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A.C.N.
097 881 804 |
SELF MANAGED SUPERANNUATION SPECIALIST
OUTSOURCING
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Elite Super is a Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) specialist firm that operates exclusively for accounting and financial planning firms. We specialise in the annual administrative work and audits for Self Managed Superannuation Funds. We also specialise in Self Managed Superannuation consultancy and advisory to accountants and financial planners.
Elite Super has many years of experience in the Self Managed Super area and we strive constantly to offer our clients expert SMSF services. We aim to develop a relationship with our clients similar to a business partner. We help promote the growth of SMSFs within small practices and, especially since superannuation is such a growth industry, we help small practices take advantage of this growth market.
CONTENTS
Advantages of using
Elite Super
Our assurances to you
The Packages –
•
The Elite Compliance Package
•
The
Elite Audit Only Package
•
The Elite Technical Advice Package
•
The Elite Establishment Package
•
The Elite SMSF Trustee Toolkit & Pension Toolkit
Elite Price Structures
Turn around of work
Contact us
Advantages of using Elite Super
Elite Super reduces your costs
–
- SMSF
knowledge is a specialist field and small practices can generally not afford
to employ SMSF specialist staff. Now with SMSF auditor competencies required,
this puts extra pressure on accountancy practices.
- Our
services can be an alternative to hiring new staff and can alleviate pressure
on existing staff.
- Employee
on-costs and non billable super related expenses are alleviated (such as
costly SMSF software, systems and training)
- Low profit margins exist in smaller firms with SMSF work as the principals and / or the senior staff do not have the “volume” of SMSFs to gain economies of scale.
- Using
Elite Super can allow your firm to build your fee on top of our fee due
to our low fixed fee structure (so your firm can start to make money on
SMSFs, not write off!)
Elite Super allows you to properly
service your clients –
- Your
firm can still offer a specialist service to your clients even though your
firm does not itself specialise in SMSFs. You do not have to turn away SMSF
work because you do not feel comfortable with SMSFs.
- Outsourcing
the SMSF compliance allows your firm to pursue other areas of your profession
(in which your firm may be best at)
- Elite
Super takes the worry out of SMSF work. Small and sole practices are overwhelmed
with tax law and its administration let alone worry about the SIS Act and
Regulations as well.
- Elite
Super services ensure that your clients are looked after by specialists. You can assure your clients
that their interests are what you are concerned about.
-
If audit independence is an issue in your firm, our service will put in place this independence.
The ATO tougher stance on auditors
-
- The
ATO are now auditing the auditors of SMSFs not just the trustees. The ATO
are taking a much tougher stance with penalties being issued for not doing
the audit correctly.
- Mere
failure to notify the trustees of a contravention results in a maximum fine
of 50 penalty points (sec 129 and 130 of SISA). Some contraventions are
not easily identifiable to an untrained advisor so why would you risk it?.
- The
ATO are now disqualifying auditors and reporting them to their professional
association if the auditors failed to carry out or perform adequately and
properly the duties of an auditor under the law. (sec
131 and 131A of SISA). Why would you risk disqualification?.
Litigation increasing for advisors
- The
trustee does not need the ATO to take action before they can take action
against their advisor. Sec 218 allows the trustees to show incorrect advice
has resulted in costs being incurred (say to rectify the breach).
-
Ignorance of what is in your clients trust deed could result in the fund breaching the deed and also a breach of sec 55. Any person recommending a strategy which breaches the trust deed also breaches sec 55 and is liable for any damages or losses incurred.
Our Experience
Elite Super staff have approximately
a decade of experience working with SMSFs. Our staff also
have a legal background and this aids with technical questions of real
property and SMSFs, trust law, and SIS Law interpretation. Recent qualifications
include SMSF professional advisory qualification through The Strategist Group, and the Advanced
Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) through Tribeca Learning. We strive to be constantly on top of the current
SIS Law and ATO changes to offer the best possible service to our clients.
Our assurances
to you
It is extremely important to us that we have no direct contact
with your clients, so as to maintain our assurance to you that your clients
stay your clients. All communication with the trustees of the fund is undertaken
by your firm. Our point of contact for information is always through your
firm. We do all our work for accounting and financial planning firms. We have
the highest levels of confidentiality with your firm and your clients. If
you request, we would be happy to put in place a binding agreement stipulating
that Elite Super would never engage your clients.
Our Packages
–
The Elite Compliance
Package
This package comprises a complete accounting, taxation, administrative
and audit package for your clients as follows -
Annual Accountancy and Audit Work
(bound set for each member of the
fund) -
- ATO
income tax and regulatory return
- Member
Contribution Statement (MCS)
Loose documents –
- Annual minutes and resolutions
- Ad
hoc minutes and resolutions
- Representation
Letter from trustees
- Engagement
letters (for accountancy and audit)
- Audit
management letter and/or sec 129 notice for breaches.
Because of the size of this company, we send the audit of the fund to another specialist firm to put in place the needed independence.
