How is the Risk Assessment date field set - today's date or 1 July?
Either date can be used; AUSTRAC's framework looks for whether the Risk Assessment exists and is current, so today's date or 1 July are both reasonable.
Either date can be used - it doesn't make a material difference to the Risk Assessment's regulatory validity or audit position. AUSTRAC's framework cares about whether the RA exists, is current, and reflects the business; the specific date stamp is a record-keeping detail rather than a compliance trigger.
Two reasonable practices:
- Use today's date when completing the RA - this matches the actual date the assessment was performed and is the most factual record. Most customers use this approach.
- Use 1 July 2026 for pre-launch customers - aligns the RA date with the operational commencement date and creates a clean "this is our launch-day RA" record. Useful for firms that want their compliance documentation to align cleanly with the launch milestone.
Both approaches are accepted by AUSTRAC. What matters more than the specific date is:
- The RA is genuinely current - reflecting the business as it is now, not a stale assessment from a prior period.
- The RA is approved by the CO before the firm starts providing designated services.
- The RA is refreshed when the business changes - new sectors, new service mix, material customer-base changes.
For firms wanting maximum simplicity, today's date is the recommended default; the platform will prompt for refresh at the appropriate cadence regardless of which date is initially used.