As surely as tax sea-son follows RRSP season, the Planners’ Report Card follows the Brokerage Report Card. Investment Executive‘s team of researches spent April and May speaking with financial planners across the country for our sixth-annual PRC.

We surveyed a total of 270 financial planners at 16 national financial planning firms with at least 200 reps each, and tallied their responses in 28 categories. Our goal was to speak with an average of 20 planners at each firm.

This year, we aligned our planners’ survey more closely to the questionnaire we used for the Brokerage Report Card. New categories cover compliance, quote and information systems, and pricing of fixed-income products. The ratings reflect how planners feel about the service and the support they receive from head office. We average the ratings in each category and produces a firm’s score for that question.

To create the IE rating, we take the category scores for each firm (excluding the payout percentage) and average them. We award extra marks each time a firm scores the top position in a category. We use the IE rating to rank the firms from highest to lowest.

In keeping with our channel approach to the industry this year, we spoke with brokers, planners and several firms, including Assante Corp., Berkshire Investment Inc. and Dundee Wealth Management Inc. About 16% of respondents surveyed this year have a securities licence.

We wondered how all the changes would affect the outcome of this year’s Report Card, and there are some surprises. PFSL Investment Canada Ltd. retains its spot as the top-ranked planning firm, followed by Manulife Securities International Ltd. and Laurentian Financial Services, both of which rose considerably from last year.

Following the practice of recent years, we excluded FundEx Investments Inc. and Money Concepts (Canada) Ltd. from the rankings because of the unique business structures at those firms. Money Concepts is a franchise, and FundEx provides its planners with a 100% payout, but provides advisors with fewer services than other firms.

We also excluded Peak Financial Group and Partners in Planning Financial Services Ltd. from the rankings because we were unable to survey a sufficient number of planners at those firms.

All firms are facing a rapidly changing landscape. IE’s Stewart Lewis reviews how the creation of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association has meant increased compliance for dealers and planners. In their stories, Maureen Halushak and Jeff Sanford find that the players who invested in their firms are now reaping the rewards. IE