FY26/27 Planning for RTOs – Strategy, Revenue & Regulatory Risk

A new financial year is the perfect opportunity to step back and ask a simple question: What does success actually look like for your RTO?

In Part 1 of this planning series, we focus on the strategic foundations of your organisation. We explore why growth isn't always the right objective, how to understand where your revenue is really coming from, and why every RTO should be assessing its exposure to funding, CRICOS, apprenticeships and market changes before setting its budget.

We also discuss regulatory risk as a business risk. Every compliance finding has a financial cost, and the strongest RTOs aren't those that avoid risk—they're the ones that identify it early and put effective systems in place to manage it.

If you're planning for FY26/27, this episode provides a practical framework for thinking about strategy before you think about budgets.

In this episode we cover:
Defining success for FY26/27
Revenue concentration and diversification
Funding and market changes
CRICOS planning
Regulatory risk management
Internal audits and governance
Strategic planning for sustainable growth

In this episode, I’m joined again by Chemène Sinson to talk about AI and how it is changing the way we write assessments, learning materials and training resources. Chemène and I both work in the resource development space, so this was a really practical conversation about what AI can do, where it can help, and where RTOs need to be very careful.

We start by looking at the opportunities. AI can help resource writers and trainers develop scenarios, case studies, learning support tools, study buddies, visuals and alternative examples much faster than before. Used well, it can support contextualisation, help trainers create more engaging learning experiences, and provide additional support for learners who need help outside normal class time.

But we also talk about the risks. AI does not remove the need for professional judgement, strong prompting, validation, mapping, review and human expertise. Chemène raises the risk of “AI slop”, where providers trust AI-generated material too quickly and end up with resources that may be generic, inaccurate, poorly written, out of date or not fit for assessment. We also discuss how AI is changing knowledge assessment, with a stronger need to assess how learners apply knowledge in practical tasks rather than relying only on generic written questions.

Key takeaways for RTOs: AI can support resource development, but it cannot replace assessment expertise; humans still need to lead the process, review the outputs and check the evidence; RTOs need clear AI policies, staff capability, transparency, review systems and safeguards for sensitive information; and the best place to start is with one useful, manageable AI application that genuinely improves learning, assessment or learner support.

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Need some highly contextualised resources? Don't worry, we can help you with that!

Email lauren or laura@aniwaya.org to get started today!

ASQA Practice Guides can be found here https://www.asqa.gov.au/for-providers/standards-for-RTOs/practice-guides

New Standards can be found here
https://www.asqa.gov.au/for-providers/standards-for-RTOs

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Any questions, drop them below and if you need some help with RTO management, compliance or quality, send us an email at lauren@aniwaya.org