Kaplan Professional has hit back at suggestions that it discontinued its Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning (GDFP) and did not replace it with an equivalent or higher qualification.
Raising standards in financial planning remains critical to educators and industry bodies, said Kaplan, contrary to implications put forward in a "Finsia and Kaplan not blameless" letter to the editor published in The Australian Financial Review on May 16, 2008.
"The author was under the impression that when Kaplan Professional purchased Finsia Education last year we discontinued the Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning and did not replace it with an equivalent or higher qualification," said Kaplan Professional chief executive Warren Jacobson.
"It is true that we didn't seek reaccreditation for the GDFP as we replaced it with two qualifications: a Graduate Diploma and a Master of Applied Finance with financial planning majors."
The replacements improved the comprehensiveness and depth of the existing GDFP qualification to ensure they meet current and future market requirements for strategic planning and client relationship skills, Jacobson said.
Kaplan Professional is one of the very few providers in Australia that offers this level of financial planning education and it is the latest and most up-to-date on the market, the educator said.
"The GDFP qualification was replaced as a result of a two year accreditation process initiated by Finsia Education. The process is rigorous and informed by industry experts," Jacobson said.
The eight compulsory subjects in the Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance in the financial planning stream include; financial markets and economic principles; law, regulation and ethics; techniques in financial analysis; risk management for finance sector enterprises; financial planning fundamentals; investment products; superannuation and retirement planning; insurance succession and estate planning.
The financial planning major also has two additional compulsory core subjects; strategic management and quantitative applications.
