Financial Services Industry In Australia: Legislation, Sustainability Policy, Reports, And Employee Feedback Essay.

Identify and consider external forces impacting on financial services industry while carrying out activities
Identify main sectors of financial services industry and interrelationship between sectors in carrying out activities
Identify roles and responsibilities of other participants in financial services industry in carrying out activities
Collect, apply and analyse information on relevant legislation, regulations and codes of practice as applied to financial services industry
Clarify own work practice and regularly refine in light of relevant legislation, regulations and codes of practice, and organisational policy, guidelines and procedures
Apply relevant codes of practice in an ethical approach to workplace practice and decisions
Obtain and analyse information on sustainability policies, strategies and impacts on industry from a range of sources
Identify and promote environmental sustainability as an integral part of business planning and business opportunity
Incorporate and support triple bottom line principles in work planning
Read and discuss with appropriate persons relevant documents and reports that could impact on work effectiveness and compliance.
Analyse, evaluate and check documents, reports, data and numerical calculations to meet customer and organisational requirements.
Present information in format appropriate for audience
Provide feedback to team members to encourage, value and reward individual and team efforts, and contributions
Actively encourage team members to participate in and take responsibility for team activities and communication processes
Support team to identify and resolve problems which impede its performance
5.4 Ensure own work serves as role model for others and enhances organisation's image and financial services industry
6.1 Determine tasks to be done and identify relevant conditions to work autonomously or in team environment
6.2 Plan work to manage resources, time and priorities
6.3 Contribute to organisational planning process as required to achieve service improvement
6.4 Adapt to changes in technology and work organisation in timely manner
7.1 Identify and review personal professional development needs and goals on regular basis
7.2 Clarify and comply with competency, authorisation and licensing requirements
7.3 Seek professional development opportunities that reflect needs and goals in agreed timeframe

Legislation in the Financial Services Industry in Australia

The main sectors of the financial services industry in Australia include:

• Accounting- The Australian Accounting industry encompasses of companies who are involved in the delivery of accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services . These facilities provided by these businesses cover all capacities of taxation, financial  reporting and audit.
• Banking- Australia has a well developed banking sector.It is dominated by three major banks that include the Commonwealth Bank.Westpac bank and  ANZ bank.
• Credit management-. Credit management is the determination of a borrower’s probability of refunding a loan. Credit management agencies examine a potential borrowers history of repayment of other loans and available assets to determine how much of a risk of defaulting on (not repaying) a loan.
• Insurance-Australian insurance market is a sophisticated and well regulated market that has  a mix of strong domestic and international competitors.
• Finance planning-The FPA develops certification program and develops professional, compliance and ethical standards.
• Lending services- the Australian Lending Centre offers a full assortment of lending products with modest rates and supple repayment terms for every consumer.
• Finance and mortgage broking- The Finance Brokers association of Australia monitors  legislation and creates registration to controllers, commonwealth government sections and members of state for both  national and state.
• Conveyancing – Conveyancing services are responsible for transferring legal title of ownership on real estate properties
• Mercantile management– Management of loans between business entities or organisations as opposed to individuals

The role of a legislation in financial  services industry in Australia is to supervise financial markets and enforce regulations when necessary.The most relevant acts that contain legislation are as follows:

• Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988–The FTR administered and enforced  laws  of tax including other laws related to other Commonwealth, state and territory legislation.It entails the recording of certain dealings that involves obligations.
• Anti-Money Laundering and counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act)- This Act provides a wide coverage of matters covering the  sectors of finance, gambling, precious metal dealers and other experts or dealings that offer facilities sheltered by the Act.It is a part of a lawmaking platform which counters money laundering and terrorism financing within Australia.
• Financial Services Reform Act-This is a federal legislation act that modifies the way the community interrelates with suppliers of financial products and other associated services. The act makes significant ammendments to the corporations Act
• Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act-This act was formulated in 1993 to regulate the newly established super industry while creating an operative framework for superannuation funds.

Sustainability strategy and Sustainability policy are  documents similar in nature, but differ mainly in the amount of detail included. Many organisations decide to use only one of the documents, while others use both. In the instance of an organisation using both typically the principles section of the policy will go into great detail to explain how the organisation plans to implement its plans. In the instance of a company using only one of the two documents the entire document tends to be much larger and  much more detailed included in areas that include any actual description of the plans implementation, monitoring and reporting.

A sustainability policy is a document prepared by an organisation which discourses issues on sustainability that have an impact on the organisation during its daily operations. The document intends to address how the company plans to deal with these issues. The policy should include the following information about sustainability:

o The  vision of the company

o Organisation Principles

o Important issues

o Objectives and reporting

o The  ability and responsibility of organisations to act.

