Held over two and a half days, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), experience technical sessions, worth up to 44 CPD hours, presented by key industry experts, all included as part of your registration!
Note: The National Conference 2023 Program is subject to change. The program listed below is current, as of 15 February 2023.
LIVE STREAM & on-demand SESSIONS
Watch Live Stream sessions on the day as they are happening, all times shown are in AEDT. They will also be available on-demand from Friday 24 February 2023.
on-demand only SESSIONS
On-Demand sessions will be available for viewing from Friday 24 February until Friday 31 March 2023, for delegates registered for the virtual program.
Tim Steele, Chief Executive Officer, Class
Dr Irene Guiamatsia, Head of Research, Investment Trends
Hazel Bateman, School of Risk & Actuarial Studies, UNSW Business School
Deputy Director, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, UNSW
Meg Heffron, Managing Director, Heffron Consulting Pty Ltd
Peter Burgess, Deputy CEO / Director of Policy & Education, SMSF Association
With total SMSF assets now exceeding $860 billion, and the number of SMSF surpassing 600,000 for the first time in 2022, just how big can the SMSF sector be? Join us for breakfast as Class CEO Tim Steele, Heffron Managing Director, Meg Heffron, SMSF Association Deputy CEO, Peter Burgess and more discuss and debate:
This thought leadership breakfast is a must for practice owners and SMSF industry participants wanting to stay abreast of the latest industry trends, developments, challenges and opportunities.
Bryce Figot, Special Counsel, DBA Lawyers
This session aims to provide practical tools and concrete strategies to deal with member capability issues, in particular:
John Maroney, CEO, SMSF Association
Peter Burgess, Deputy CEO / Director of Policy & Education, SMSF Association
Start National Conference 2023 on a high, with the traditional fast moving, high energy legislation update session presented by Deputy CEO / Director of Policy & Education, Peter Burgess. Join Peter as he provides a stocktake of the tax and regulatory changes which shaped the SMSF landscape in 2022 and previews the legislative agenda for the year ahead. As the Chair of the 2023 National Conference program committee, Peter will also highlight sessions on this year’s program which will provide further detail and others to watch out for.
Clinton Jackson, Partner, Cooper Grace Ward
Steven Jell, Senior Associate, Cooper Grace Ward
This session will look at:
Graeme Colley, Executive Manager Technical & Private Wealth, SuperConcepts
When the buzzing in the hive gets to fever pitch it may be time for unhappy members to swarm and make a new one. When it comes to SMSFs the ‘hive’ can be impacted by marriage breakdowns, blended families, children as members and untenable relationships within the fund. This session will examine the complex maze that challenges the success of some SMSFs as relationships ebb and flow over the life of the fund.
Tracey Scotchbrook, Head of Policy and Advocacy, SMSF Association
In this session, we will discuss the Association’s policy and advocacy work over the past 12 months and the key policy issues for the SMSF sector over the next 12 months. This will include an exploration of the SMSF Associations key policy priorities and discussion on the future challenges for the SMSF sector.
Daniel Butler, Director, DBA Lawyers
This presentation will bring your current understanding of non-arm’s length income (NALI) and the changes introduced with effect from 1 July 2018 (i.e., non-arm’s length expenses, NALE) up to date so that you are aware of all the latest developments, including:
Craig Day, Head of Technical, Colonial First State
Gainful employment remains a key superannuation concept which applies in a range of different situations, such as from making personal deductible contributions to accessing benefits upon retirement.
This session looks at what it means to be gainfully employed and explores the different situations where it’s relevant. Topics covered include:
Adele Martin, Money Mentor & CFP, Founder of My Money Buddy & The Savings Squad podcast
Financial influencers (aka ‘Finfluencers’) have made ‘making money’ a mainstream topic of conversation. With rapid advancements in technology, Finfluencers have utilised different channels such as podcasts or social media, to spread their financial knowledge, tips and tricks. It is unsurprising that some investors are taking on aspects of these conversations and implementing them into their own financial strategy, but at what cost?
It is more important now than ever to understand the role Finfluencers play in the future of advice, and how this may impact SMSF and superannuation practitioners. We will explore the role of Finfluencers in the future of your business and how this impacts your clients, as well as how to adapt to the increase in cost and demand for quality advice.
Scott Hay-Bartlem, Partner, Cooper Grace Ward
Shelley Banton, Head of Education, ASF Audits
For many years the focus on SMSF documents has been on binding death benefit nominations.
More recently however, the cases have revolved around the effectiveness of other SMSF documentation, such as changes of trustee, deed variations and pension documents. These are fast becoming the newest form of disputes, and with these fights increasing, will your SMSF documents stand the test? The ATO’s increasing reliance on annual audits also means there are some triggers that will especially interest an auditor.
