Financial literacy can set young people up to a lifetime of good financial decisions, which is why CA ANZ warmly welcomes today’s announcement to develop the Treasurer’s Financial Literacy Challenge for girls and boys in Years 11 and 12.

“Learning financial literacy now means young adults are in a better position to make good financial decisions, particularly later in life and can even stimulate interest in exciting careers in accounting and finance,” said CA ANZ CEO Ainslie van Onselen.

“As a profession and as a society, we know that we need to do more to encourage financial literacy among young people, and that’s why we are delighted to work with the Department of Education to build those skills.

“The most recent HILDA* report showed a massive drop in financial literacy amongst 15 to 24 year olds, and in an environment of challenging economic times, that’s an alarming decline and one we should be concerned about.

“The interactive Financial Literacy program will give students exposure to topics they’ll need to be across in order to enter the workforce, buy a house, start a business or choose their super fund.”

Through the program, which complements the new NSW curriculum content on financial literacy, students will be able to undertake the modules as part of their in-class learning, or in their own time, that will cover several important areas, including:

• Superannuation and tax
• Automation/technology and finance
• Entrepreneurship / starting a business
• Financial literacy tools (eg Excel)

Once they complete all modules, students will receive a certificate as proof of their Financially Literate status, and importantly a digital certificate to attach to CVs when attempting to enter the workforce for the first time.

“As an employer, I know how favourably that certificate will be looked upon when recruiting new staff,” Ms van Onselen said.

“The modules will be designed in a way to be interactive and based on real life examples that they are likely to encounter, as opposed to academic theory they may struggle to engage with.

“As the leading representative body for the profession and the only body that has FEE-HELP enabled for our courses thanks to our TEQSA (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) accreditation, CA ANZ has the technical expertise to assist in the delivery of this program.

“We are already playing in this space and have developed materials that are easy to understand and implement, such as our High-School Tool Kit, and we stand ready to work with other State, and the Federal Government in rolling out similar programs across Australia.”