ICAA annoints education provider
The Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAA) has given the nod to the Securities Institute of Australia (SIA) as the preferred supplier of post-qualification financial planning education.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAA) has given the nod to the Securities Institute of Australia (SIA) as the preferred supplier of post-qualification financial planning education.
The two groups also plan to work together in the areas of technology, policy advo-cacy and management sharing with a view to reducing costs.
The move follows the recent announcement by the ICAA that they plan on rolling out a new financial planning designation, Chartered Accountant - Financial Plan-ning Specialist to keep up with the public demand for financial planning advice.
SIA president Wayne Lonergan says about 10 per cent of the SIA’s 15,000 yearly student intake have accountancy backgrounds.
"In the early stages of this alliance we will be promoting proper authority courses and the SIA post graduate diplomas leading to financial planning to ensure mem-bers are highly educated," Lonergan says.
ICAA executive director Stephen Harrison says the recently announced Financial Planning Specialist (FPS) designation has not yet been conferred on anyone but there is very strong interest in financial planning by members of the ICAA.
"It is one of the largest growing aspects of the ICAA membership," he says.
"We believe this doesn't challenge the FPA but rather allows members to reach an education level they wish to achieve."
The ICAA has 33,000 members while the SIA has 10,000 members but Lonergan says there is a degree of membership overlap between the two associations.
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