This workshop will examine the recent cases and the lessons to be learned from them. We will unpack the common mistakes in transactions and documents, what can go wrong when everything does not line up, what to look for and how to fix it.
Mark Ellem, Head of Education, Accurium
Frank La Spada, Head of Technical & Training, Seamless SMSF
Dealing with the death of an SMSF member not only requires the trustee(s) to comply with superannuation law requirements and consideration of tax obligations, but there’s generally also the emotional aspect that comes with the close relationship of SMSF members and trustees.
Consequently, accountants, administrators and advisers generally play an important role in guiding their SMSF clients through this stressful period. In addition, the effect of the SMSF member’s death on audit requirements must also be considered.
The workshop will commence with a review of a timeline of duties, obligations and requirements for the SMSF trustee(s).
For each topic discussed, the associated audit requirements will be identified and direction provided on what audit evidence will be required to satisfy the SMSF’s auditor, enabling attendees to ensure the appropriate documentation is available for the fund’s audit.
Tim Miller, SMSF Technical & Education Manager, Smarter SMSF
1 July 2022 was a pivotal date as it opened up the opportunities for many more superannuation fund members to make contributions to their fund. Whilst the contributions rules now make accepting contributions a less onerous task for SMSF trustees, SMSF members need to understand that there are now less barriers to making mistakes and some of those mistakes can come at a cost.
In this session we will take a look into some of the consequences of getting the contributions rules wrong as well as consider some of the lesser appreciated rules about making contributions. Some of the items that will be discussed include:
Danni Dixon, Technical Development Manager,
Aged Care Steps
Aged care advice is all the buzz – with an ageing population, increasing frailty and transformation of aged care services. With any move in homes (or hives), money and finances are major factors.
This session will explore:
Simon Russell, Director, Behavioural Finance Australia
This session will provide some interactive examples of:
Scott Hay-Bartlem, Partner, Cooper Grace Ward
Death and taxes are an inevitability in SMSFs, and with an ageing population it is something that is becoming more common to deal with, often on short notice. There are some important trips and traps as we navigate the myriad of options and strategies – it doesn’t take much of a wording slip or procedural error to change the tax outcome. Learn how to practically manage the death benefit planning and payment process in some common scenarios so that we are not talking about your clients as examples at the next conference!
Meg Heffron, Managing Director, Heffron Consulting Pty Ltd
So many of the best superannuation strategies are ideally suited to clients with SMSFs. In this session, we will explore the latest opportunities, the important steps to take when implementing them, the traps to watch for and the clients for whom they are the most valuable. We will build on earlier sessions covering new legislation and industry practice to capture the ideas that help advisers and accountants support their clients to get the most out of an SMSF.
Hayley Mitchell, Partner, Cooper Grace Ward
Litigation involving estate planning and superannuation is continuing to expand. Whether you are advising on estate planning and SMSFs, trustee obligations in paying a death benefit or beneficiaries that may have missed out, the litigation and case law serves to focus us as advisors on the issues we need to be covering with our clients. This session will examine the recent case law and provide the practical implications for SMSFs.
Phil Broderick, Principal, Sladen Legal
Holding digital assets in SMSFs is all the buzz (or at least was, up until the recent price crashes)! However, holding digital assets in SMSFs is not for the faint hearted.
In this session, we will examine the regulatory and tax issues with SMSFs and digital assets, including:
Emma Rosenzweig, Deputy Commissioner – Superannuation & Employer Obligations, Australian Taxation Office
Leah Sciacca, Senior Executive Leader, Financial Advisers Financial Services and Wealth Group, Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Join the ATO’s Deputy Commissioner – Superannuation & Employer Obligations, Emma Rosenzweig and ASIC’s Senior Executive Leader – Financial Services & Wealth Group, Leah Sciacca, for an SMSF sector update from the regulator’s perspective. Emma and Leah will outline the results of their respective compliance programs and will share their experiences on emerging trends in the SMSF sector and their key risk focus areas. This session will incorporate a 30 minute Q&A session to be hosted by the SMSF Association’s Deputy CEO / Director of Policy & Education, Peter Burgess.
Shirley Schaefer, Director, BDO
Peter Crump, Senior Consultant, Private Wealth, BDO
The workshop will consider various life stages of pensions and will explore common areas of concern from the perspective of both the members/beneficiaries and internal SMSF processes and procedures.
Matthew Burgess, Director, View Legal Pty Ltd
The pace of evolution of all aspects of superannuation related estate planning has continued to intensify over the last 12 months.
