A six-year compliance study of over 200 Australian licensees has shared how the volume of poor advice has changed over time and whether a demanding regulatory environment is paying off.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Advice Quality Index from compliance firm Assured Support is an independent longitudinal benchmark for measuring the quality of advice\u00a0which reviewed over 9,000 advice files.\u00a0This\u00a0index\u00a0measures factors such as legal compliance, professional judgement, evidentiary support, client\u00a0outcomes\u00a0and advice effectiveness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Between 2020 and 2026, the proportion of \u2018very poor\u2019 reviewed files declined from 2.4 per cent to 0.3 per cent and \u2018poor\u2019 advice declined from 18.5 per cent to 9.7 per cent. This brings the combined total to 10 per cent\u00a0which the firm said is\u00a0\u201cimpressive\u201d\u00a0given the demanding regulatory and compliance environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Sound\u2019 advice\u00a0\u2013\u00a0those advice files which meet the expected legal,\u00a0professional\u00a0and evidentiary standards\u00a0\u2013\u00a0increased from 77 per cent to 88 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The report noted that reducing the volume of poor advice is not necessarily the same as increasing the volume of good advice. The first\u00a0establishes\u00a0a professional foundation while the second builds on that foundation by extending professional judgement, evidence,\u00a0communication\u00a0and client-centred standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Advice quality ratings<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n Source: Assured Support, August 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis improvement occurred in a complex, highly regulated profession that experienced sustained\u00a0legislative,\u00a0regulatory\u00a0and professional change. Maintaining quality through that period would itself have\u00a0been notable. Achieving a substantial reduction in advice assessed below the expected standard is a\u00a0more significant achievement,\u201d the report read.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe principal achievement\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0an increase in Good or Exceptional advice. It was the sustained\u00a0movement away from below-standard advice and into Sound advice. That shift\u00a0represents\u00a0the necessary\u00a0foundation from which Good and Exceptional advice can be developed more consistently.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Although no files were declared as being \u2018exceptional\u2019,\u00a0Assured Support said this\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0the \u201cdeliberately demanding\u201d threshold of that category.\u00a0<\/p>\n As for where licensees can go from here, growth in the number of good and exceptional advice files should be targeted as a separate capability\u00a0objective\u00a0with positive files reviewed to be\u00a0identify\u00a0practices that can be reinforced across the business.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n They can also analyse recurring negative exceptions to understand why files may sit below the expected standard and whether corrective action would improve future advice quality and client outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHigh-quality advice depends on more than governance. It requires capable, honest professionals who\u00a0accept personal responsibility for their conduct and exercise sound judgement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEffective governance\u00a0supports those qualities by\u00a0identifying\u00a0negative exceptions requiring action, recognising positive\u00a0exceptions worth reinforcing and ensuring that both contribute to better client outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cQuality\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0achieved through perfection.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0achieved when capable, honest professionals\u00a0operate\u00a0within governance frameworks that encourage accountability,\u00a0challenge\u00a0and continuous improvement.\u00a0Neither is sufficient without the other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A six-year compliance study of over 200 Australian licensees has shared how the volume of poor advice has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[177],"tags":[268163,79,22356,18,233943,19,17,234,235,11994,4738],"class_list":["post-634401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-advice-documents","tag-business","tag-compliance","tag-eire","tag-files","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-regulation","tag-report"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n \u00a0<\/td>\n 2020-21<\/b>\u00a0<\/td>\n 2022-23<\/b>\u00a0<\/td>\n 2025-26<\/b>\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Exceptional\u00a0<\/td>\n 0%\u00a0<\/td>\n 0.2%\u00a0<\/td>\n 0%\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Good\u00a0<\/td>\n 2.1%\u00a0<\/td>\n 1.8%\u00a0<\/td>\n 1.8%\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Sound\u00a0<\/td>\n 77%\u00a0<\/td>\n 83.1%\u00a0<\/td>\n 88%\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Poor\u00a0<\/td>\n 18.5%\u00a0<\/td>\n 13.5%\u00a0<\/td>\n 9.7%\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Very poor\u00a0<\/td>\n 2.4%\u00a0<\/td>\n 1.5%\u00a0<\/td>\n 0.3%\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n