I was mightily cheered this week by our story on the CII awarding Chartered Corporate Status to no less than eight Financial Planning firms.
It’s easy to see these accolades as something handed out easily, but I know in each case these firms would have put in a huge amount of effort into their pursuit of greater professionalism and a coveted status.
To achieve Corporate Chartered Status each firm had to prove widespread technical competence throughout their firms and demonstrate a public commitment to professional standards.
While there have been challenges in some areas of the professional body sector in recent times, there is no doubt that the professional bodies have done a huge amount to raise standards across the profession, and corporate chartered status is just one example.
I’ve been covering this sector for more than 30 years and if there is one significant change, apart from regulation, that has impressed me over that period it has been the inexorable desire of firms, planners and professional bodies to seek higher professional standards year after year.
The average Financial Planner and financial adviser is far better trained and qualified than their counterparts at the turn of the century. It’s the reason why I suspect trust in the profession among the public has grown immeasurably over the past few decades - advisers are simply better qualified and more professional at what they do.
Of course, there is never any time for complacency and too many firms still fall foul of the regulations or demonstrate poor practice, but there is no doubt that initiatives such as the Consumer Duty and the drive by the professional bodies to encourage more of their members to see study as a lifelong learning process, rather than a one off sprint, has really helped.
So when you next read about a new Corporate Chartered Firm, it’s worth remembering that the accolade has probably come at a cost of hundreds of hours of hard work behind the scenes by staff, much of it unpaid and outside normal working hours, as the many of you who have studied for professional exams can attest.
So just for once, if you have studied for professional exams in the last few years, give yourself a pat on the back.
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Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a journalist with 40 years of experience. This topical comment on the Financial Planning news appears most weeks, usually on Fridays but occasionally other days. Email:
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