The advice quality challenge in Australia, and how we're meeting it

When you engage a financial advisor, you are entrusting someone with decisions that will shape your lifestyle, security and legacy for decades. That is why the quality of advice depends so heavily on the quality of the advisor delivering it. Great advisors are not created by chance. They are developed through deliberate education, structured experience, ongoing coaching, and an unwavering commitment to putting clients first.

In Australia in 2026, financial advice is governed by a national professional standards framework that requires new entrants to complete a supervised Professional Year before they can be fully qualified. ASIC (2025) and CPA Australia (2026) confirm this year of work and training must total the equivalent of 1,600 hours, including at least 100 hours of structured training, with a focus on technical competence, client care, regulatory compliance and ethics.

That framework has raised the floor on education and conduct standards. But industry commentary is consistent on one point: technical qualifications alone do not produce great advisors.  
 

As a result, leading firms are moving beyond the minimum, designing Professional Year experiences that embed their own advice philosophies, risk frameworks and client service standards, and investing heavily in how future advisors are trained, mentored and assessed before they work with clients independently.

Our Professional Year program: a purpose-built framework

Through Partners Wealth Group, we offer a Professional Year program built around our own advice model, client base and partnership structure, rather than treated as a generic compliance obligation. It translates national Professional Year requirements into a structured, practical pathway that reflects how advice is actually delivered across our multi-disciplinary approach to financial advice, investment, lending, superannuation and legal services.

At the core of the program are three development pillars that work together throughout the year:

• Technical training aligned to advice areas and the broader regulatory environment
• Live client work that gradually increases in responsibility and complexity
• Soft skill and behavioural capability, including communication, ethics, client engagement, and professional judgement

Each associate works through structured monthly learning modules and assessments, reinforcing key concepts and ensuring consistent progress across the four quarters of the Professional Year. Since launching in March 2025, the program has already helped a number of associates step into financial advisor roles across the business.

Top advisors developing the next generation

Our Professional Year Program reflects a long-term commitment to the financial advice profession by investing in structured development from the firm’s top talent, including in-house Partners Wealth Group advisors that are recognised among Australia's best. Managing Director Mathew Cassidy was ranked number 1 in the country in the Barron's Australia's Top 150 Financial Advisers 2025, alongside Rob Hand, Laurence Poulter and Patrick Barry who were also named among Australia's top 150.

For clients, this provides confidence that the program is shaped by proven advisors at the highest level. For emerging advisors, it offers a mentored pathway into a profession that is increasingly regulated, demanding and central to the financial wellbeing of Australian households and business owners.

If you are an aspiring advisor interested in a structured, mentored pathway into the profession, you can read more about our Professional Year Program here.