The Financial Planning Association (FPA) says improvements to its communications strategies and general performance are having a near-immediate impact on its standing among members. Its 2007 survey of members shows nearly two-thirds of them feel the organisation has changed for the better over the past year.

More than 500 members responded to the telephone survey, including 103 “small” (less than 20 representatives) members. CEO Jo-Anne Bloch says the results show a strong turnaround from similar research last year, but acknowledges there is still room for improvement.

“If one-third of our members still rate our service as ‘fair’ we have some way to go,” she said. “We want a vast majority to rate our service as ‘good to excellent’.”

Overall, 37% of respondents were satisfied with the FPA’s performance. 28% said they were not satisfied with their representative body, while 30% gave a neutral response. 65% said things had improved since last year, 33% said there had been no change and only 3% found the FPA had gone backwards.