Professional accountants providing advisory services have faced increasing regulation and compliance requirements in recent years. This has increased both the cost and time burden associated with providing high-quality services to clients. Rising costs and complex regulations are driving advisers out of the sector at a time when the need for financial advice is growing.

In turn, seeking professional advice has become more difficult and costly, pushing it out of reach for many consumers. CPA Australia believes that now is the time to review competing regulatory regimes. Our industry needs a consistent regulatory framework that enables professional accountants to provide more affordable, independent and high-quality advice to more people.

CPA Australia's Regulatory Burden Report

The Regulatory Burden Report was released on 1 October 2019. It has enabled CPA Australia to collaborate with other professional bodies, presenting a united front to government in advocating for regulatory reform.

The report confirmed our concerns that regulatory burden is having significant impact on both public practice accountants and their clients.

The report makes five key recommendations:

1. Review the definition of key terms
2. Refine product advice and introduce strategic financial planning advice
3. Introduce individual licensing or registration of financial advisers
4. Align codes of ethics and continuing professional development requirements
5. Consider changes to the tax registration system

Developed with our members

The Regulatory Burden Report was developed through intensive consultation with our members. We commissioned leading researcher CoreData to survey the impact of regulatory complexity on our member practitioners.

We received more than 600 responses from members in public practice. In addition, 60 members in public practice participated in 10 in-depth focus groups nationally, and over 1,000 consumers and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) contributed to a related survey.

We welcome further comments and member insights on this issue. To contribute your experience and knowledge to our ongoing research please email [email protected].

We are applying these new understandings to work for change in our industry. Read more about how we are advocating for better regulatory frameworks.