Financial Planners have their say

The SLICE survey is conducted nationally in March, July and November to canvass the opinions of independent financial planners on a broad range of industry and business issues. Conducted by Peter Dawson of The Dawson Partnership and Susan Rochester of Balance at Work, the inaugural survey - SLICE 1 - in November 2013 uncovered some interesting stats, including:

32% of practices increased their headcount in 2013, with 13% expecting the implementation of FOFA would lead to them employing more staff in the future;
18% use social media as part of their recruitment process;
In selecting staff, 21% of respondents always use behavioural profiles and 20% always use knowledge based test;
50% increased their training spend in 2013, but 13% spent less on training;
23% rated the support they receive from their licensee for recruitment and people management as 'good' (16%) or 'excellent' (7%). A further 25% rated it as 'satisfactory.'

The results of the latest surveys - SLICE 2 - are now in. In summary, financial planners are focusing on organic growth rather than business acquisition, 80% don't yet have a formal succession plan, and 50% see FOFA amendments as positive.

Download the full survey results.