Glossary

Terms

These are general descriptions of industry terms, offered for orientation. They are not legal or regulatory advice, and where a term has a precise meaning under your licence, that meaning governs.

AFSL

Australian Financial Services Licence

The licence under which a business is authorised to provide financial services in Australia. Advisers either hold one or operate as an authorised representative of a licensee that does.

In Souffle

AFSL name and licence name are fields on the organisation profile, and carry through to the client-facing app.

Fact find

The structured collection of a client's circumstances — who they are, what they own and owe, what comes in and goes out, what they are insured for, and what they are trying to achieve.

In Souffle

Assets, income, expenses, liabilities, goals and objectives, and protection, each with its own dashboard and report. Leads can complete their own sections before the first meeting.

Pre-meeting fact find

Collecting a prospective client's circumstances before the first meeting, so the meeting itself is spent on advice rather than on data entry.

In Souffle

Pre-meeting configuration sets each section as visible and required or not, and the lead record shows a completion percentage as the data arrives.

SoA

Statement of Advice

The document setting out personal advice given to a retail client, the basis for it, and the fees and interests behind it.

In Souffle

The advice relationship records the date the last SoA or RoA was provided, the adviser and the type of advice. Document content is assembled from reusable blocks and templates.

RoA

Record of Advice

A shorter record used for further advice where circumstances have not materially changed since an earlier Statement of Advice.

In Souffle

Tracked in the same field as the SoA, so the most recent advice document of either kind is visible on the client record.

DBFO

Delivering Better Financial Outcomes

The Government package of advice reforms responding to the Quality of Advice Review. Its first tranche became law in July 2024 and removed the fee disclosure statement requirement for ongoing fee arrangements from 10 January 2025, with transitional arrangements. A second tranche was released in draft in March 2025 and had not been enacted as at September 2026.

In Souffle

The fee disclosure and opt-in fields on the client record are kept as legacy data, not as evidence of a current obligation. Which requirements apply to your practice is a matter for you and your licensee.

QAR

Quality of Advice Review

The 2022 review of the advice regulatory framework whose recommendations the DBFO package responds to.

In Souffle

Not a setting in the software. It is here because DBFO material refers back to it constantly.

CAR

Client Advice Record

A plain-English, principles-based record proposed in the second tranche of DBFO to replace the Statement of Advice. It is draft legislation rather than law: as at September 2026 the Statement of Advice requirement still stands.

In Souffle

The advice relationship records the date and type of the last advice document provided. Nothing in the software assumes a Client Advice Record is in force.

CSLR

Compensation Scheme of Last Resort

An industry-funded scheme that pays certain unpaid determinations of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, funded by levies across financial services sectors including personal advice.

In Souffle

Not a software feature. Listed because the levy is a recurring practice cost advisers weigh alongside software spend.

FAAA

Financial Advice Association Australia

The professional association for Australian advisers, formed in 2023 from the merger of the Financial Planning Association and the Association of Financial Advisers.

In Souffle

Lead records offer an FPA website option among their sources, dating from before the merger.

FDS

Fee Disclosure Statement

A disclosure used under earlier ongoing fee rules. The DBFO reforms removed the FDS requirement, subject to commencement and transition arrangements. See the current ASIC guidance linked from the compliance page.

In Souffle

Legacy flags and date fields remain on the advice relationship alongside services promised and delivered; these fields do not establish current consent compliance.

Opt-in

The renewal step by which a client in an ongoing fee arrangement confirms they wish to continue it.

In Souffle

A flag for whether an opt-in form is due and the date it falls due, held on the same record as the FDS.

Ongoing fee arrangement

An arrangement under which a client pays fees over a period for ongoing advice services.

In Souffle

Adviser service fee recorded as a flat amount with a frequency or a percentage of assets, with trail commission noted separately.

SMSF

Self Managed Superannuation Fund

A superannuation fund run by its own members as trustees, for their own retirement benefit.

In Souffle

A first-class entity with its own record, financial position and dashboards for contributions, investments, assets, liabilities, income and expenses.

Corporate trustee

A company acting as trustee of a fund or trust, rather than individuals acting in that role personally.

In Souffle

SMSFs and trusts each have a corporate trustee dashboard, and the company itself is a real entity record with its own directors.

AWOTE

Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings

An Australian earnings measure used to index a number of superannuation thresholds and amounts.

In Souffle

A practice-level superannuation modelling setting, alongside CPI, contribution percentage and retirement age.

CPI

Consumer Price Index

A measure of price inflation, commonly used to express future amounts in today's terms.

In Souffle

Held both as an economic variable for the practice and as a superannuation modelling setting.

Franking credit

A credit attached to an Australian dividend for tax already paid by the company, which can reduce the investor's own tax.

In Souffle

Each investor profile carries a franking rate alongside its income and growth rates.

Growth and defensive split

The division of a portfolio between growth assets, such as shares and property, and defensive assets, such as cash and fixed interest.

In Souffle

Investor profiles hold a growth rate and a defensive rate with their asset allocations, against a named investment strategy.

Investor profile

A named set of return, allocation and tax assumptions used to model a strategy consistently for clients with similar circumstances.

In Souffle

Created and maintained at practice level, then applied in modelling — strategy, allocations, franking, income and growth rates.

Medicare levy

An Australian levy on taxable income that helps fund the public health system, calculated alongside income tax.

In Souffle

Medicare levy rates are part of the tax settings held per tax year, used by the income tax calculator.

Stamp duty

State and territory duty on property transfers, calculated on different scales in each jurisdiction.

In Souffle

A dedicated calculator covering all eight Australian states and territories.

Land tax

An annual state or territory tax on land holdings above a threshold, sometimes with an additional surcharge for certain owners.

In Souffle

A calculator handling a general rate plus an optional surcharge, on rates you can edit.

Debt recycling

A strategy that progressively replaces non-deductible debt with deductible debt used to acquire income-producing assets.

In Souffle

A dedicated calculator in the platform.

Paraplanner

A specialist who prepares advice documents, research and modelling so the adviser can focus on the client relationship.

In Souffle

A distinct privilege level, with its own task queue, workflow boards, document builder and time recording.

Fee for service

Remuneration charged directly to the client for advice provided, rather than taken as commission from a product.

In Souffle

One of three remuneration types on an insurance policy, alongside upfront commission and ongoing or level commission.

Client identification

Verifying who a client is and recording the evidence used, including when that evidence expires.

In Souffle

Identification records hold document type, number, issuer, place issued, issue and expiry dates, the verification method, a verified flag, tax identification number and residency status.