AFA unveils 'practice of the year' award

With the advent of the Advice practice of the Year award, the award program will now acknowledge the best individual adviser and the best practice separately.

AFA chief executive Brad Fox said the creation of the Advice Practice of the Year award recognises the changing dynamic in advice practices.

“The original Adviser of the Year Award was established by the AFA and Zurich in 2003 and since then we have seen Australia’s leading advisers participate in the award program,” Mr Fox said.

“But one of the big changes we have seen in recent years is the growth in new business models, with the principals of many successful and innovative advice practices no longer being client-facing advisers themselves.

“At the same time, practice consolidation has seen an increase in specialist advisers who perhaps don’t own part of the practice and aren’t so much focussed on the growth and day-to-day running of their practice overall.”

Both awards will be judged by the same panel of Mr Fox, AFA national president Michael Nowak, Beddoes Institute’s Rebecca Sheils, Encore Group’s Graham Peatey, Riskinfo’s Peter Sobels and Zurich’s Kristine Wade and Andy Marshall.

Award applications open 9 June 2014 and close 8 August 2014 with the winners announced at the AFA National Conference, in Cairns 11–14 October, 2014.