Accountants urge super transparency

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

12 September 2022

The major accounting bodies have backed superannuation funds being required to disclose expenditures on an itemised basis, arguing that it is little more than they are already required to do when reporting to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

In a submission to Treasury, CPA Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand noted that APRA had announced plans to publish all non-confidential data it receives from superannuation funds.

“It seems appropriate to us that the same information should be disclosed to superannuation fund members as that disclosed to the prudential regulator,” the submission said.

“Given that the prudential regulator publishes this information in a manner many members may not be able to readily access then it should be provided in published reports to help members understand their fund and prepare for their fund’s annual member meeting,” the two accounting bodies said.