FASEA releases June exam results

In a statement, the authority said 84 per cent of candidates who sat the exam from 11 to 14 June had passed, up from 79 per cent in April.

The number of advisers sitting the online session also swelled from 470 in April to 2,282 in June.

The authority said 10,239 advisers had now sat the exam and 85 per cent had passed overall.

Around 40 per cent of advisers on the ASIC adviser register had now passed the exam.

"FASEA is pleased to present the outcomes of the sixth exam and congratulates successful candidates on completing an important component of their education requirements under the Corporations Act during the current extraordinary circumstances," FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield said.

"Over 10,000 advisers have sat the exam with close to nine in 10 demonstrating they have the skill to apply their knowledge of advice construction, ethics and legal requirements to the practical scenarios tested in the exam."

Exam questions where advisers are getting stuck

The authority also released further detail on knowledge areas where advisers who had failed the exam had commonly "underperformed" in.

These included:

Financial Advice Regulatory and Legal Requirements

- Advice documentation (including financial services guide, statement/record of advice, product disclosure statement and fee disclosure statement) – the exam tests an understanding of when to issue these to clients and what is required to be included (e.g. fees and disclosures);

- Advice types – understanding the difference between personal advice, general advice and information and how they apply to different client scenarios;

- Privacy Act – understanding the difference between personal and sensitive information and whether consent has been appropriately obtained before using information; and

- Anti-Money Laundering Act – identifying potentially suspicious transactions and required reporting in client advice scenarios.

Financial Advice Construction

- Identification of client biases and how they may influence clients’ financial decisions and/or investment choices;

- Applied ethical and professional reasoning and communication; and

- Understanding the application of the code of ethics and the Corporations Act to advice scenarios.

In addition, FASEA said more than 1,600 advisers had so far registered for the August exam, as well as 600 registering for the October exam and 300 for November.