Practice makes perfect

The demand for practice managers is continuing to grow, with average salaries now between $100,000 and $145,000, according to the Money Management salary survey.

But confusion still exists around the competencies these individuals bring to the role.

Conor Donoghue, senior consultant at the Financial Recruitment Group, explains: “The hardest things for the industry to decide is what does practice management actually mean?

“Some view it as being geared towards adviser recruitment, while others see it squarely in the camp of business coaching and value-adding.”

In most instances, a practice manager will be required to offer a combination of both.

While the practice management profession has been a slowly evolving area of the financial planning sector, Donoghue says practice managers are now seen as a necessity in the industry.

“Advisers are continuing to demand more ‘bang for their buck’ from their own dealer groups, and as such the dealers are in return looking at ways to attract more revenue-generating practice management talent into the fold,” he adds.

Salary levels for other dealer group roles have changed little in the past 12 months, although Peter Dawson, executive director of the Financial Recruitment Group, says bonuses for managers have been favourable.

“These have been in line with revenue increases and reductions in business costs,” he says.

A dealer group chief executive or general manager can expect an average salary ranging from $250,000 to $380,000 plus additional bonus payments.