SMSF auditors play an important role in maintaining confidence in a sector of more than 670,000 SMSFs holding over $1 trillion in assets. Quality audits protect members' retirement savings and support the integrity of the SMSF system.
Our 2026–27 compliance program will focus on areas where we see the highest risk to audit quality and SMSF regulatory outcomes.
During 2025–26, we completed close to 200 reviews and audits of SMSF auditors and referred 39 auditors to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). These referrals included auditors who lacked the practical experience to conduct audits, and auditors who did not conduct independent or adequate audits. Our reviews also identified recurring issues with audit evidence, auditor reporting and file documentation. In many files, auditors had not obtained sufficient appropriate evidence to support the ownership, existence or market value of fund assets.
These findings shape our 2026–27 compliance focus areas, which include:
- market valuation reviews, including whether auditors obtained sufficient appropriate objective audit evidence to verify compliance with regulation 8.02B. This focus will become especially important for the 2026–27 audits where auditors will be required to check valuations of assets that may trigger a Division 296 liability for a fund member
- high-risk auditor reviews, where our intelligence and data indicate auditors may not be conducting independent and adequate audits
- high-volume auditor reviews, where we check auditors have processes and procedures to manage a large number of audits
- auditor independence reviews, including situations where auditors or their firms may provide both assurance and non-assurance services to a fund
- newly registered auditors, to check new auditors understand their obligations and help them address deficiencies early.
Quality audit files clearly document professional judgements and contain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support audit conclusions.
For more information review our guidance on conducting a compliance audit of an SMSF.
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