Absa and University of Johannesburg encourage excellence in financial planning
Final-year B.Com (Finance) students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) are able to put theory into practice through an Absa-sponsored initiative that promotes excellence in financial planning.
“We are delighted to partner with UJ in this exciting project. We strongly believe that we need to do more to ensure that we produce well qualified financial planners in this country to meet customers’ needs for financial advice,” says Peter Todd, Managing Executive at Absa Insurance and Financial Advisers (AIFA).
With 34 groups of students participating, the students are given a comprehensive case study in which they are expected to prepare a financial plan for a prospective client. The case study, which gets given at the beginning of the year, includes all aspects of financial planning such as insurance, real estate and retirement planning, among others.
In the initial stages of the case study, 250 students work individually on the different aspects of the financial planning case study. They later form groups of between 3 and 6, which make a presentation to the Lecturers in Financial Planning at the University of Johannesburg. Following intensive presentations and based on technical and visual aspects of the presentation, the top ten groups are selected. These groups proceed to make presentation to a panel of experts comprising of officials from the University of Johannesburg’s Department of Finance and Investment Management, the Financial Planning Institute and Absa.
“We would like to appreciate Absa’s efforts and commitment to filling the skills gap within the financial planning environment. We believe that Absa’s decision to sponsor the best financial planning initiative makes a huge difference in the lives of both the students and encourages excellence” says Professor Els, Head of the Department of Finance and Investment Management at the University of Johannesburg.
Absa has been sponsoring the event for the past two years and will do so in the coming years.
