Learn Why Good Deeds Matter

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Why do deeds matter so much—to clients and accountants? And why is it so important that you’re on top of them? It’s foundational. Deeds are the ultimate backstop in protecting your client’s assets—and keeping those assets in their bloodline.

Promoted by Change GPS • 20 May 2022 • 3 minute read

You work hard all year on frontline wealth creation and protection—advice, strategy, and compliance. When it comes to deeds though, it’s too easy to believe lawyers are the only people to drive any change—or even just keep up.

It’s wrong—dangerously so. And it all comes from common misconceptions accountants hold about deeds—outdated ideas that are holding you back.

We hear them all—‘deeds are set in stone’, or ‘deeds can’t be changed or the ATO will treat it as a resettlement’, or ‘deeds cost too much to change’. And of course our old favourites, ‘deeds need lawyers’ and ‘I’m too busy for deeds’.

But deeds matter—and so does your ability to work with them as an accountant.

Here’s why.

Opportunity knocks (negligence knocks out).

As the trusted advisor, you should never be in the dark, and never defer when it comes to major financial choices. This is especially true with deeds, which come to the fore during significant life or business events. We’re talking about death, an incapacitation—major change.

It’s exactly these times that clients most need to lean on you—do you want to be the rock who’s already mastered deeds? The one who already set up a deed to allow the right person to step in and manage? Do you want to be remembered as the advisor that had foreseen and was also ready to act on any changes?

Beyond those opportunities to cement your trusted advisor relationship, being ‘deed aware’ could fend off the worst scenario—in which a calamitous situation is made worse by group or family assets lost to deeds that haven’t been properly or strategically set up. You don’t want to be the one who could have but didn’t—that’s when frustrated clients start thinking ‘negligence’.

Asset protection is everything.

Protecting your client’s assets is at the core of your work. So why would you leave the instruments that define that protection to chance, or to a third party? Deeds are the foundation of trading with protection, of using trust funds and SMSF structures for assets.

From trading vehicles to retirement methods, deeds decide who's involved, who can come and go, and how any changes are decided. Protecting assets begins and ends with deeds—so there’s no end to their importance when it comes to your client’s wealth.

Banish Accounting Deed Myths

In our downloadable guide, we banish the top 4 Accounting Deed Myths.

You’ll find inside: