The impact of COVID and lockdowns have hindered the SMSF audit processes, which is causing havoc for many SMSF firms.
The trustees have been slow to obtain information and reply to queries, which is one of the key reasons for this. Some refuse to step out and interact with others because they are concerned about their health.
SMSF practitioners, on the other hand, are still navigating new auditor relationships in certain cases as a result of the independence changes, handling new valuation obligations, and dealing with another COVID outbreak caused by the new Omicron variant.
All this has resulted in the amount of work coming through lessened in the first part of the year. So, it is believed that there’s just a large amount of work that will need to be done before deadline, much more than in previous years.
SMSF auditors will be under a lot of pressure to finish audits with accountants now that we are in a time constraint. This along with the current auditor shortage will make things much more difficult for auditors.
Many people are expecting that the authorities will be as accommodating as they were last year with all the adjustments. Others have started looking at alternatives like outsourcing to prepare for the upcoming workload.
If you need assistance with SMSF audit, then please drop ACSA a line.