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Client engagement, FDS, and implementation authorities — signed with the audit trail regulators expect.
Financial advisers (personal advice licensees) operate under one of the most document-intensive regulatory frameworks in Australia. Every client engagement generates multiple signed documents under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FSG, FDS, SOA, authorities, advice implementation. SignBolt gives advisory practices an affordable, audit-trailed signing tool that supports compliance without slowing client onboarding.
The specific contracts, agreements, and forms SignBolt handles for this use case.
Ongoing service arrangement with fee structure, scope, and termination terms. Foundation of every ongoing client relationship.
Annual FDS issued to ongoing-fee clients under the Corporations Act — client's signed acknowledgement protects against the 'I didn't agree to the fee' complaint.
Client's signed acceptance of the SOA before implementation. Core regulatory document.
Letters of authority for the advisor to obtain information from superannuation funds, insurers, or product providers on the client's behalf.
Signed instructions for specific transactions — rollover requests, investment switches, insurance applications.
Client consent for the advisor to make disclosures to AFCA or other external dispute resolution services.
FSG, FDS, SOA, and authorities are the compliance backbone of advisory practice. SignBolt's audit trail provides demonstrable evidence of client acknowledgement at every step — exactly what ASIC looks for in a practice review.
The time between first meeting and first implementation is often slowed by paperwork. Mobile-friendly signing with SignBolt means clients complete FSG acknowledgement, engagement agreement, and LOA before the second meeting, accelerating revenue.
Ongoing-fee clients receive FDS annually. SignBolt's bulk send (Pro plan) sends FDS to all active ongoing-fee clients at once, captures signed acknowledgements, and provides the audit trail for each.
$24/month Business plan covers unlimited documents with full API access. DocuSign's per-user pricing for a 3-adviser practice is many multiples of this; SignBolt's flat pricing works at practice scale.
Financial advice is the most document-intensive service business in Australia. ASIC expects thorough documentation of every engagement step. The choice is between doing it properly at $24/month with SignBolt or $200+/month per user with enterprise alternatives. SignBolt at the business tier (unlimited documents, unlimited users, API access) is the sweet spot for small and mid-sized advisory practices that take compliance seriously without burning margin.
Upload your current FSG, engagement agreement, SOA template, and LOA template to SignBolt.
Client signs FSG acknowledgement at or before the first meeting. After fact-find, they sign the engagement agreement and LOAs to authorise you to gather information.
SOA delivered, client signs acceptance, implementation proceeds. SignBolt's audit trail documents that the client signed before implementation began.
At each client's annual FDS anniversary, bulk-send FDS to all clients due. Track signed acknowledgements via SignBolt's dashboard.
For rollovers, investment switches, or insurance applications, capture signed client instructions before executing with product providers.
Yes. ASIC accepts electronically signed FSGs and SOAs where the client has consented to receiving the documents electronically and where the advisor can produce evidence that the client received and acknowledged the documents. SignBolt's audit trail (timestamp, IP address, signer identity) provides exactly this evidence.
The annual FDS obligation is on the advisor to provide the FDS; acknowledgement by the client is not strictly required by the Corporations Act, but capturing a signed acknowledgement is best practice and protects against later complaints. Many AFSL licensees require their authorised representatives to capture signed FDS acknowledgements as a risk-management measure.
Yes. The audit trail captures timestamp, IP address, and signer identity for every signature, embedded in the signed PDF. For an ASIC practice review asking 'did you provide the FSG before providing advice?', a signed acknowledgement with timestamp predating the SOA is direct evidence.
Joint clients each receive their own signing link. Each spouse signs individually; SignBolt captures separate audit trails for each. Documents like an FDS for a joint ongoing-fee arrangement can be sent to both spouses with signature fields for each.
Native integrations with advice-specific software are not currently available. Via the Business plan API, custom integrations can be built — this is a common setup for practices with dedicated operational resources. For simpler workflows, download signed PDFs and attach to client records in your advice software.
Most platforms (Netwealth, Hub24, MLC Wrap, BT Panorama, etc.) accept electronically-signed authority forms with some variation in specifics. Check each platform's current acceptance requirements. The general direction across the industry is full acceptance of electronically-signed client instructions.
Yes. Tax (financial) advice services registered under the TASA 2009 are covered by similar documentation obligations to standard financial advice. SignBolt handles the client-engagement and authority documents for tax-financial practitioners the same way as for AFSL-licensed advisers.