Choosing an SMSF Auditor for Your Practice

Choose an SMSF auditor who is registered with ASIC, independent of the fund and able to handle its investments. Agree the audit scope and fees, obtain the trustees’ written approval and confirm the handover before work starts.

Who Can Audit the Fund?

An approved SMSF auditor audits the fund’s financial statements and compliance with superannuation law each income year. Preparing the accounts or annual return is a separate job. An accountant’s tax-agent registration alone does not authorise them to audit an SMSF.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) maintains the approved SMSF auditor register. Check the individual who will sign the report, even when you engage an audit firm.

Registration is the starting point for your selection. Ask about the auditor’s experience with the fund’s assets and transactions. A fund with property, related-party investments or borrowing needs an auditor who understands those issues. Confirm who handles technical questions and whether the team has capacity for the proposed delivery period.

Trustees must appoint an auditor at least 45 days before the SMSF annual return is due. The audit must finish before that return is lodged. Use the official SMSF audit engagement guidance when setting the appointment and delivery timetable.

Check the SMSF Auditor Register

Use the official ASIC search to match the proposed auditor to their registration before you recommend the appointment.

1. Ask the provider for the signing auditor’s full name and SMSF auditor number.
2. Follow ASIC’s Professional Registers Search link from its SMSF auditors page and select the SMSF auditor register.
3. Search using the number or name supplied. Match the individual and review the registration details and any conditions shown.
4. Save the result in the appointment record. Confirm that the engagement letter names the same auditor or clearly identifies who will sign.

If the name or number does not match, pause the appointment and ask the provider to explain the difference. A trading name can differ from an individual’s registered name. Resolve that difference with a matching registration record.

If no result appears, check the spelling and number once, then use ASIC’s enquiry channel if the mismatch remains. Do not accept a website badge or an old certificate as a substitute for a current matching register entry.

Test Independence Before Appointment

Assess independence for the particular fund before appointment. The ATO’s independence guidance requires auditors to identify threats, evaluate them and address unacceptable threats. Independence includes how the arrangement appears to a reasonable, informed third party.

Accounts preparation creates a self-review threat when the auditor’s firm audits its own work. Under APES 110, permitted accounting services for a non-public-interest audit client must be routine or mechanical. The firm must also address unacceptable threats and cannot assume management responsibility. Using different staff alone does not establish independence.

Ask who made accounting judgements and approved entries. Disclose shared personnel, firm or network connections, financial interests and personal or business relationships with trustees. Referral fees and reliance on work from your practice also need assessment. A referral arrangement is not automatically prohibited or acceptable because the firms have different names.

Consider this hypothetical handover. Your practice prepares a fund’s accounts and proposes an external auditor. A staff member who prepared those accounts also works for the proposed audit team. Before appointment, disclose that overlap and obtain the auditor’s documented assessment and any required action. If the threat cannot be addressed, select another auditor.

Retain the facts disclosed and the auditor’s response. Revisit the assessment when the people or relationships change.

Agree Fees and Engagement Terms

Obtain a written quote for the fund’s actual audit and agree the terms with the trustees before the audit starts. Put these questions to the auditor.

• Does the scope cover both the financial audit and compliance audit for the specified income year?
• Is the fee fixed or based on time, and does it include GST?
• What assumptions does the quote make about file completeness and the fund’s investments?
• Which queries are included, and what triggers an additional charge?
• How are extra work and a revised fee approved?
• When does the proposed turnaround start, and what happens while documents or answers are outstanding?
• Who issues the report and communicates concerns to the trustees?

An SMSF audit fee is the auditor’s quote for that fund. A low advertised starting fee is not a universal market price. Compare quotes on the same scope and assumptions. If your practice bundles accounting, audit and annual-return preparation, show the trustees which work each party performs and which fees are included.

The engagement letter is between the auditor and the trustees, including the corporate trustee where applicable. Your practice can arrange the referral, but the trustees approve the appointment in writing. Obtain the signed engagement letter or other written agreement before the audit begins. Keep a trustee minute where it records that approval.

Set Up the Practice Handover

Record the appointment and give the auditor one agreed route for receiving records and raising queries. Use this appointment checklist for each fund.

• Record the fund’s name, trustee details and income year being audited.
• Identify the signing auditor and retain the ASIC register check.
• Keep the independence assessment and the facts your practice disclosed.
• File the trustees’ appointment approval and agreed audit scope.
• Record the fee basis and how additional work is authorised.
• Assign a practice contact for queries and a trustee contact for decisions.
• Agree the records to send, delivery method and expected turnaround.

Send a handover summary with the agreed documents. Ask the auditor to confirm receipt and identify anything missing. Record that confirmation separately from the auditor’s conclusion that enough evidence exists to issue a report. For the detailed annual file, use the SMSF audit checklist.

An online SMSF audit can use secure document sharing with access restricted to the assigned people. Confirm the recipient before inviting them, use individual accounts and agree how access ends after the engagement. Keep queries in one agreed channel so staff can see which answers remain outstanding.

An online audit service describes remote delivery. A provider’s login is simply the way you access that provider’s documents or messages. Neither establishes registration or independence. Apply the same appointment checks whether the auditor works nearby or remotely.

For a newly established fund, confirm the earlier fund setup and trustee decisions before recording the appointment.

When the Auditor Raises a Concern

An audit query asks for evidence or an explanation. A contravention report tells the ATO about a breach that meets the reporting criteria. A request for a document does not itself establish a breach.

Assign each query to the person who holds the evidence. Your practice explains the accounting treatment and supplies records it holds. Trustees provide their records and decisions, and obtain advice where an issue needs rectification. The auditor decides whether evidence supports the audit opinion and whether a contravention must be reported.

The ATO’s approved SMSF auditor checklist distinguishes reporting to trustees from reporting contraventions to the ATO. Keep the query response, advice and any corrective action on the fund’s record. Changing auditors does not remove an outgoing auditor’s obligation to report a contravention they have identified as reportable.

If registration, independence or capacity makes the appointment unsuitable, document the reason and obtain the trustees’ approval for a replacement. Repeat the registration and independence checks. With trustee authority, arrange communication between the auditors and transfer the agreed records and unresolved matters securely.

Confirm who is responsible for completing the audit and when the replacement has accepted the engagement. Keep the annual return on hold until the completed audit provides the information needed for lodgement.