The Professional Year for Financial Advisers: Quarters, Hours and When to Pass the Exam

8 min read · facts checked 25 Oct 2026

As at 25 October 2026, the professional year is the supervised work and training stage every new financial adviser must complete: at least one year, with 1,500 hours of work activities and 100 hours of structured training, in four quarters (Professional Year Standard 2018, ss 10–11; ASIC INFO 297, August 2026). You must pass the financial adviser exam before you start quarter 3, the point at which you become a provisional relevant provider (Standard s 12(2)).

Where the professional year fits

Section 921B of the Corporations Act sets four education and training standards for relevant providers: an approved qualification, the exam, the professional year (the work and training standard) and continuing professional development. The exam sits inside the professional year, so the two have to be planned together. The who must sit guide covers who counts as a relevant provider.

The four quarters

Hours, training and the logbook

• Minimums: 1,500 hours of work activities and 100 hours of structured training over at least one year (Standard ss 10(4) and 11(3)).
• Structured training must be separate from work. It can be training given or arranged by your supervisor or licensee, an approved course, or a professional association course for a designation or specialist accreditation (s 11). Training you did before the professional year started does not count (INFO 297).
• Logbook: each quarter, record your hours, the activities and training with dates, your supervisor's details and the notices clients were given (s 13; ASIC).
• Client notices: before you have any contact with a retail client, your licensee must tell them in writing that you are in supervised work and training, and who your supervisor is (s 10(5)).

When to sit the exam

• You can sit at any time. ASIC dropped exam eligibility numbers in 2024, and INFO 297 says you can sit before or during the professional year.
• The hard deadline is the start of quarter 3. Without a pass you cannot begin quarter 3 or receive a final completion certificate (Standard s 12(2) and (6); ASIC FAQs).
• Acceleration does not move the gate. Your supervisor can certify quarter 1 or 2 early (s 12(4)), but the exam requirement still applies, and the professional year still lasts at least a year.
• Leave room for a resit. Full time, each quarter runs about three months. Sittings come roughly every three months and results take four to five weeks, so a first attempt during quarter 1 usually leaves a second chance before quarter 3.

The next sitting you can still book is Thursday 4 March 2027 (indicative): booking runs from 29 Jan 2027 to 19 Feb 2027 (ASIC, checked 1 Nov 2026). The one after it is Thursday 3 June 2027 (indicative). Every sitting is on the exam dates page, and how to book the exam walks through ACER registration.

See how much has stuck: sit the free timed mock: try 5 questions with no sign-up. Or see the passes for the full question bank.

Becoming a provisional relevant provider

• To start quarter 3 you need completion certificates for quarters 1 and 2, the qualifications standard, an exam pass and authorisation from your licensee (ASIC; INFO 297).
• Your licensee should appoint you on the Financial Advisers Register as a provisional relevant provider within 30 business days of authorising you (ASIC).
• Your supervisor must be a relevant provider, not provisional, with at least two years' experience as a relevant provider, not counting their own professional year (Corporations Act s 921F(2); Standard s 8(1)).
• Your supervisor must approve in writing any Statement of Advice you give a retail client, and personal advice you give is treated as given by your supervisors (s 921F(4) and (5)). Clients must be told your supervisors' names and that they are responsible for your advice (s 921F(6)).
• You cannot call yourself a "financial adviser" or "financial planner" while provisional (s 923C), except as part of an expression the Minister has determined for provisional relevant providers (s 923C(9)).

Finishing the professional year

• A final completion certificate needs both your supervisor and your licensee. Before giving it, the licensee must audit at least five client files you worked on (Standard s 12(7) and (8)).
• Within 30 business days of your completion, your licensee notifies ASIC and changes your register role from provisional relevant provider to relevant provider (ASIC).
• From then on you complete continuing professional development every year.

Part time, breaks and changing jobs

• Part time is allowed: the minimum hours stay the same and each quarter stretches. INFO 297's example is a two-year part-time professional year with six-month quarters.
• Breaks: there is no time limit on the professional year, but a break may mean varying your plan in writing.
• New supervisor or employer: allowed, with the plan updated.
• Overseas: a professional year done overseas can count if it meets every requirement.

Plan the exam around quarter 3

Start with our free mock during quarter 1 to see which of the three areas needs work, then book the sitting that leaves a resit before quarter 3. The preparation guide has a 10-week plan. Supervisors and licensees training a group can see our professional year cohort offer.