To provide personal financial advice in Australia, you must be authorised and registered as a relevant provider (financial adviser). This is done by an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensee.
To become a financial adviser you must:
- complete an approved qualification
- pass the financial adviser exam
- complete a year of work and training (known as the professional year).
Different rules may apply if you have advised before in Australia or overseas. Please visit Prior financial advice experience.
Provisional financial adviser
Provisional financial advisers may provide financial advice under supervision.
You must be authorised by an AFS licensee.
You may become a provisional financial adviser once you have:
- completed an approved qualification
- passed the financial adviser exam
- completed the first and second quarters of the professional year.
While working as a provisional financial adviser, you can complete the professional year.
Financial adviser
Once the professional year is complete you may be authorised and registered as a financial adviser.
Financial advisers must take part in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities.
This page contains information about approved qualifications. For information on the exam, the professional year and CPD activities please visit the ASIC website.
Approved qualifications
The Corporations (Relevant Providers Degrees, Qualifications and Courses Standard) Determination 2021 (the Determination) lists approved qualifications.
The list is grouped by education provider in alphabetical order. Schedule 1 – Part 1 lists Bachelor’s degrees and Schedule 1 – Part 2 lists post‑graduate degrees.
A qualification is only approved if it exactly matches one of the qualifications on the list. This includes any conditions.
For more help on how to read the Determination please visit Approved qualifications.
It is the responsibility of the AFS licensee to determine if a qualification is approved.
Foreign qualification assessments
If you have completed a foreign qualification you may apply for an assessment. Your qualification must be a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Approval of a foreign qualification may be subject to completion of more study.
Visit Foreign qualification assessments to make an application.
Domestic qualification assessments
You do not need to apply for approval after completing an approved degree if you meet all the conditions.
If you completed an approved degree but you did not meet the conditions, you may apply to have it approved.
You should only apply if you have met the conditions but not exactly as listed. This includes completing an ethics bridging unit if needed.
This may include situations where a subject:
- name or code has changed
- is completed outside the approved qualification.
Visit Domestic qualification assessments to make an application.
Qualified Tax Relevant Providers (QTRP)
To provide tax (financial) advice services you must meet extra standards. The Corporations (Relevant Providers – Education and Training Standards) Determination 2021 outlines these standards.
This includes completing:
- a course in commercial law
- a course in taxation law
- tax‑specific CPD activities.
Many approved qualifications meet the commercial law and taxation law course requirements.
It is the responsibility of the AFS licensee to determine if these standards are met.
More details are available on the ASIC website.
More help
The ASIC website can help you determine how the standards apply. This will differ depending on your circumstances.
If you would like more information please contact us.