SMSF Specialist Advisor (SSA®)

To be eligible to enter, and complete, the SMSF Specialist Advisor (SSA®) accreditation program you must be a current financial Associate Member.

The Association recommends you aim to meet the following criteria prior to entering the program:

• At least 2 years experience providing advice and/or services to the SMSF sector.
• SMSF related work activities should account for, or be growing towards a minimum of 10% of your total workload.

If you are a Provisional Financial Adviser completing your Professional Year (PY):

• Education for the purposes of achieving a professional designation will count toward achieving the required 100 hours of structured education and training.
• Provisional Financial Advisers looking to specialise in SMSFs are able to complete the SMSF Specialist Advisor accreditation program.

You are required to successfully complete all components of the program within twelve weeks of entering the course.

To successfully complete the course and earn the accreditation, students will need to:

Complete the 9 Learning Modules

Weekly modules are design to prepare students for the assessments, and include a range of learning resources such as: recommended texts, online resources, and relevant technical reports from the SMSF Association resource library and others.

Each module contains a short quiz that must be passed before gaining access to the next study module. Students have unlimited attempts to pass module quizzes. Quizzes are open book. All nine modules must be completed before the exam may be attempted.

Pass the Course Assessments

• Assignment
• Exam

Optional drop-in session is also available with an SSA^® technical expert from the SMSF Association who will support you in forming a deeper understanding of the course content in preparation for the exam.

See below for further details regarding the assessments.

Students must pass all assessments to pass the course. 

No use of AI is permitted for completion of either the Assignment or the multiple-choice Exam. 

Assignment

Weighting: 35% | Pass Mark: 50%

• The assessment is a 1,750 word, individual assignment.
• All submissions must be made by the due date, any assignments not submitted will receive a fail. 
• One resubmit is available (included as part of the course) and must be completed within the Study Period. 
• If the assignment is failed twice, the student must re-enrol for a subsequent cohort to receive their accreditation. No RPL for other assessments will be recorded in this instance. 
• A plagiarism tool may be used on any submitted assignment. 

Exam

Weighting: 65% | Pass Mark: 50%

• The online examination is 80 minutes in duration and consists of 60 multiple choice questions. No written answers are required.
• The exam is conducted under supervision via an online proctoring system, providing the flexibility to sit the exam at a time and place of your choosing.
• It is open book, limited to course material. Students may not consult other resources (i.e.: use internet search engines).
• One resit is available (included as part of the course) and must be completed within the Study Period. 
• If the exam is failed twice, the student must re-enrol for a subsequent cohort to receive their accreditation. No RPL for other assessments will be recorded in this instance. 

Note: We expect that candidates will be able to pass the exam, provided there has been sufficient attention and engagement to the learning materials, as well as practical SMSF experience in the industry.

This suite of learning modules offer comprehensive technical content and takes you beyond the compliance issues arising from the array of legislation and regulation that underpin the operation of an SMSF.

1. SMSF regulatory framework
   This topic sets the scene for the regulation of SMSFs by providing a summary of the key historical events associated with our superannuation system as well as identifying the purpose of superannuation. It also introduces the key concepts behind the definition of an SMSF that will be explored further throughout this subject.
2. Regulating SMSFs
   The topic identifies the trustee covenants that all trustees must abide by and are deemed to be incorporated into the governing rules of the fund whether they are stated or not.
3. Contributions standards
   This topic provides an outline of the rules about accepting contributions, who can make contributions and the way those contributions can be made. The topic also highlights some of the key contributions that can be made to help members accumulate beyond normal contributions, leading to strategic opportunities.
4. Investing in an SMSF
   The topic analyses the requirements for an SMSF to have an investment strategy in accordance with the trustee covenants and operating standards for investments. It also revisits the concept of the sole purpose test, with a deeper review of what the test requires.
5. Taxing an SMSF
   This topic explores the taxation obligations of an SMSF.  It considers the taxation of ordinary income, taxable contributions, the applicable capital gains tax (CGT) provisions, how foreign transfers are treated and other statutory income.  This topic also identifies income from transactions that are not maintained on an arms-length basis and imposes a higher rate of tax for income that is deemed not at arm’s length.
6. Members interests and preservation standards
   This topic defines an interest is an SMSF and explains the preservation status of a members’ benefit.  The topic also considers the conditions of release that a member must satisfy to access money from their superannuation interest.
7. Payment standards and paying a benefit
   This topic considers the features of a member account and how a member can access their money.  It discusses how money can be taken either as a superannuation lump sum or as a pension and how both lump sum and pension payments are proportioned between taxable and tax-free components.
8. Taxing superannuation payments
   This topic provides the final overlay of taxation on benefit payments. Having identified the components of a member’s interest, the proportioning that applies to benefit payments and the types of benefits that can be paid, the final step is to determine how much tax is to be paid on those benefits.
9. SMSF controls – Planning for life events
   This topic provides the relevant references to paying benefits from a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) in the event of the death of a member.  It revisits the trustee requirements on death, the benefit payment options and references the appropriate taxation.

On successful completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Research and explain the legal regulations that apply to SMSFs.
• Research and critically evaluate the special taxation rules applicable to superannuation contributions, superannuation funds and superannuation benefits.
• Develop and critically evaluate an SMSF strategy to deal with regulatory and tax requirements in a complex SMSF scenario.
• Justify an SMSF strategy to deal with regulatory and tax requirements in a complex SMSF scenario.

Students can withdraw without failing and transfer to another upcoming study period for $220. Credit will be given for any modules or assessments completed. 

Any transfers to a new study period must be completed within 12 months of the original study period commencement date, and one (1) transfer only is permitted per student enrolment. 

Students wanting to transfer must apply to the SMSF Association at least 3 weeks prior to the end date of their study period to seek a transfer.

No refunds will be offered for enrolments, except in exceptional circumstances, once registered into the course. 

The former Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) recognised the SMSF Specialist Advisor (SSA^®) designation as a category of “approved study to attain a Professional Designation” in the financial adviser education standards. This recognition is still available and continues post-FASEA in Corporations (Relevant Providers Degrees, Qualifications and Courses Standard) Determination 2021. 

The recognition of the SSA^® will reduce the number of approved courses those with the SSA^® designation may be required to undertake.

Anyone who has completed the SSA^® since it was introduced in 2005 is eligible for one credit towards the education requirements for existing financial advisers. This will reduce the time and costs for those who have completed the SSA^® and were existing financial advisers at any time between 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2019 under the transitional arrangements.

To understand the benefit of holding the SSA^® and credits available, we recommend that you refer to the Approved Courses and other resources available on the Financial Adviser Standards website.

Successful completion of the SMSF Specialist Advisor (SSA^®) accreditation program and the course assignment enables credit into a Master of Financial Planning (AQF9 qualification) offered by Kaplan Professional and Deakin University.

The SMSF Association SSA^® examination also satisfies the knowledge requirements of RG146 SMSF.