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Darin Tyson-Chan is a journalist with InvestorDaily, a Morningstar publication.

A new education and training provider for self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) advisers and trustees was launched in Sydney yesterday.

The development of the SMSF Academy began in September last year as a result of the popular response to thedunnthing, a blog site started by SMSF practitioner Aaron Dunn.

At that time, solicitor and now SMSF Academy director Ian Glenister joined forces with Dunn to establish the new service.

"The academy is a specialist super fund that is focusing on delivery of education and accredited training. We're both SPAA (Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals' Association of Australia) trustee and professional trainers, looking at delivery of both web-based and face-to-face training to trustees and advisers," SMSF Academy managing director Aaron Dunn said.

"Apart from providing accredited training, which is quite common in the industry, we want to put together the practical application of presenting these concepts in theory and then showing how they can be delivered in practice and that's one of the common gaps that we see," he said.

To help achieve this aim, the SMSF Academy has partnered with a couple of other professional organisations such as Practicing Tax, and Business Fitness.

The new facility has three levels of membership, two applicable to financial advisers and one for trustees.

For an annual fee of $770 per practice, advisers will receive an education service that includes a monthly online update incorporating changes to the legislation and special topic material that will be produced bimonthly.

Advisers can choose the more expensive package of $2200 per year per practice that will add process or tools to the education material that will help them apply the concepts covered to make their businesses more profitable.

"We're talking about documentation at the back end or compliance end of the scale that maybe around pensions, or death benefits, or reserves," Dunn explained.

A range of presentations and promotional material will also be made available through the premium package.

Trustees will only pay $300 per year to receive their educational material online via their SMSF as a tax deductible expense.

The SMSF Academy has also flagged its interests in the short to medium term to provide the educational platform or course advisers can take to meet the new SMSF knowledge component to be included in the RG146 qualification standard as recommended in the Stronger Super review.