FPA adds records of advice to guide
Jo-Anne Bloch
Records of advice have been included in a revised version of the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) guide on the development of effective Statements of Advice (SoAs).
The new guide, which was first published in 2004, has been revised to take into account changes in the industry.
“The guide is designed to help members review their advice documents, offering ideas, examples and approaches for producing or improving SoAs, both in terms of content and circumstances for use,” said FPA chief executive officer Jo-Anne Bloch.
Although this is the first time the guide has been revised since 2004, the FPA isn’t ruling out revising it further to keep it in line with any potential changes in the industry.
Other new areas covered in the guide include new professional standards covering alternative remuneration, rebates and related payments and conflicts of interest. The revised guide also outlines the extended situations in which Statements of Additional Advice (SoAAs) can be used.
The SoA guide was developed to help advisers assess their own SoAs as well as outline relevant ‘performance criteria’ to enable clients to understand the advice provided and how to act on it.
“While the FPA guide gives examples of information that may be necessary to include in a SoA, it is not designed to be used as a template. SoAs should be tailored to each client’s needs, financial expertise and level of understanding — not conform to a particular format,” Bloch said.
The guide is available to all FPA members from the membership services section of the FPA website.
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