Mr van Manen said he thought ASIC needed to do more work in “charging the fees where they belong”.

Small to medium businesses were “paying proportionately more than the big end of town” he said, pointing out that the way fees are charged “makes no sense to me at all”.

ASIC chair Joe Longo stated that ASIC was “very alive” to the plight of small businesses in the wake of levies, which have risen by 236 per cent in recent years.

The regulator’s commissioner overseeing the advice sector, Danielle Press, later rejected suggestions in the hearing that ASIC did not care about the plight of small businesses.

Ms Press stated she “thinks about the impact on small business every day”.

“Do not think just because the numbers are going up, we don’t care, I care deeply about this,” she said.

However, Mr Longo stressed that the regulatory body was hamstrung by federal policy.

Federal policy has no definition for “small business enterprise”, he stated, making a distinction and any adjustment of fees difficult without a change in legislation.

Mr van Manen questioned whether ASIC had been proactive in working with the federal government to work towards legislative adjustment of the model, accusing the body of not being proactive in supporting small to medium advice practices.

“What representations have you (ASIC) made to government from a policy perspective?” Mr van Manen asked.

Warren Day, ASIC’s COO, insisted ASIC is indeed acting proactively in engaging with businesses and government to ensure a fair application of fees.

Mr Longo also advised that ASIC would hold a review of the cost recovery scheme next year.

Mr van Manen’s initial request for a detailed breakdown of costs was not able to be given in the hearing, with ASIC taking the request on notice.