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Supportable, dated market values for the fund assets that have no quoted price: shares in the family company, units in a related trust, a factory unit or consulting suite leased to the members' business, and loans. Written for Gold Coast trustees and for the auditor who has to accept the figure.
Indicative valuations from A$799. Certified Summary and Detailed reports from seven business days.
Every SMSF asset must be reported at market value at 30 June, backed by objective and supportable evidence. Where an asset has no quoted price, such as private company shares, related trust units, premises leased to the members' business or a loan, Gold Coast trustees need a dated valuation prepared by someone independent of the fund.
An SMSF auditor signs off on two things every year: that the financial statements are right and that the fund has complied with superannuation law. Both depend on asset values. Listed shares and a term deposit are checked against a statement and the job is done. A stake in the members' own business is harder, because the auditor has to decide whether the figure in the accounts is a market value or a hopeful estimate, and the trustees bear the onus of proving which.
Funds on the Gold Coast tend to hold a familiar set of hard-to-value assets. A factory unit at Molendinar, Arundel or in the Burleigh industrial estate leased to the members' trade or fabrication business. A shed in the Yatala enterprise area let to the family's freight or distribution company. A consulting suite near Gold Coast University Hospital at Parklands, or near Robina Hospital, leased to the members' practice. A minority holding in a Bundall or Southport professional firm. Units in a trust that owns a retail tenancy at Helensvale or Coolangatta. A loan to a relative's company. Each one needs a method, evidence and a valuation date that suits the reason the figure is wanted.
The figure carries more weight than many trustees realise. It flows into each member's total superannuation balance, which affects contribution caps and Division 296. It sets the transfer balance credit when a retirement phase pension begins, along with that year's minimum payment. It drives the in-house asset test and its 5 per cent ceiling. And a related-party price that is not at market can attract the non-arm's length income rules, which tax the affected income at the top rate.
We value the unlisted assets that auditors query most, dated to whatever event calls for the figure. The trustees decide, your accountant prepares the accounts and the auditor applies the law; our job is a value, with its reasoning set out, that all three can rely on.
A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
Under regulation 8.02B of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994, an SMSF's financial statements must carry its assets at market value. ATO guidance on valuing SMSF assets expects the evidence to be objective and supportable, prepared by a person with relevant skills, and updated when circumstances change. A full formal valuation is not needed for every asset every year; in between, a documented review confirming that nothing material has moved can be enough.
Only certain assets may be acquired from a related party, business real property being one, and only at market value; any disposal to a related party has to be on arm's length terms. Moving a Molendinar factory unit into the fund, or selling family company shares out of it, needs a valuation dated to the transaction. Because the Queensland Revenue Office also looks at value when it assesses transfer duty on a property transfer under the Duties Act 2001 (Qld), the same evidence often does double duty.
The annual accounts must show each asset at its market value on the last day of the financial year. A number rolled forward from last year with no sign of review invites questions, and an auditor who cannot get comfortable with a material asset has to qualify the audit report and may have to notify the ATO.
Rollovers and benefit payments, a move between accumulation and retirement phase, winding up the fund, and anything that could shift a value materially between balance dates: a key tenant leaving a neighbourhood centre, the investee company losing its biggest client, a weak tourist season at a hospitality business the fund part-owns, or the death of a member.
Values on the commencement day set the member's transfer balance account credit and the base for the minimum annual payment. Neither is easy to fix once reported, so for any unlisted asset supporting the pension, a valuation dated to that day is the sensible course.
Division 296 adds tax on earnings attributable to the portion of a member's total superannuation balance above its threshold, and 30 June 2026 is the first measurement date. A fund that held property, private company shares or unlisted units on that day needs a market value for each as at 30 June 2026, even if no one obtained one at the time. A valuation prepared today can speak to that date, drawing only on information known or reasonably knowable then. That figure can come back into play if the fund's adviser recommends resetting the cost base of fund assets to their 30 June 2026 value. Thresholds, rates and elections for each member are for the fund's adviser to confirm; we provide the market values.
An auditor's first question is whether the method fits the asset, and our report starts from the same question. A company holding nothing but cash and listed investments can be valued on net assets. A trading company cannot, because its balance sheet leaves out the goodwill a buyer pays for its earnings.
Private company shares and units in a trading trust are valued under the income approach: maintainable earnings, normalised and capitalised at a rate that reflects the risk, tested against sales evidence, with net assets as the floor. For a Gold Coast tourism or hospitality business, earnings are averaged across peak and quiet seasons and adjusted for one-off event years, so a single strong summer does not set the value. Where the fund's stake falls short of control, the report weighs whether the facts, such as the shareholders' agreement and the dividend record, justify a discount for lack of control or marketability, and explains the answer. A discount applied by habit fails review as often as one overlooked.
Business real property leased to the members' business needs a capital value and a market rent, and the rent is the number most often left without support. Industrial leasing around Molendinar, Arundel, Burleigh and Yatala, and medical suite leasing near the Parklands health precinct and Robina, usually provides enough evidence to test it; where the capital value is material, a registered property valuer's report backs it up. Related unit trust units are valued alongside the trust's underlying property at the same date, with a check that the trust still meets the conditions that keep the units outside the in-house asset limit. Loans turn on whether the borrower can repay, what security the fund holds and whether the terms would be agreed between strangers. Collectables sit under separate rules, which require a qualified independent valuer if the item is sold to a related party.
Auditors raise the same points year after year. Each one can end in a qualified audit report or a contravention report, and each is avoided by applying a suitable method at the correct date.
The fund's auditor reads an SMSF valuation, and occasionally the ATO does too. A certified Summary report normally meets that need, because it sets out the method, evidence and reasoning so the auditor does not have to ask for our working papers. The extra depth of a Detailed report earns its place when a related-party transaction is large, a pension is commencing on a significant unlisted asset, or a member's Division 296 position at 30 June 2026 depends on the number.
Every report opens with the trigger, the valuation date, the standard of value and the documents relied on, then values each asset by the method that suits it. For a trading company the support is a normalisation schedule, a maintainable earnings figure and a sourced capitalisation rate. Leased premises are supported by sales and rental evidence set side by side. The reconciliation traces the path to the conclusion, so the auditor can follow it unaided, although we are glad to take the call.
Each report is signed by a certified valuer with no stake in the fund, its members or the entities valued, who answers the auditor's questions and defends the opinion if the ATO reviews the fund. That independence is a large part of what the auditor relies on, and it is why a short letter from the fund's own accountant seldom settles the point. If the asset is contested later, for example in a family provision application under section 41 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld) or a shareholder dispute before the Supreme Court of Queensland, the valuer who signed the SMSF report can explain how the figure was reached.
Pick the most valuable asset in the fund without a quoted price. If the auditor asked tomorrow how its value is supported, would you produce a dated, reasoned report from someone with nothing riding on the number, or just last year's figure carried forward? If you would be relying on last year's figure, that asset is the place to begin.
Talk your situation through with a certified valuer before you commit to anything, at no cost.