Conflicts of Interest

What is the accountants job? Is the job of the accountant to evaluate financial proposals and give you independent impartial advice? If the accountant is selling a financial solution, is it possible for him to impartially evaluate that solution when he is getting paid for that solution? How blurred are the lines becoming? There is no independence and no impartiality if the accountant sells a product that he is supposed to be impartially evaluating.

Let’s go through an example: An Estate Freeze vs. Life Insurance.

It makes no sense to do tax planning to minimize the estate tax liability when the same firm makes a large commission selling a larger policy if no tax planning is done. Why would a firm like MNP recommend an estate freeze for which they get paid $10,000 when they can ignore the tax planning, allow the estate tax liability to grow unchecked and then sell a larger life insurance policy for which they earn a much larger commission. The perception is that they are not focused on the client's best interest due to this conflict. As you know, almost always, the right answer is effective tax planning combined with the proper insurance solution.