Compliance Rectification
This package involves all liaison work with your firm to help
your clients regain compliance if their fund is non
complying. You may have obtained a new client from another advisor, for example
and wish Elite Super to fix the compliance side of the fund before any annual
work is commenced. This can be a time consuming job, however we can assist
your firm each step of the way, from the statement of advice regarding the
state of the funds compliance, right through to the fund regaining SIS compliance.
Compliance Rectification is not part of the annual accounting
and audit packages.
The
Elite Audit Only Package
This package involves your firm preparing the annual financial
statements, minutes, and tax return in house and delivering the work to us
to be audited.
Under this package we will provide you with
- An
Audit Report in the approved ATO form
- Engagement
letter engaging Elite Super as the auditor
- Representation
Letter from the trustees
- audit management letter and/or sec 129 notice for breaches.
We can provide assistance in Compliance Rectification (see
above Elite Compliance Package) however this is not part of the Elite audit
package.
The
Elite Technical Advice Package
Because we are specialists in the SMSF area, we are only too happy to assist your firm with technical advice. This advice is written advice and depending on the complexity
of the question/advice sort, and depending
on whether your firm is a client of Elite Super already, our fees are on a
scale per hour.
The
Elite Establishment Package
- Establishment of
Self Managed Superannuation Funds
Elite Super can completely set up
the SMSF for your clients as individual trustees or corporate trustees.
(a) Individual Trustee Establishment
This package provides in one complete
SMSF permanent folder -
- trust
deed,
- Product
disclosure statement,
- Membership
applications, Consent to act as trustees
- Establishment
minutes, forms and templates
(b) Corporate Trustee Establishment
This package provides in one complete
SMSF permanent folder -
- trust
deed,
- Product
disclosure statement,
- Membership
applications, Consent to act as trustees
- Establishment
minutes, forms and templates
This package also provides for incorporation
of the Corporate Trustee in one complete Corporate Secretarial folder –
- Company
constitution
- Establishment
minutes, forms and templates
- Various
registers for minutes of meetings, directors etc
2. Establishment of Pensions
Elite Super can set up and prepare
all the necessary documentation for the establishment of the following pensions
-
Account based pensions
- Transition to retirement pensions
The pension package includes all
required ATO forms, trustee minutes, Product Disclosure Statements and calculations.
The
Elite SMSF Trustee Toolkit & Pension Toolkit
Trustee Toolkit
The ATO are looking closely at whether Trustees have the necessary
minuting of their investment decisions. Elite Super has developed a minute/template
toolkit for SMSF trustees to help trustees stay compliant with the SIS Law.
Each and every minute or template a trustee could ever require (in accumulation
and pension phase) is contained in our toolkit. The software is a series of
word documents, easy for your trustee clients to use as templates. The toolkit
also contains 14 different types of investment strategies your client can
tailor to their risk profile and investment portfolio. The investment strategies
are Regulation 4.09 compliant, if tailored to the super funds investments.
We have found that many accounting and financial planning firms
are purchasing the toolkit and using the templates as part of the administration
function for their SMSF clients. This is built into the fee base of the client.
The toolkit is invaluable when you consider the cost of having an investment
strategy prepared by a licensed financial planner is upwards of $500.
Pension Toolkit
This is a complete Pension Toolkit covering:
- Account based pensions, and
- Transition to retirement pensions
It contains all necessary minutes, letters and agreements including Product Disclosure Statements for each pension type. An invaluable toolkit for any practitioner implementing pensions for their clients.
Elite Price Structures
The Elite Compliance
Package
This package fee is determined by the number of investments
in the SMSF (at the end or start of the year, which ever is more).
Package Fees
Investments Category
1
Tiny fund
2 to 5
Extra Small Fund
6 to 9
Small Fund
10 to 19
Medium Fund
20 to 29
Large Fund
30 to 39
Extra Large Fund
40 to 49
Giant Fund
Greater
than 50 Extra
Giant Fund
The Elite Audit
Only Package
Package Fees
|
|
|
A |
Cash Only |
| B |
Cash, listed company shares and managed funds |
| C |
Non-standards
investments such as related party transactions, golf club memberships,
real estate and artwork |
| D |
|
The package fee may be adjusted by the following extras or
deductions –
New Funds
An extra of 25% is added on top of package fee because from 01-07-08 all new funds (funds less than 15 months old), all contraventions, regardless of materiality, must be reported to the ATO. We are therefore not able to audit sample and must review all investments, expenses and income items for these funds.
Contraventions
If an audit contains a material breach, up to an extra $300 is added for the A.C.R and the audit qualification. This will depend on the breach involved.
Compliance Package Set-up Fee 5 – 25%
The one off set up fee is added to the package fee to reflect
set-up time. The extra fee is based on whether Elite Super is preparing comparatives
or not.
Comparative Set up on our system 25% extra
No comparative set up 5%
extra
New Fund establishment 0%
The set up extra is therefore up to your firm whether a comparative
is required in the set up year (subsequent years come automatically with comparatives).
