The ASIC report into death benefit claims revealing the devastating impact of poor industry practices on grieving Australians has again highlighted the pressing need for change. While some funds have taken up the cudgels, others are still playing hardball on improving their service offering.
A Retirement Income Covenant obligation notwithstanding, there is still a paucity of these complex products on offer. The Advice Through Superannuation draft legislation might offer a way forward.
Choosing a brand for the future
As a business evolves, one of the issues it must deal with is whether its branding adequately reflects product and service expansion over time. This is a question we have had to address at SuperAA (Superannuation Advisors Australia), a business that was launched in 2013 with the aim of offering SMSF audit services and technical support to accounting firms.
Our expertise is supporting the Australian accounting industry and from day one we have been committed to providing our clients with outstanding SMSF service in terms of both quality and turnaround times.
Over the last six years, those services have expanded to include SMSF administration solutions, such as reconciliations, tax return preparation, tax and BAS lodgement, TBar reporting, marketing video access, seminars and SMSF training. All which are delivered by a dedicated, highly professional team, who were recently awarded the 2019 SMSF Adviser Award for Excellence in Customer Service.
After six years of growth we felt we needed a brand to take us into the future. Our value proposition has always been to offer a simple ‘seamless’ solution. We aim to make Seamless SMSF, our new name, the premier brand in the industry.
We provide services to over 190 firms and we recently crossed over the 10,000 fund mark. The business is now one of the largest SMSF service providers in Australia. Our focus remains on servicing the core adviser and accountant market.
Typically, our clients have an appetite to grow their businesses and require capacity to do so whereby outsourcing their SMSF work is the most immediate and cost-effective option. We see our rebrand as an opportunity to better reflect our capability to help them meet those goals.
Behind the re-branding we have also done a lot of work to ensure our business culture is right for the services we offer and the way we like to do business.
The key has always been to train our team members as they come on board so they know exactly what type of business we strive to be – that is, to be an outstanding business and valued supporter of our clients.
We have a flat structure and all staff are involved in decision-making. I don’t want anyone to call me CEO; I’m clear on my role within the team and nobody’s role is more important than another. Every function must run smoothly to be that outstanding business and the respect we have for one another regardless of function is mutual.
Our staff are organised in lanes governing different business areas. Lane leaders are rotated every two to three months providing a development path on how to be a leader. All results from given ‘lanes’ within the business are reported at monthly management meetings.
The magic comes when everyone takes ownership of becoming leaders themselves, as that drives accountability and enthusiasm in what we do and how we do it. To get to that we place a lot of emphasis on the work environment to ensure all our people are aligned to our business values and our mission.
This is an exciting time in the SMSF market, with ongoing changes and innovations presenting challenges and opportunities to providers who service it.
We are watching those developments closely and look forward to working through them with our clients.
Mike McHenry is the principal of Seamless SMSF.
