Regulatory return pressure often begins long before anyone logs into the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) portal. It starts when everyday business information is difficult to find. As the submission deadline approaches, the questions themselves may seem straightforward enough: adviser numbers, client information, complaints, outsourced arrangements, business continuity, and information security. Most Financial Advice Providers (FAPs) already hold this information somewhere within their business. The challenge is that it often exists across multiple systems, spreadsheets, inboxes, and records that were never designed to work together.
When a Simple Form Becomes a Reconstruction Project
What begins as a simple reporting exercise can quickly become a time-consuming reconstruction project. The first answer may take only a few minutes to locate, but the next might require a CRM export, manual reconciliation, or discussions about whether certain complaints should be counted. Even outsourced arrangements can become confusing when suppliers provide systems that support licence obligations but are not formally classified as outsourced providers. By lunchtime, what appeared to be a routine form can feel like a business-wide investigation.
The Real Challenge Isn’t the Deadline
The deadline itself is rarely the most difficult part. Licensed FAPs complete their annual regulatory return for the 12 months ending 30 June and must submit it between 1 July and 30 September. In April 2026, the FMA highlighted concerns about inaccurate and incomplete submissions from some advice providers, reinforcing the importance of maintaining accurate and reliable information throughout the year.
The issue is not usually a lack of data. Research consistently shows that organizations lose significant productivity searching for information. According to IDC, knowledge workers spend nearly 30% of their working week searching for information, while Gartner estimates that poor data quality costs organizations an average of US$12.9 million annually through inefficiencies, errors, and rework. When information is stored differently across systems, updated inconsistently, or lacks clear ownership, reporting becomes substantially more difficult.
Building a Reporting Process Before You Need It
The most effective approach is to work backwards from the regulatory questions rather than scrambling for answers at the end of the reporting period. Rather than waiting until September, FAPs can establish clear ownership of key data points throughout the year. A simple monthly or quarterly review process may be sufficient for smaller businesses.
Adviser and authorised body details can be reconciled against internal records, client and advice activity can be consistently extracted from agreed systems of record, complaints can be logged as they occur, and outsourced arrangements can be reviewed whenever systems or suppliers change. Business continuity and information security responses should also reflect current practices rather than relying on outdated applications or historical policies.
The Business Benefits of Better Data Governance
This proactive approach offers benefits beyond regulatory compliance. Studies by Experian have found that organizations with stronger data governance practices experience significantly fewer reporting errors and spend less time correcting data-related issues. In practical terms, businesses that know exactly where information is stored and who is responsible for maintaining it are often able to complete regulatory reporting faster and with greater confidence.
For advice businesses, this means less time spent gathering information at reporting time and more time focused on serving clients. What supports compliance today can also strengthen operational efficiency throughout the year.
Support Can Help, But Accountability Stays with the FAP
Administrative support can play an important role in this process. Support teams can prepare reports, maintain registers, gather supplier information, and identify inconsistencies before they become reporting issues. However, responsibility for the regulatory return remains with the FAP. Administrative staff should never be expected to guess answers, determine regulatory classifications, or submit returns without proper review and approval.
Services such as A-Perform can assist with record management and workflow preparation within an agreed scope, but the FAP remains accountable for interpreting the questions, validating the information, and submitting the return through myFMA.
Start Small, Start Now
The practical takeaway is simple: choose three questions from the current regulatory return and retrieve those answers today. If finding the information requires searching through inboxes, reconciling multiple spreadsheets, or tracking down different system owners, document the source and assign responsibility now.
Small improvements made throughout the year can transform the annual return from a stressful reconstruction exercise into a straightforward reporting task. More importantly, they can help create a stronger, more reliable foundation of business information that supports compliance, operational efficiency, and better decision-making long after the return has been submitted.
Key Statistics at a Glance
- 30% of a knowledge worker’s week is spent searching for information (IDC).
- US$12.9 million is the average annual cost of poor data quality to organizations (Gartner).
- Organizations with strong data governance experience fewer reporting errors and improved compliance outcomes (Experian).
