Accountants want right to deliver strategic advice

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

3 February 2026

Major accounting group, Chartered Accountants ANZ (CA-ANZ) has called on the Government to use the May Budget to allow chartered accountants to provide strategic financial advice without additional licensing requirements.

The accounting group has used its pre-Budget submission to Treasury to list such a move as a short-term action item alongside reviewing financial adviser education standards to enable new avenues for advice to be created.

It also recommended replacement of the annual superannuation contributions caps and their replacement with lifetime caps and a discontinuation of the Better Targeted Tax Concessions policy.

On a list of long-term policy items, CA-ANZ urged reform of the tax base, including having the Productivity Commission comprehensively review all current retirement related tax and transfer payments policies, including aged care subsidies with the aim of removing inconsistency and complexity.

It said the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) should also be tasked with review the superannuation laws in an equivalent way to its recently completed Financial Services Legislation inquiry.

However, on the critical issue of financial advice, the submission said that “new avenues need to be created to allow financial advice to be available to more Australians to help them navigate the complexity of the superannuation, taxation, age pension and aged care rules”.

“Our members are highly trained and skilled, and can assist, but the regulatory environment needs urgent reform to allow our members in public practice to assist their clients with their everyday financial challenges,” the CA-ANZ submission said.

“We acknowledge the government’s announced changes to its Better Targeted Superannuation Tax Concession (BTSTC) policy that will see those with more than $3 million in total superannuation assets face an additional 15% tax and those with more than $10 million in total superannuation assets will pay an additional 25% tax.

“The BTSTC policy seeks to solve a problem that will mostly correct itself over the next 10 years. Many of our concerns with the original policy were addressed with the recent policy changes.”

“However, we have significant concerns about the new policy settings, including the fact that the additional costs superannuation funds will incur initially to implement, and each year thereafter to administer this tax measure, will be paid by all fund members,” it said.