The Association for Financial Advisers (AFA) has renewed its call for more women to join the industry.

It comes as nominations for the Female Excellence in Advice Award draw to a close this month.

CEO Brad Fox says the advice industry’s gender balance has improved, but more work is still needed.

“Financial services would benefit from more women holding leadership positions and more females taking up financial advice as a career. That’s why the AFA launched this award in 2011 – it was to be a catalyst, to shine a light on the female adviser talent in Australia.

“It has gone a long way already to creating this groundswell of awareness and change.”

Brett Clark, the CEO of award sponsor TAL Life, says the calibre of the entries received so far is impressive.

“We hope the award will go some way towards identifying standout advisers and creating role models for advisers of the future,” he said.

The winner will be announced at the AFA’s national conference on October 15. She will receive a scholarship for an executive leadership course at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney.