2020 Canada Newsletter - September 2008

Now is the time to be filling your PD basket with new ideas, new information and new strategies to take your practice to the next level. Whether you are looking for detailed compliance training or practice management ideas, there are lots of opportunities to learn.

We are very excited with our line-up of webinars and our national conferences coming up at the end of October. We hope you can join us and take advantage of the great speakers we have lined up.

As always, we have a new inspirational movie for you. This month it is entitled:

The Nature of Success

Changes to CFP Certification Progam

In 2010, the Approved Prior Credential (APC) Policy for CFP Certification is changing, according to Cary List, CA, CFP, President and CEO of the Financial Planners Standards Council . This policy recognizes allied professional credentials including CA and provides a waiver of the education requirement as long as one has 3 years work experience prior to writing the the exam.

The proposed new APC for 2010 includes a waiver of the core curiculum, but requires PCE 1, Capstone, PCE 2 and 3 years work experience.

The last opportunities to gain your CFP certification under the old program is:

November 2008
June 2009
November 2009
June 2010, but you must be registered by Dec.31, 2009

For more information on this please visit the FPSC website.

Become a Better Delegator

It's a sad fact that much partner or manager stress is self-inflicted and stems from a single source - a failure to delegate. And why don't managers delegate enough? The thinking that "No one else can do the job as well as me."

Not "letting go" is counter-productive. It prevents managers from doing business development work they should be doing, and leads to high levels of staff turnover due to lack of job satisfaction.

But it's one thing to realise the need to delegate, another to do it effectively. Here are a few pointers that may help. Decide what you can confidently delegate and prepare your brief thoroughly. Give the task to the person who has the most appropriate skills to handle it. Explain the task in detail. Break the one big task into a series of smaller tasks so that the employee doesn't feel dumped on. Encourage questions. Make sure the staff member knows who to ask if they need help. Check on progress, by monitoring the completion of the smaller task. A casual "How's it going?" may be all it takes. Reward a successfully completed task with praise. Of course it's your business and you need to keep control because ultimately you're responsible. But learn to delegate and manage your staff and your business will benefit.

	Technology Tip -
Don't have a portal yet? Need to send large files to clients but can't since you have limits on your e-mail file size? LeapFILE's secure File Transfer, Storage and Sharing solutions could be your answer. A simple and intuitive web-based interface allows you to send large files even through Outlook, share files and store on the web.. LeapFILE is listed in the CPA Technology Advisor

	7 Failings of Useless Leaders
We spend a great deal of time planning - strategy, marketing, IT, finances, clients, mergers and acquisition and property but what of being strategic about our people? They are the single most important resource! Do we actually think about our "culture" and how we can shape it? Do we consider HR as a major practice management issue? Download the 7 failings of Useless Leaders