The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has established a formal national education committee that will help promote its Fellow Chartered Financial Practitioner (FChFP) program, the association's new national president Brad Fox has announced.
"The education committee will be chaired by AFA's vice president Adam Smith, from the Corporate Will Company, and AFA chief executive Richard Klipin and myself will also participate as committee members," Fox told InvestorDaily.
Other members on the committee include: Brian Woods from Western Australia; Chris Jones, Katherine Hunt and Dennis Bateman from Queensland; Jim Taggart and Sean Graham from New South Wales; Debra Morrow, Jayson Walker, Nick Hakes and Mark Sinclair from Victoria; and Mark Northway from South Australia.
Fox said education was big on the AFA's agenda for 2011 next to the Future of Financial Advice reforms.
"The education committee will be responsible for promoting the contents of the FChFP course, as well as developing a mentoring program so that candidates can be paired up with more experienced advisers, and arranging assessment sessions to see what areas of the course participants will need to focus their energies on," he said.
"To date, those who have completed the course have been really happy with the blend of technical and practical work, and that they've been able to formulate tangible things for their businesses such as marketing programs and business plans."
Since establishing the course in 2008, 56 AFA members have completed it, with the AFA maintaining ambitious goals as to how many will take part in the program during 2011.
Fox said the FChFP course offered an alternative to the CFP (certified financial planner) designation but candidates must have completed the advanced diploma in financial planning.
Meanwhile, the AFA has said it is pleased with early financial commitments from members to support its 2011 Make a Plan campaign, which will promote the value of advice to the public.
