Members of smaller super funds being disadvantaged | Australian Markets

Large superannuation funds are prone to get pleasure from a substantial discount in prices associated to the so-called APRA levy subsequent financial yr, with smaller funds being much less beneficially handled, in response to the most important accounting teams.

Responding to Treasury’s proposals across the Financial Institutions Levies for 2025-26, the accounting teams making up the Joint Accounting Bodies mentioned they assist the levies for small APRA Funds and Single Member Approved Deposit Funds at $590 per fund.

However, the joint our bodies made up of Chartered Accountants ANZ, CPA Australia and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) went on to level out the disparities with respect to the charging of bigger and smaller funds.

“We note that for 2025-26, the proposed tiered charging structure in the Discussion Paper remains largely unchanged, with slight increases in the percentage rate of each component,” the joint our bodies’ submission mentioned.

“These adjustments would result in a large fund with total assets of $360 billion and 3.42 million member accounts being charged $10.3 million in 2025-26, a substantial reduction from $12.7 million in 2024- 25. This equates to an annual cost of $3.01 per member account, down from $3.71.”

“In distinction, a small fund with whole belongings of $349 million and a pair of,239 member accounts would cross on $15.26 to every member account yearly, a discount from $17.17 in 2024-25, representing over 3 times the proportional charge per member account of the big fund, and an 11.1 per cent low cost on 2024-25. This discount compares unfavourably to that relevant to every member account of the big fund, which might have been 18.9 per cent.

“ We note that the upper threshold on the restricted component was lifted least year, and welcome the further lifting of this to $950,000, representing a sort of unofficial indexation which will alleviate some of what was a severe disadvantage for members of smaller funds,” the submission mentioned.

“The Joint Accounting Bodies acknowledge that current government policies aim to encourage mergers to reduce fees for superannuation fund members. However, we believe that there is more work to be done to ensure that members of smaller funds do not form collateral damage. Members of small funds already bear a higher burden of administration costs, and it is unfair to further increase this burden with a disproportionate share of the levies.”