Crafting advice documents remains time-consuming despite increased efficiencies

Despite growing efficiencies within the financial advice industry, the creation of advice documents remains a lengthy process according to a recent survey by business solutions experts Business Health and financial services software company Iress.

The survey revealed that it still takes four hours to craft a strategy paper for new clients. This is down from 5.6 hrs two years ago. A basic Statement of Advice (SoA) for a new client, though improved, still takes 6.7 hrs compared to the previous 8.1 hrs. The most intricate SoA takes 12.2 hrs to prepare, reduced from 14.6 hrs. The review process for existing clients' documents also remains protracted, taking 2.8 hours on average, albeit down from the previous 3.6 hours.

These figures underline the ongoing necessity for greater efficiencies in the sector, especially through a more widespread adoption of technology. Currently, over half of the surveyed practices don’t offer digital signing, whilst a significant 73% don’t utilise cashflow management and budgeting applications.

Harry Mitchell, Iress' Chief Executive of Wealth Management, maintains that whilst improvements are evident, the industry must continually strive to optimise document preparation times to make sound financial advice more accessible.