Accountants who were authorised under an AFSL by 1 January this year are recognised as existing advisers and only have to complete bridging courses as opposed to starting a whole new degree, Mr Hayes.

“In the three or four months following that December deadline, accountants and advisers were predominantly focused on just digesting everything that they needed to do for the new adviser standards,” he said.

“What’s happened more recently in May and June is that a lot of accountants and advisers are now having a look at their licensing options.” 

Mr Hayes said they may have had their own licence or been authorised under someone else’s licence and are now evaluating if that’s the best place to be.

With accountants needing to complete a higher number of CPD hours under the FASEA standards, one of the big draw cards for accountants when looking at licensing providers, he said, is whether the provider can offer professional development which is structured to minimise the total number of hours they need to complete.

Mr Hayes said accountants want to be able to attend one event and satisfy their CPD requirements for their professional body, for the FASEA requirements and for the Tax Practitioners Board.

“[Licensing providers] need to structure their education so that accountants can get the most efficient use of their professional development,” he said.

“That’s the sort of thing that would cause accountants to move to a different licence because it fits better with what they’re doing.”