The Commission said the revised edition of the guide is relevant to all existing AFAs, businesses or QFEs that employ AFAs and advisers applying or looking to apply for authorisation.

The Commission said the amendments are largely the removal of information that is now out of date, and that "these amendments are necessary to reflect the final version of the Code of Professional Conduct for AFAs, the amendments to the Financial Advisers Act 2008, promulgation of the financial Adviser (Disclosure) Regulations 2010 and the publication of the Commission's Standard Conditions for AFAs."

In the revised guide on the Securities Commission website text set for amendments is shown as either struck through for deletions or underlined for additions.

An example of the changes made by the Commission is found under the disclosure section, expected  information.

One of the three requirements the Commission says it expects an ABS to address is: "the process that you follow for individual clients to calculate and disclose fees and any commissions for each client."

In the revised edition, ‘for individual clients' is struck out and the wording ‘and disclose' and ‘for each client' underlined for additions.

The Commission said once submissions have been considered, it will finalise and approve the AFA ABS Guide (version two) and publish on its website and in printed form.

The Commission said all AFAs will be expected to maintain their ABS in accordance with the new guide, and AFAs who have already prepared their ABS "need to be aware of the changes and should update their ABS when they next come to review it."

The revised copy of the AFA Adviser Business Statement guide can be found online at: http://www.seccom.govt.nz/downloads/afa-guide-v2.pdf