What are the benefits of undertaking a risk audit of your AFSL business?

Simple – it is infinitely better for an AFSL holder to identify and address issues before ASIC does!

Risk audits vary in scope, but they all have the same goal of making the business more robust from a compliance perspective, which is often achieved through identifying process flaws and risks which are not managed appropriately.

For a financial planning business, this will usually focus on the current advice process used by the business and an analysis of whether the process is being followed, or where it is being followed, whether the output from the process is compliant and represents best practice.

For wholesale funds, it may focus on the content of the IM and whether it is misleading or deceptive, how the business manages its AML obligations, investor relationships or arrangements with its custodian, trustee and other third-party providers.