Accountants would be banned from receiving commissions and soft-dollar payments from general and life insurers under regulations the industry’s standards board is proposing.

The Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board has created a draft proposal on how accountants run their financial planning operations.

The driving force behind the proposal is Federal Government legislation such as the Future of Financial Advice reforms.

The draft standard (APES 230) bans all “third-party payments and other benefits including soft dollar in relation to a financial planning service from parties other than the client to whom the service is provided”.

Board Technical Adviser Rob Nickel told insuranceNEWS.com.au the draft standard “takes a principle-based approach to conflicted remuneration”.

“It doesn’t provide exemptions on a product basis,” he said. “The intention is to introduce a code of ethics for accountants covering these issues.”

Mr Nickel says the board is working on a second draft of the standard, which will be released soon.

“We have been working on the commissions issue in the new draft and there has been more concern about trailing commissions,” he said. “We have been obtaining more details on this from the industry.”