SMSF auditor and duties they perform
Every self managed superfund in Australia needs to be audited before the lodgement of the income tax return by an ASIC approved auditor who will examine super funds financial statements and will check funds compliance with superannuation laws in Australia. SMSF auditor should be registered with Australian Securities and Investments Commission to be eligible to audit the SMSF and provided with a unique auditor number which will be required to put on the SMSF tax return with other details.
Two of the main requirements of an SMSF auditor to perform the audit of the Superfund are that they should be independent from SMSF means should not have close relationships with trustees or SMSF members, and should not be the person who prepared the funds financials or tax return. SMSF auditors must comply with prescribed independence requirements as set out in the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board’s pronouncement, APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.
What duties will the SMSF auditor perform?
The role of an SMSF auditor is to perform independent opinion regarding SMSF existing assets and will check superfund compliance with the superannuation industry rules and regulations and provide any finding details to trustees and ATO in an approved way. Compliance audit is the complete assessment of how the SMSFs comply with the superannuation rules and regulations.
During the SMSF audit engagement terms of the engagement letter will be issued to the trustees outlining the roles and responsibilities of each party involved in the SMSF audit. Work performed through an SMSF administrator separate terms of engagement will be provided. These terms will help each party to understand their responsibility and avoid any misunderstanding. This letter will be requested to sign to start the audit work.
By making the Super Funds compliance judgement with the rules and regulations and reporting any contravention occurred and likely to occur in future SMSF auditor plays a vital role in the health of the SMSF sector. If the breach needs to be reported to the Australian Taxation Office through lodging the contravention report.
Annual return of an SMSF can only be lodged once the audit is finalized and regulatory information is completed on the SMSF return from the audit report provided by the approved auditor. To perform the audit if the SMSF auditor will request required information which needs to be provided to the auditor within the timeframe of 14 days.
Audit of an SMSF to check compliance with Superannuation Industry regulations must be conducted with the Australian Auditing Standards. Self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustees are required to appoint an ASIC approved SMSF auditor no later than 45 days before lodging their SMSF annual return.