FPA urged to talk to universities

A leading university has called on the Financial Planning Association (FPA) to negotiate with universities to establish a set of threshold tertiary qualifications to enable financial planners to call themselves professionals.

The director of the International Centre for Financial Services at the University of Adelaide, Clive Perring, has told Money Management that until financial planners are required to hold appropriate tertiary qualifications they will fail in their ambition to be regarded as professionals.

Perring has backed the approach being pursued by the FPA and has urged that future financial planners have as a minimum an appropriate undergraduate degree that has a strong foundation in finance, economics, accounting, statistics and marketing.

“We would advocate that the FPA should negotiate with universities to have certain requirements met,” he said. “The FPA should also be aware that in the overall picture, comparatively few students will initially opt for a pure financial planning degree.”

Perring said that in such circumstances a university such as Adelaide would offer degrees that provided a broad understanding of finance, accounting, economics, marketing and business statistics.

He said this would provide students with the analytical skills to make finance and investment decisions, understand financial instruments and securities markets, and manage risks.