The last few months of 2014 have been very eventful at here at Proposito. We’ve been super busy in the run up to the end of the year. In October we were placed second in the Institute of Financial Planning’s David Norton – Building Excellence Award (I wrote about it here – I’m still disappointed we didn’t win). In November Proposito was awarded Chartered Financial Planners status by the Chartered Insurance Institute (I wrote about that too here).

On the face of it things have appeared pretty quiet in December until today – the last day before we shut the office for Christmas. Today we have received THREE pieces of good news.

The first is that we have achieved the British Standard for financial Planning, affectionately known as BS8577. This is a huge achievement for us and there are fewer that 20 firms in the UK who have been assessed as worthy to use the kitemark. I set the team the target of achieving BS8577 before Christmas – and I would close the office if we did it. Well true to my word this is the last day of opening in 2014. We will re-open in 2015 (details here).

Secondly, as part of the BS8577 assessment, I was assessed under ISO22222 – an internationally agreed benchmark that assesses and awards financial planners who can demonstrate that they have the knowledge, skills, experience and ethical values to deliver a first class service to their clients. I’m delighted to report that I passed the assessment and is my second internationally recognised financial planning accreditation. It will assume pride of place next my other one – Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

Finally I am delighted to report that our technical administrator Francesca Webb has today sat and passed R01. This is the Regulation & Ethics module as as well a being one of the most important it is also a “dry” subject. This was not an easy achievement for her as she was embroiled (along with the rest of the team) in helping us achieve BS8577 accreditation. There were very few exam slots available and Frankie had to sacrifice a day booked as holiday in order to travel to Cardiff to sit the exam!

So I don’t know about a good year – it’s been a pretty momentous day! Mince pie anyone? don’t mind it I do.