How the wise four manage to pick a winner

The panel of judges that award Australia’s premier financial planning industry accolade is made up of some of the most respected names in the business.

It includes Australia's only Financial Planning Association director to chair the association for two years; the head of the financial planning course at one of Australia's most respected universities; the previous winner of the Money Management Financial Planner of the Year and one of the true legends of the financial planning industry.

It is their job to sift through the entries received and assign marks based on the stringent criteria set out under the Money Management award criteria. They are given a week to collate scores for all the entries submitted. The totals of each candidate is then collated by Money Management and the individual with the highest score is awarded Money Management Financial Planner of the Year.

Two of the panel have been part of the Money Management Financial Planner of the Year awards for a good deal of the past decade. The first lady of financial planning, Sydney-based Gwen Fletcher, has been on our panel since the award's inception 12 years ago. The other experienced campaigner is the course director of financial planning at RMIT, Warren McKeown. McKeown was involved with the development of Australia's first financial planning degree course at RMIT and is intricately involved in financial planning education in both Australia and South East Asia.

Our two new judges for this year are Wes McMaster and Peter Dunn. On top of his two year tenure at the helm of the FPA Board, Wes McMaster has owned his own practice for more than a decade and managed two of Mercantile Mutual's dealer groups. He was recently named adjunct professor at RMIT.

Peter Dunn is one of the most popular figures of the financial planning industry in Melbourne and a worthy recipient of the 1999 Money Management Financial Planner of the Year. Dunn is the managing director of Moneyplan Australia as well as looking after a core of loyal clients. He is a former member of the board of the FPA and has served on just about every one of its committees over the past decade.

So what do these judges base their scores on? Each judge scored points in three categories. Firstly, each candidate is scored on their career achievements, including education qualifications, attained professional standards and other industry recognition. This mark is out of 40.

Secondly, the nominees are ranked on their professional involvement, which included membership of industry committees and chapters as well as on-going educational achievements. This mark is also out of 40.

Finally, judges scored the nominees based on their community contributions, which can range from speaking engagements to teaching courses of study and assisting charity fund-raising. This mark is out of 20.

All the judges agree that the most important aspect of the entry is the ability of the written entry to convince them of the ability of the candidate to meet the three criteria of the award. This doesn't mean that the entry need be an encyclopedia. However, it does mean that to win the award, an entrant must put together a comprehensive package on their commitment to the industry, the community and their career.

All four finalists this year put together excellent presentations on their career, industry and community involvement. Each made a big effort to present concisely their achievements and backed it up with reeferences from third parties such as clients and colleagues. The really tough decision for all the judges was who to award the Money Management Financial Planner of the Year.

Money Management extends its thanks to the unstinting efforts of our awards judges in assessing the 1998 winners. Without their donation of time and effort, the awards would not have the force and credibility that they command throughout the industry.