It’s during unprecedented periods like this that leadership is called on to make the most immeasurable difference. This session explores the challenges associated with transition, high competition and a weight of expectations.

In any given year around 5 million Australians will experience the symptoms of mental illness, with only 40% choosing to seek help. This is far from being any given year, as the pandemic, lockdowns and recessionary environment have strained the financial and mental health of practitioners, their colleagues and their clients. This session explores the relevance of translational research in generating real-world change for our community.

This year provides the advice community with unique headwinds. The Code of Ethics, educational standards and regulatory changes mean that practices need to think of new ways to cover the cost of providing quality advice. Add to this frothy practice valuations, a global pandemic and risk of a global recession and it makes for an ominous twelve months to come. This session explores the threats faced by the profession and offers potential solutions for principals, advisers and regulators alike.

The search for practice efficiency is never-ending in an industry that delivers a client-facing service with aspects that are difficult to scale without compromising quality. The more systematic the practice, the deeper relationships with clients, the more rewarding and enriching the experience for all involved. This session explores streamlined practice methods, drawing on experts to break down its components and where opportunities for efficiency exist.

As the advice industry professionalises, quality financial advice will reach more Australians. Measuring and benchmarking the industry’s progress can get lost amid the noise of new professional standards, policy reforms and business model challenges. Professional Planner has partnered with researcher Investment Trends to develop an index to track the reach of quality financial advice into the community and the difference this advice makes to Australians and society more broadly.

Professional Planner’s Best Practice Forum event partner, the Financial Planning Association, will deliver a keynote and take on notice the challenges of representing different stakeholders in a fragmented market.

It’s time for advisers and practice owners to take their destiny into their own hands and choose a licensee structure that is befitting of where they and the broader profession is heading. This session considers how to conduct appropriate due diligence and what to do if a practice feels they have rushed into an inopportune arrangement.

Moral principles are more than just a guide to avoiding misconduct but also a set of principles by which to elevate the integrity and professionalism of a sector. This session considers the challenges and opportunities as financial advice codifies ethics as a core tenet of the service.

The FASEA Code of Ethics has the potential to change the way the financial advice profession is perceived by the country. However, there are considerable challenges in interpreting the code and in applying it congruently in practice. This session explores the ethical frameworks from academia that can be assimilated by advisers to broaden their confidence in meeting the code.

All professions need to attract the future generation to assist with the design and delivery of the best possible services. This session considers how to work with associate advisers, how to attract, incentivise and retain the future leaders, and business owners, of the profession.