FINC20029 - Financial Advice and Corporations Law

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit you will further your awareness of commercial law and the reforms intended to ensure access to quality financial advice in Australia. You will identify and research the significant elements of Corporations Law within the context of commercial law related to the licensing requirements of financial planners and the provision of financial planning advice. You will review and debate the outcomes from a range of cases. Comparisons will be made between the past and how the revisions to legislation impact on the future delivery of financial planning advice.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2022

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 2 - 2022

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Literature Review or Systematic Review 30%
2. Report 40%
3. Practical Assessment 30%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2020 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.7 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 70% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
One student felt that in terms of the assessment, SOA (scaled) advice should be introduced in this unit for students to learn about what is required by law in SOAs.
Recommendation
Add scaled advice discussion into the parts of the curriculum that allows for flexibility in the content offered.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
A student felt the current format of assessments in this term was fine, but the focus on the research requirements for new entrant Financial Planning students would be too difficult for them.
Recommendation
Try and include less research component for new entrants while still meeting the learning outcomes.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
Feedback from a student about being expected to read the relevant legislation was too much
Recommendation
Unit coordinator will prepare study notes and study guides to decrease the need for the student to look at the legislation and read the relevant parts.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
One student felt the first three weeks of term covered irrelevant materials, and would have preferred the unit to cover more Haynes Royal Commission material.
Recommendation
Preface the unit with an outline of how the unit is focused on equipping students to meet the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority accreditation requirements. Contextualise the relevance of the Haynes Royal Commission findings in setting the content objectives for the unit.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Critically articulate the academic and professional literature covering the evolution of the Corporations Act (2001) within the context of commercial law as it applies to licensed financial planners
  2. Critically evaluate the intention of the law underpinning the provision of financial planning advice in Australia, particularly in terms of practical professional situations
  3. Communicate orally and in writing, advanced knowledge of the regulations pertinent to a range of client scenarios
  4. Communicate orally and in writing, persuasive arguments defending recommendations and approaches to financial planning advice based on advanced understanding of the intentions of the Corporations Act (2001) and amendments within the context of commercial law.

This unit has been designed to conform to the requirements of the Financial Planning Education Council, the guidelines formulated by FASEA Standards Authority and the mandated higher education standards stated in the Corporations Amendment (Professional Standards of Financial Advisers) Act.  

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Literature Review or Systematic Review
2 - Report
3 - Practical Assessment
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge
2 - Communication
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills
4 - Research
5 - Self-management
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Literature Review or Systematic Review
2 - Report
3 - Practical Assessment