When Julie Berry stepped down as chair of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) last Friday, she could count her agenda substantially complete.
Berry, who had been a member of the board of the FPA since 2003 and chair since 2007, told Money Management she was happy to accept the proposals outlined at last week’s national conference to evolve the organisation into a professional association as a significant part of her legacy.
Indeed, it says something about the determination of the Port Macquarie-based planner that she was happy to share ownership of some of the more contentious decisions undertaken by the FPA in recent years, including the phasing out of commission-based remuneration, degree qualification, anonymous complaints reporting and the code of professional conduct.
It also says something about Berry’s period on the board of the FPA as a member, deputy chair and then chair, that she witnessed the arrival and departure of no fewer than three chief executives, including two female chief executives — the most recent of which was Jo-Anne Bloch.
Notwithstanding the criticisms that have been directed at the FPA and the course it has charted, Berry made no apology and insisted that the direction strongly reflected the underlying desires of the broad membership.
Before the national conference announcements on degree qualifications and restrictions on membership had even been made, Berry had acknowledged that such changes had the potential to alienate some of her organisation’s existing members.
“Whenever you try to raise the bar there are always going to be those that go,” she said. “However, there [are] also going to be those that come back.”
Berry was also sceptical of continuing suggestions that the financial planning industry’s best interests might be served via an amalgamation of the FPA and a group such as the Association of Financial Advisers.
She said that the evolution of the FPA into a professional association meant that planners might possibly choose to belong to multiple organisations.
Asked about the competitive nature of the AFA and the manner in which the FPA intended to differentiate itself as a professional body, Berry said she did not see a problem with someone “being a member of both”.
“I do not believe it is about one voice; I believe it is about one message,” she said.
Berry signed off as chair of the FPA last Friday, handing over to her successor Matthew Rowe.
