At 30 June 2017, 799 of these applications had been approved, 150 applications were withdrawn, 225 were not accepted for lodgement, one application was refused and 36 applications were still pending.

Out of the 1210 applications, 393 or 32.5 per cent had still not been finalised at the beginning of 2017, six months after the removal of the accountants’ exemption.

The report indicates that 324 applications were finalised between January and June 2016, 281 were finalised between July and December 2016 and 357 were finalised between January and June 2017.

The report also indicated that during the 2016/17 financial year, 406 SMSF auditor registrations were cancelled.

Out of these, 162 were cancelled at the request of the SMSF auditor, four were cancelled following action initiated by ASIC, two were cancelled for failing to comply with the conditions of their registration, and 238 were cancelled for failing to lodge an annual statement.

Among the four that were cancelled following action initiated by ASIC, one auditor was not an Australian resident and three were not fit and proper persons.