Arguably the single most important aspect of any SMSF related holistic estate planning exercise is in relation to binding death benefit nominations (or BEE-D-BEE-Ns; AKA BDBNs)
This workshop will provide an insight into a range of crucial issues and explore key points of discussion including:
Brian Herd, Partner, HopgoodGanim Lawyers
The effect of the incapacity of trustees or members of an SMSF is not just an issue for the SMSF and their continuing compliance status. It is a major challenge and a growing area of risk for professional advisers more generally.
A developing area of law impacting the professional adviser sector is ‘capacity negligence’. Here advisers are being challenged and potentially held liable for not assessing their client’s capacity competently or not being attuned to the insidious presence of undue influence from other members of the family. This can lead to them effectively facilitating elder abuse.
Advisers may have had a client for many years without difficulties. However an ageing client can create issues where the adviser is ill skilled to identify the issues and appreciate and where they are confronted by an ethical challenge. They may even have to consider their duty or responsibility to ‘whistle blow’ where they may become aware of illicit actions by other parties such as family members in manipulating an SMSF particularly through the auspices of an EPOA.
We will briefly explore the law of incapacity and its effect on SMSF’s, financial advisers, accountants and ‘other professionals’ and then drill down to the dangers of acting as an adviser without knowledge of the law or wilful avoidance of it. We will examine some riveting examples and explore some overseas development such as in the US.
John Perri, Head of Tapln & Technical Strategy, AMP
The super contribution rules were significantly relaxed on 1 July 2022, creating new and further opportunities for many super fund members.
For super fund members aged 67 to 75, the 1 July 2022 changes meant that some could make contributions for the first time in a long time, while also causing advisers to re-think how a range of common advice strategies are delivered going forward.
In this session we will look at some key contribution strategies that have emerged from the changes, including:
Tony Vizza, Executive Director, Cybersecurity, KordaMentha
Brendan Read, Partner, Forensic, KordaMentha
Cybersecurity and data breaches continue to dominate headlines, with mega-breaches impacting large Australian organisations. Unfortunately, these mega-breaches hide the fact that smaller businesses, which are not as cyber mature, are far more prone to cyber breaches. In fact, according to the federal government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), a cyber breach is reported every seven minutes.
We will talk about trends in the world of cybercrime and lessons from the frontlines, sharing best practice techniques in strengthening your defences against cybersecurity threats.
Chris Ketsakidis, Partner, Mills Oakley Lawyers
Darren Wynen, Director, Insyt Pty Ltd
This session will address the technicalities and the practicalities of SMSFs investing in unit trust structures including:
Christina Kalantzis, Principal – Financial Services Compliance, Alexis Compliance & Risk Solutions
The SOA, among other financial advice disclosure obligations, aims to ensure that your clients receive good quality advice and are able to make informed decisions. So why do Advisers get this all so wrong?
This session will look at what BEE Ethical means, as well as ask:
Belinda Aisbett, Director, Super Sphere Pty Ltd
Paul Delahunty, Director – Superannuation and Employer Obligations, Australian Taxation Office
In this workshop, we will consider the key risks associated with SMSFs from both the Regulator’s and auditor’s perspective to highlight the importance of all relevant parties working collaboratively together to ensure the auditor is adequately addressing the requirements expected by auditing standards and the ATO.
Working through practical case studies, this workshop will:
Mark Ellem, Head of Education, Accurium
Frank La Spada, Head of Technical & Training, Seamless SMSF
Dealing with the death of an SMSF member not only requires the trustee(s) to comply with superannuation law requirements and consideration of tax obligations, but there’s generally also the emotional aspect that comes with the close relationship of SMSF members and trustees.
Consequently, accountants, administrators and advisers generally play an important role in guiding their SMSF clients through this stressful period. In addition, the effect of the SMSF member’s death on audit requirements must also be considered.
The workshop will commence with a review of a timeline of duties, obligations and requirements for the SMSF trustee(s).
For each topic discussed, the associated audit requirements will be identified and direction provided on what audit evidence will be required to satisfy the SMSF’s auditor, enabling attendees to ensure the appropriate documentation is available for the fund’s audit.
Nicholas Ali, Executive Manager, SMSF Technical Support, SuperConcepts
LRBAs through an SMSF can be an excellent strategy for creating retirement wealth for members. However, it is crucial they are structured correctly, as not doing so can lead to an erosion of member wealth, as well as compliance headaches for trustees.
In this session, we’ll examine the issues for consideration regarding LRBAs with focus on:
Melanie Dunn, Principal, Accurium
As members enter retirement it is important to ensure the SMSF investment strategy considers the impact of paying out benefits to members and the risks involved in fund investments. Pension planning and maximising ECPI becomes an important strategic consideration as the investments of the fund are re-structured towards achieving the retirement objectives, which may include selling assets of the fund and incurring material capital gains or losses.
