The courses are a collaboration between AccountantsIQ, the SMSF Association (SMSF Association), and Deakin University to support advice professionals to   meet the 31 December 2025 deadline. They will provide a practical, cost-effective, and time-efficient solution and are listed as approved units for meeting the legislated requirements. The courses being offered are Ethics for Financial Services (Intensive) via Deakin University and the SMSF Specialist Advisor Program via the SMSF Association.

 Bronny Speed, founding director of AccountantsIQ, said the collaboration is “a great new initiative to help accountants and financial advisers fast-track their   outstanding mandatory education requirements”.

Together, the courses offer up to 77 CPD hours and are delivered online. Bundled pricing lowers costs, and associate membership of the SMSFA is available to   new participants who complete the course.

“Given ethics is a compulsory bridging unit and many still need to complete it, by offering this subject in a practical, structured and intensive format, many advice professionals will benefit.” Speed said.

The SMSF Specialist Advisor Program is ideal for those requiring an additional accredited subject along with the ethics course. Peter Burgess, CEO of the SMSFA, said the association’s Specialist Advisor program (SSA) remains the pinnacle of specialist SMSF education within the sector, and completion of this course has been recognised as a credit towards meeting the mandatory education requirements.

“A key takeaway from the FASEA exam is, do not wait until the last minute. This is a practical and time-effective solution for advice professionals to remain on the FAR by meeting the ASIC educational requirements well before the 31 December 2025 deadline,” said Speed.

The Deakin University Ethics for Financial Services (Intensive) course will be offered over four half days in November 2024. Enrolments close on Monday, 21 October 2024. The SMSF Association’s SMSF Specialist Advisor Program is a self-paced 12-week online program. For those who may benefit from this joint initiative, a flowchart and information sheet have been developed. They are available on both the AccountantsIQ and SMSF Association websites.