Urgent Extra Fee 30%
Where your client requires their fund completed urgently, we can guarantee to have a query list to you within 24 hours of receiving the paper work. We will then guarantee to have the work completed and delivered via courier / express post within 72 hours of receiving the information required to complete the fund. New funds will require an extra 8 hours to set up.
GST Registered SMSF extra fee 10 – 30%
The time required to prepare / audit a GST registered fund
varies from fund to fund depending on the percentage of the funds activities
that related to GST. We can give a more exact quote on receipt of the fund
records.
Audit of Unusual Investments & difficult audits– case by case basis
Investments that are unusual such as particular artwork or wine collections for example may need extra audit work to verify these assets. Audit of these types of investments is on a scale per hour and will be quoted to you before the commencement of the audit.
Out Of Pockets
These will be charged on top of our package fee. For example title search fees and actuary costs will be added on top of the package fee. From 01-07-08 we will be charging an out of pocket for heavy folders to be posted back to accountants.
First Year & Upgrades of Trust Deeds
This requires a review of the funds trust deed. The extra for
the first year is 5% on the package fee. (This extra will be rebated to the fund if the trustees decide to upgrade
their trust deed through Elite Super)
“Post” Unit Trust Investments - Audit
Investments in a post ‘99 Unit Trust, that is a related Unit Trust requires the auditor to check whether the conditions of Regulation 13.22 are fulfilled. Audit of this type of investment is on a scale per hour and will be quoted to you before the commencement of the audit.
Compliance Package - Pension Phase
For funds in 100% pension phase (all members in pensions) a 10% extra will be charged.
If some of the members are in the pension phase and some are in accumulation
phase, an extra 15% will be charged to calculate the split between taxable
and non taxable super fund income. NB - an actuary maybe required for non
segregated pension assets and this cost will be added on as a disbursment.
Audit only - Pension Phase
For funds in 100% pension phase (all members in pensions) a 5% extra fee will be charged to check whether the pension meets the pension requirements. If some members are in pension phase and some in accumulation phase, an extra of 10% will be charged to check whether the pension meets the pension requirements and also to check the tax calculation for the split between taxable and non taxable income.
DEDUCTIONS TO THE PACKAGE FEE
Assets held in a portfolio – Compliance Package
Where assets are held in a portfolio, and your firm and the trustee of the fund does not require the investments to be individually listed in the financial statements, each asset class in the portfolio is counted as 5 investments (if the fund has more than 5 in that asset class). For example, a SMSF has the following asset allocation across their portfolio with more than 5 assets in each portfolio asset class –
Australian
Shares }
International Shares }total
investment in shares counts as 5 investments
Listed
Property
} counts as 5 investments
Australian
Fixed Interest }
International
Fixed interest }total investment in Fixed Interest
counts as 5 investments
Cash
/ CMT
} counts as 1 investment
Early Bird Deductions
Where Elite Super receives all of the SMSF client’s documentation
as requested early in the year we offer discounts on the package fee as follows
–
Before 31 July 20% deduction
on package fee.
Before 31 August
10% deduction on package fee
Before 30 September
5% deduction on package fee
These early bird deductions are applied before any other extra’s are added on to the package fee if applicable.
If your firm’s staff members are trustees of a SMSF, they receive a 35% deduction on the package fee. Principals of the firm receive a huge 50% deduction on the package fee. We aim to look after the owners and staff of our clients. This employee and principal deduction applies to the Elite Compliance Package and the Elite Audit Only Package.
The
Elite Technical Advice Package
Consulting only Client
Hourly fee is located
on the 'Package Prices' on our website
Elite Super Compliance
Client/Audit Client
Hourly fee is located
on the 'Package Price' on our website
The
Elite Establishment Package
The prices for establishment of SMSFs and Pensions are located on the 'Package Prices' on our website.
The
Elite SMSF Trustee Toolkit & Pension Toolkit
The price for the Elite Super SMSF Trustee minute and template toolkit and Pension Toolkit is located on the 'Package Prices' on our website.
Turn-around of work
Our
Commitment
Elite Super guarantee that a list of queries will be produced and sent to your firm within 3 weeks from receipt of the information from your firm (failure to honor this guarantee is a deduction of 10% in the package fee). Where possible email and faxing of information is used to speed up the workflow. We guarantee that from the time that we receive all queries and all information to complete the financials and or the audit we will have three weeks to package the work and send it back to your firm (failure to honor this guarantee is a deduction of 10% in the package fee).
These deadline guarantees can not be honored where a new fund is required to be set up on our system (Compliance Package), or the work arrives after 1st March.
Once we commence the work, we may require extra information to complete the audit of the fund and/or complete the tax and accounting work. Unfortunately, in the past we have had accountants who have not sent us the required information for several months. We have therefore set a time limit of 4 weeks from the date of request. At the expiry of this time and with 2 email attempts to obtain the necessary information, we will issue an interim account for the percentage of work complete to the accounting firm.
Contact Us
For more information contact –
You can email us on katrina@elitesuper.com.au
Mail
Phone 02 65 626551
Fax 02 65 628551
Mobile (Katrina Fletcher) 0427 925 772