How managed accounts give advisers back a workday

Managed accounts save time and lift client experience

If you run an advice business, your constraint isn’t ideas — it’s hours. Compliance, admin, model updates and client communications all compete for time. That’s why managed accounts have moved from “interesting” to essential infrastructure for many Australian practices: they reduce the operational load so advisers can spend more time focusing on their clients and on growth.

Independent research backs this up. The latest State Street Global Advisors / Investment Trends report finds advisers who use managed accounts save 23.9 hours per week on average — almost three business days. That’s up from 22.8 hours in 2024 and around 15 hours in 2022, underscoring that efficiency gains are real and increasing.

Where the hours actually come from

One-to-many implementation: Model changes and rebalances flow across all relevant client accounts simultaneously, replacing case-by-case file work. This strips out ticketing, data entry, and much of the back-and-forth that slows review meetings.

Cleaner governance and visibility: For dealer groups, centralised models create a consistent operating rhythm for investment committees and supervision. With platform-level reporting, licensees can see exposures and drift at scale, rather than reconstructing them practice by practice. The cumulative effect is fewer key-person bottlenecks and faster, cleaner execution when markets move.

Less duplication, more cadence: Portfolio maintenance shifts to an investment manager or asset consultant under a documented process. Advice teams shift from reactive trading to scheduled reviews, advice documentation, and proactive client contact — the work that actually grows the business. Across multiple studies, principals report back-office reductions of ~15–16 hours per week and broad time savings for 60–90% of users.

What firms do with the time

Time savings only matter if they convert to better client outcomes and business performance. Evidence suggests they do:

• Growth without immediate headcount: Practices use the freed capacity to see more clients and lift the quality of review meetings. In the SSGA/Investment Trends research, 26% of advisers say they channel savings into new-client acquisition.
• Deeper relationships: With the “busywork” handled, conversations shift toward goals, strategy and progress (not ad-hoc trades). This is where advisers differentiate and retain clients.

A better client experience

Clients want transparency and control. With managed accounts, particularly those structured as SMAs, investors beneficially own the underlying securities rather than a pooled fund unit, and many platforms allow sensible preferences (e.g., exclude a holding, or substitute one large-cap for another) without breaking the model. That’s tangible, explainable value that builds trust.

The product mix reflects this shift. According to the 2025 SSGA/Investment Trends snapshot, multi-asset class models account for 68% of the models recommended in the past year, and roughly a third of advisers use managed accounts for core allocation — not just a sleeve. Strategy-wise, growth remains the most commonly used risk profile.

Dealer-group advantages: scale with control

For licensees and larger groups, managed accounts deliver:

• Standardised governance: Clear model ownership, change control, and audit trails make supervision simpler — while still allowing controlled variations at practice level.
• Better data: Consistent reporting across practices supports investment-committee decisions and risk oversight. Transition guides from leading platforms show how to operationalise this at scale.
• Private-label flexibility:

The commercial upshot: more consistent client outcomes, fewer one-off exceptions, and less operational drag on advisers.

Guardrails: costs, fit and regulation

Fees and transparency: The value case must be crystal clear. Industry commentary notes that fee structures can be complex (platform administration, SMA/RE fees, and underlying MERs), and clients can be confused about “what they actually pay.” That’s changing — the SMA Reporting Standard (SMARS) aims to standardise SMA fee fields across providers, improving comparability. Until this is ubiquitous, be explicit about total cost and demonstrate what clients receive for it.

Regulatory context: ASIC’s RG 179 sets expectations for MDA services (roles, oversight, conflicts). Recent industry reporting also highlights that MDAs remain on the regulator’s radar, so treat governance as a feature, not a footnote: document who makes investment decisions, how changes are communicated, and how suitability is reviewed.

Selecting the right structure: SMA, MDA or managed portfolio? Balance control, licensing obligations and desired flexibility. For many advice businesses, managed accounts deliver the cleanest path to visibility and beneficial ownership; where a higher degree of discretion is required, MDAs may fit — with the corresponding governance responsibilities.

The (condensed) implementation playbook

1. Anchored to your investment philosophy: Akambo’s managed accounts can be tailored to your firm’s core investment principles.
2. Standardise the advice workflow: Map how model changes trigger SOAs/ROAs and client notices. Decide your cadence for reviews and rebalance communications early.
3. Plan the migration: Inventory legacy portfolios, tax parcels and exceptions. Use the platform’s transition toolkit to reduce friction and data errors.
4. Measure capacity gains: Track hours freed across paraplanning, admin and adviser time for three months post-launch; reallocate explicitly to prospecting, review cadences and proactive service.
5. Tell the transparency story: Show clients what they own and why — the beneficial ownership point is simple and powerful.
6. Reinforce your governance edge: Use Akambo’s institutional-grade oversight and platform-level reporting to demonstrate compliance strength and operational clarity — especially valuable for dealer groups and licensees.

How Akambo helps

• Customised, scalable implementation aligned to your philosophy: Akambo’s managed accounts are built around your firm’s investment beliefs, with dedicated onboarding and migration support that reduces friction and frees up adviser and paraplanning time.
• Governance and operational clarity at scale: Akambo delivers institutional-grade oversight with clear model ownership, automated rebalancing, and platform-level reporting—helping dealer groups and practices reduce bottlenecks and streamline compliance.

The bottom line

Managed accounts don’t just trim admin; they rebalance where your time goes — from paperwork and ad-hoc trading to client strategy and business growth. The evidence base is consistent across years and sources: double-digit hours saved weekly, improved supervision for licensees, and a client experience built on transparency and control. If capacity is your constraint, this is a lever that reliably gives it back. Pilot it with a clear governance framework, measure the time you free up, and redeploy that capacity into advice.