Financial advisers deserve to be congratulated for their commitments in advancing professionalism, with thousands across Australia uplifting their education whilst at the same time meeting arguably the toughest and most stringent continuing professional development (CPD) requirements of any profession, according to Kaplan Professional. Record enrolment numbers have been reported by Kaplan Professional with nearly 6,000 subject enrolments in the first three intakes of 2025, as advisers work overtime to meet the 31 December education deadline. At the same time, CPD content completions in Kaplan Professional’s market-leading Ontrack platform surpassed one million in 2024 across more than 45,000 annual learners from over 3,500 corporate accounts. This is in addition to above 750,000 content completions in the first three quarters of the current financial year and an expected 390,000 in the last quarter. Kaplan Professional CEO Brian Knight said it was a tribute to the industry the way in which it has embraced professionalism. The significant undertaking for advisers over the past few years to meet the education requirements and maintain CPD standards among the highest of any profession, while continuing to service their clients should not be underestimated. With the education bar now being raised and advisers required to complete 40 hours of CPD across a variety of technical areas, the demand for high-quality CPD content has increased significantly. In addition to meeting the volume required in each of the five CPD areas, advisers and licensees need to ensure the content they are engaging with meets the legislated requirements of ‘qualifying CPD’. In summary, the content must contain sufficient intellectual or practical content, be led or conducted by an appropriate expert or academic, and designed to enhance an adviser’s knowledge and skills relevant to the provision of financial advice. “The high levels of education and experience, combined with the rigorous requirements for qualifying CPD gives the industry the right to earn the respect they deserve as a profession,” said Knight. “As licensees are responsible for ensuring they have a CPD policy and a professional development plan to address each adviser’s specific education requirements, as well as approving 70% of their advisers’ CPD activity as being appropriate qualifying CPD, they have played a key role in encouraging a culture that supports and provides CPD opportunities for their advisers that is at a level that genuinely improves their professional capabilities. “There is a clear trend advisers are wanting to utilise CPD to extend their competence, knowledge and skills in emerging, niche and specialist areas such as ethical investments, ETFs, insurance and SMSFs as part of their individual professional development plan. “We have had to respond accordingly as an educator to meet the challenge of delivering large volumes of high-quality, engaging and digitalised CPD content, which meets educational requirements in each of the technical areas in a variety of multimedia formats – not just professional or technical reading, which is limited to four hours per year. “It has encouraged us to go above and beyond in terms of what we produce to meet the needs of advisers wanting CPD content that will enrich their continuing education journey, to not only maintain, but to expand and grow their knowledge and increase their ability to specialise.“Being a professional means constantly growing your knowledge – the advice industry has worked hard to move away from a ‘tick-box culture’ … for the new advisers coming through, the pursuit of knowledge is part of their DNA and the Ontrack content constantly strives to satisfy this appetite for knowledge. “Our focus at Kaplan Professional is on producing independent, instructor-led qualifying CPD content under the legislation that is educationally sound with structured activities, assessments and learning outcomes at different levels (introductory, intermediate and advanced) developed by technical writers, academics and industry experts.” Morgans Financial Limited, Industry Fund Services (IFS) and Entireti are three long-time Ontrack clients, and it is the ideal CPD platform for them as licensees that forms a crucial component of their respective CPD and education frameworks. “With an extensive library of targeted CPD content, Ontrack is an essential tool for any licensee dedicated to supporting the ongoing professional development of their adviser network,” said Morgans Financial Limited Organisational Enhancement Manager Aldo Boccalatte. “Ontrack provides our advisers and support staff with access to engaging and interactive learning content on a wide range of topics, making their professional development practical and efficient,” said IFS Head of Risk and Compliance Craig Sankey. “Ontrack not only provides an end-to-end solution for advisers and licensees to meet CPD obligations, but it also offers a wide variety of industry-relevant content accessible within the platform – the ability for licensees to create engaging content via the in-platform authoring tool is valued, in addition to reliable reporting tools and comprehensive client support,” said Entireti Manager, Special Projects Sascha Warner.