The top 10 has been a hive of activity as most groups on the list continue to build adviser numbers. The big exception is runner-up AMP Financial Planning, which shed 33 in the six months to December 2006, losing ground to top-placed Professional Investment Services. Count Financial has added 30, Millenium3 28, Commonwealth Financial Planning 21 and Financial Wisdom seven.
AMP Financial Planning managing director Michael Guggenheimer attributes most of the 33 departures in the six months to December to retirement and not to AMP Financial Planning's enforceable undertaking. The group is undergoing a significant transformation, which is aiming to improve the quality of advice to clients. "We have a number of initiatives to try to grow financial planner numbers," Guggenheimer says. "We are looking to make sure we are attractive to markets at large in terms of value proposition."
AMP Financial Planning is also experiencing a consolidation of practices. Whereas previously there may have been a single planning practice, the average number of authorised representatives is rising as a result of consolidations. "We think that makes good sense as it is about building and strengthening business capabilities," Guggenheimer says. Count Financial has added 30 advisers to take its total to 913 to maintain its third placing. But it has been a fluctuating 18 months with figures swinging from 936 at the end of June 2005 to 883 at the end of June 2006.
Count Financial CEO Marianne Perkovic says the increase is due to changes in recruitment. "We have a separate business which we call Profit Plus, and what we put in the Profit Plus banner is accountants who do loans and leasing and that actually gets them familiar to add different services to their accounting," Perkovic says. "Part of teaching them about loans and leasing is to get them to think about financial planning. "Once they are in there for 12 to 18 months, they find the transition to financial planning easier. What we have seen this year is the transition from Profit Plus into Count. That is one of our retirement strategies which we started in 2003 and we are seeing the fruits of that."
The other strategy to increase numbers is a separate business, Count Plus, in the accounting acquisition space. "Going forward, we are looking to attract people into Profit Plus then into Count Plus. From Profit Plus you can go to Count or Count Plus," Perkovic says. Financial Wisdom continues its steady climb up the rankings, from 13th at the end of December 2005 to eighth in the current survey. A spokesperson says practice numbers, not adviser numbers, are the main focus. The aim is to grow from 220 to a maximum of 300 practices. In a year, Charter Financial Planning has slipped from eighth at the end of December 2005 to tenth. National manager Paul Williams says the strategy has been to focus on adviser quality, not quantity.
