The Financial Planning Profession and ASIC

As the regulator of the financial planning and advisory industry, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has issued numerous “policy statements” , one of which is Policy Statement 146 (RG146), entitled “Training of authorised representatives”. This establishes a “training register” which may be found on ASIC's website and which lists those courses of study that ASIC regards as equipping a student with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide competent and informed financial advice. Since holders of an Australian Financial Services Licence (for example, all the major financial institutions) are responsible for the conduct of their authorised representatives (such as their employees / agents), most will require that employees complete such “RG146 compliant” courses.

The following table shows which of our units are recognised by ASIC and which “area of specialised knowledge” such unit is regarded as incorporating.

ECU unit	ASIC's area of specialised knowledge
ECF2210 Capital Markets II + ECF2226 Investment Finance II	Securities
ECF3510 Personal Finance III (prerequisite: LAW2410 Income Tax Framework II)	Financial Planning
ECF3211 Superannuation & Retirement Planning III	Superannuation
ECF3212 Personal risk Management Planning III	Insurance – general, life and broking

In addition, anybody who has completed the above is judged to have met ASIC's requirements as to generic knowledge; and completion of ECF3510 Personal Finance III is deemed to also encompass ASIC's “skills” requirement. (This latter is by virtue of a component of the assessment which requires oral, as opposed to, written communication).

Those who have completed the foregoing ECU units can legitimately describe themselves as “RG146 compliant in the indicated areas of specialised knowledge”. It will be appreciated that the above units can readily be undertaken as part of the Finance major. Moreover, anybody doing the Accounting & Finance double major can include them and thus (with inclusion of Company Law II) emerge with the CPA / ICAA approved unit set and with RG146 compliance in the key specialised areas.

The RG146 register may be viewed at www.asic.gov.au.