The four types of reports used in the financial services industry are as follows:

Financial Report- The information on these reports is intended  to help uses of financial statements including shareholders, investors to better understand the circumstances in which a financial reporting is required and the information it contains and the differences between various types of financial reports

Budget report- A budget report is a report that is prepared to know the estimated costs and revenues of  a business enterprise  and is prepared in accordance with the relevant accounting standards.

Annual reports- An annual report contains a comprehensive report on  a company’s activities throughout  a year. It presents a detailed description and a clear indication about the activities of the company as well as financial performance.

Audit report- An audit report is a report that consists of  the written and informed opinion of an auditor in view of  the financials of an entity.

Feedback to employees is one of the best ways to assist them in performing their job duties to the best of their abilities The types of feedback include:

• Formal feedback-This feedback is provided through formal channels and is a planned, official , defined feedback . It gives the opportunity to  subordinates working in the lower levels of  an organization to check its progress update regarding important assessment s and work out the issues  accordingly.
• Informal feedback- This feedback is provided by family, friends and colleagues and is provided through informal discussions and chats that result when people talk to each other informally.
• Anonymous-Some organisations also have an anonymous system set up so that employees can present feedback through an anonymous method such as a feedback drop box or an escalation department that allows the employee to speak to parties senior to their immediate supervisor.

Differences between a Sustainability Strategy and a Sustainability Policy

There are four proven methods of addressing employees taking responsibility for working team environments:

• Completing own tasks to a high standard- The employer must himself adhere to a high quality of working standard and quality.
• Completing own tasks within required timeframes-The employees must complete their own tasks within the required time limit and frame their work levels accordingly.
• Treating other team members with respect at all times- The members must treat other team members with respect and deal professionally with them
• Following company policy and procedure at all times- The employees should adhere to company policy and procedure and follow them at all times so that the business dealings can be done in a fair and comprehensive manner.

SMART is a reminder abbreviation, that givesa certain set of standards to guide in the framing of allocating tasks, for example in matters related to project management, employee-performance management and individual progress.The acronym for SMART are as follows:

Specific: Specific goals or tasks have a much greater chance of successful completion than general tasks or goals..

Measurable:  Those tasks  that clearly specify the criteria on which success is determined. Detailed criteria must be clearly communicated to the team member when the responsibility is assigned.

Attainable: it is important for the task to be attainable.  If the project member has a detailed explanation of how to achieve the goal, it is more likely that the project would be a success.

Realistic: The task must be something that the project team member is both willing and be able to complete.

Timely: The  task should contain specific start and end dates, as well as measurable milestones, so that  the ensuring progress towards the completion of the task can be successfully determined.

Example-

In the case of an employee of an establishment who is dealing with a client who wants a newly originated loan for a large corporation to settle in a just two days the time limit is too great.  The first priority is to use his or her customer service skills to explain that such a short time frame is not possible, but settling the loan in a reasonable timeframe is possible. In this  case the timeline should be set within reasonable limits and a framework should be set in place which would indicate that the right action was progressing. When time or resources would not be available, adjustments will made.

The five people or departments that we can seek advice in relation to training needs are:

• Supervisors
• Managers
• Colleagues
• Human Resources Departments
• Internal Trainers

References:

AML/CTF Act | Australian Transaction Reports And Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) (2018) Austrac.gov.au https://www.austrac.gov.au/businesses/legislation/amlctf-act

AML/CTF Act | Australian Transaction Reports And Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) (2018) Austrac.gov.au https://www.austrac.gov.au/businesses/legislation/amlctf-act

Anti-Money Laundering And Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (2018) Legislation.gov.au <https://www.legislation.gov.au

Backing Australian Fintech (2018) Fintech.treasury.gov.au https://fintech.treasury.gov.au/

Employee Accountability In The Workplace (2018) Time and Attendance Tracking Software | TimeWellScheduled <https://timewellscheduled.com/employee-accountability-in-the-workplace

Environmental Sustainability Policy - Australian Government Department Of Human Services (2018) Humanservices.gov.au https://www.humanservices.gov.au/organisations/about-us/publications-and-resources/environmental-sustainability-policy

Financial Reporting In Australia - Austrade (2018) Austrade.gov.au <https://www.austrade.gov.au/International/Invest/Guide-to-investing/Running-a-business/Understanding-Australian-business-regulation/Financial-reporting-in-Australia

How To Give Good Feedback (2018) wikiHow <https://www.wikihow.com/Give-Good-Feedback

Hurwood, James, What Is The SIS (Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act)? | Canstar (2018) Canstar https://www.canstar.com.au/superannuation/what-is-the-sis-act/

Setting SMART Goals (2018) j6 design https://www.j6design.com.au/setting-smart-goals

The Financial Services Reform Act (2018) The Sydney Morning Herald <https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/the-financial-services-reform-act.