The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) exam extension will affect less than 1,800 advisers – assuming they fail one of the last three exam attempts – and less than a quarter of those are currently eligible.
There were 1,727 advisers who had failed the exam once and not passed, while 24% of those were unsuccessful twice or more, a spokesperson for FASEA confirmed to Money Management.
Last week, the Government announced an extension until September 2022 for advisers who had failed the exam twice.
Because of the two-failed-sittings threshold, advisers who never intended to sit the exam and planned to leave at the deadline would not have any extension.
If an adviser was yet to sit an exam, it was only possible to be eligible for the extension if they had registered for the July exam, as the three-month rule prevented back-to-back sitting attempts.
There were only three exam sittings left for 2021 with no announcement made yet for exam times in 2022, which FASEA would no longer be responsible for.
1,182 unsuccessful candidates had re-sat the exam with 65% passing at a re-sit, while the overall pass rate was at 89% with over 13,500 having passed.
Eugene Ardino, Lifespan Financial Planning chief executive, said it would have been less complicated to give out another extension.
“I don’t understand why they just wouldn’t give another extension to the industry for nine months,” Ardino said.
“I would recommend that all advisers shouldn’t put off doing the exam, don’t rely on this but trying and get in there and get the exam done.”
Although the exam had been previously extended and the industry was well aware of the deadline, Ardino said the all-around extension would help with succession planning.
“If they had extended the 30 September deadline for everybody that would’ve given them an extra nine months breathing space, because a lot of people haven’t finalised their succession planning,” Ardino said.
“We’re seeing what’s happened to valuations to financial planning businesses so this would’ve been a lot simpler.”
2021 FASEA exam dates and locations
|
Sitting |
Exam Date |
Exam Registration |
Locations |
|
2021 – Sitting 13
|
15 July to 20 July 2021
|
5 April 2021 to 25 June 2021
|
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Gosford, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Mackay, Albury/Wodonga, Geelong, Ballarat, Traralgon, Launceston and remote proctoring. |
|
2021 – Sitting 14
|
9 September to 14 September 2021
|
31 May 2021 to 20 August 2021
|
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Gold Coast, Cairns, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Wollongong, Bendigo and remote proctoring. |
|
2021 – Sitting 15
|
4 November to 9 November 2021
|
26 July 2021 to 15 October 2021
|
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Gosford, Bathurst/Orange, Geelong, Launceston and remote proctoring. |
Source: FASEA