As seen by the introduction of the Retirement Income Covenant for APRA regulated funds, the creation of a retirement investment strategy involves complex and competing objectives compared to a strategy for funds solely in accumulation.
This session will explore:
Tony Stephens, Partner, Business Health Pty Ltd
Through the work they do with practice principals, licensees and product/platform providers, Business Health has compiled the pre-eminent benchmarking dataset available in the Australian advice community. The depth and breadth of their analysis allows them to identify the themes and trends that are emerging in the marketplace and also quantify the impact they are having on the critical practice metrics. In this session we will share some of the common attributes of successful firms and what have been their strategies and actions to move the performance needle.
Simon Kuestenmacher, Director & Co-founder, The Demographics Group
Help view Australia through the demographic lens, where the future becomes much clearer. The skills shortage is here to stay and we must adjust our investments and aged care strategies accordingly. The aging of Australia is only getting started (we double our 85+ cohort by 2035). We explore when the intergenerational wealth transfer is going to peak and can be all but certain in which sectors this money is going to flow. Viewing Australia in 2032 through the generational lens allows us to foresee societal trends with a certain level of clarity. Join us for this fast-paced and quirky presentation of Australia’s future.
Aaron Dunn, CEO & Co-founder, Smarter SMSF
There is a growing level of importance being placed on documentation within a SMSF – with challenges of super death benefits, through to the increased expectations by the Regulators and fund auditors with fund compliance. As the SMSF sector continues to digitise, this can create a number of challenges for both trustees and practitioners trying to navigate the legislative landscape.
Through the use of the conference case study, we will help to dissect many of these current issues including the requirements under the electronic execution measures, dealing with the SuperStream laws for rollovers and release authorities, director ID requirements and much more.
The session will explore:
Jemma Sanderson, Director, Cooper Partners Financial Services Pty Ltd
Dr Jeffrey Scott, Head of Advice Strategy, MetLife Australia
This session examines the trustee obligations in relation to having an insurance strategy for each member of the fund, how these strategy decisions may influence a successful claim payment from the insurance company and how these decisions may also impact the net benefit payment to a member or beneficiary.
This session will:
Shirley Schaefer, Director, BDO
Peter Crump, Senior Consultant, Private Wealth, BDO
The workshop will consider various life stages of pensions and will explore common areas of concern from the perspective of both the members / beneficiaries and internal SMSF processes and procedures.
Peter Bobbin, Consultant Lawyer
In today’s plaintiff law firm environment the risk of litigation is writ large (please forgive the pun). Litigation risk management is an important part of the design for how you deliver your client advice and how you design your client services business.
We will guide you on what the future litigation proofed professional services business looks like and what you need to do in your business to safeguard yourself against legal action. When done correctly this can enhance the client relationship and actually increase revenues.
In this session you will learn:
Julie Steed, Senior Technical Services Manager, Insignia Financial Group
Whilst death and taxes are both inevitable, SMSFs offer unique opportunities that can assist in reducing tax payable on superannuation death benefits.
In this session we will review the taxation of death benefits and review strategies that can minimise death benefits tax in an SMSF as well as share examples and insights including:
Andrew Inwood, Global CEO, CoreData
Volatile markets are a time for advisers to add extraordinary value to their existing High Net worth Clients and to attract new members of the High Net worth cohort.
We will take you through the research of how the best advisers build their brands, add value, attract new clients and make sure they are able to keep their value refreshed.
Michelle Levy, Partner / QOA Reviewer, Allens / Treasury
Sarah Abood, CEO, Financial Planning Association
Paul Barrett, CEO, AZ Next Generation Advisory
John Maroney, CEO, SMSF Association
Tahn Sharpe, Managing Editor, The Inside Network
Michelle Levy will deliver her Quality of Advice Review report to the Government in mid-December. The proposals contained in the report are expected to be far reaching and likely to have significant impact on the SMSF sector, the role of licensed financial advisers and the role of institutional product providers, including superannuation funds, banks, investment managers and insurers.
There is no doubt that the regulatory framework for financial advice in Australia need significant reform. How best to reform that framework has been under intense scrutiny during 2022, with extensive consultation and discussion of proposed recommendations. Once the report has been finalised, it is up to the Government and the Parliament to determine which of the proposals will be implemented and then up to the industry and regulators to implement the necessary changes. An expert panel will examine all aspects of the proposals and the Government’s response, if it is available, and will share their views on what implications will arise for the various players across the financial sector, including the SMSF sector. This session is a must for all those interested in the future regulation of financial advice.
