How To Register As An Ria

How To Register as an Investment Adviser

Partition of Investment Direction
Links to New Material Added, October 14, 1999

Introduction

If yous are required to register with the SEC equally an investment adviser, you must file Course ADV and keep information technology electric current by filing periodic amendments, including an annual amendment on Schedule I to Form ADV. You must besides, amid other things: comply with the "brochure rule," which requires most advisers to provide clients and prospective clients with information about the adviser'southward business concern practices and educational and business organisation background; maintain accurate and current books and records, as specified by SEC rules; and be subject to inspection and examination by the SEC staff. You too may exist bailiwick to limited forms of country regulation. These requirements are discussed below, and in the document "General Data on the Regulation of Investment Advisers." In add-on, please consult the Investment Advisers Act, the rules thereunder, and the instructions to the forms, all of which take been included in this booklet for your convenience.

Course ADV

Class ADV is the application for registration with the SEC as an investment adviser. Part I asks for data that is used to review the application and is used in the SEC'due south investment adviser regulatory program. Part II requires disclosure of the groundwork and business practices of the investment adviser, and tin be given to clients of the investment adviser to comply with the "brochure rule." There are also several schedules to Form ADV. You must file both parts of Course ADV and the appropriate schedules with the SEC. Schedule I must exist filed with the SEC annually, regardless of whether information on the schedule has changed.

How Long Does information technology Accept To Process Form ADV?

Within 45 days subsequently yous file your Class ADV registration application, the SEC must grant your registration or begin proceedings to deny it, assuming that yous have fully and properly completed all items of the grade and accompanying schedules. The SEC staff will render any Grade ADV that is non fully and properly completed. A new 45 day period volition begin when the Class ADV is resubmitted.

Amending Form ADV

SEC-registered advisers must update Form ADV annually by amending Schedule I and any data on the form that has become inaccurate. Instruction ten to Form ADV specifies the type of information that must exist corrected promptly, and the type that must be corrected within ninety days of the end of the adviser's fiscal year. Schedule I to Form ADV must be amended every year, within xc days of the end of the adviser's fiscal year. If an adviser indicates on Schedule I that it is no longer eligible for SEC registration, the adviser must withdraw its registration inside 180 days after the end of the adviser'due south financial year.

Amending the grade requires completing the execution page (page ane of the form) and the entire folio(s) containing the updated detail(s). Circumvolve the items existence amended. Rule 204-1 and the instructions to Class ADV give more complete information on amendments.

Electric current Books and Records, Residuum Sheets

All SEC-registered investment advisers must maintain true, accurate, and current books and records, as specified in Rule 204-2. Not all SEC-registered investment directorate, yet, are required to submit financial statements to the Commission. SEC-registered investment advisers must file a balance sheet for the most recent fiscal year if they have custody or possession of client funds or securities, or if they require prepayment of more than $500 in fees per client, six months or more in advance. See Form ADV, Part Two, Item 14, and Schedule G to Form ADV. If you are required to submit a residue sheet, information technology must exist audited by an independent public accountant. Information technology is filed annually on Schedule K equally an amendment to Course ADV. In addition, an adviser that has custody of client funds or securities must accommodate for an independent public accountant to perform a "surprise" inspection of the custody belongings at some time during the calendar twelvemonth, and the accountant'south written report of this examination must be filed with the Commission as an attachment to Course ADV-E.

Filing Requirements

Obtaining Forms

Copies of SEC forms, including Forms ADV and ADV-W, tin can be obtained from the SEC's Publication Unit of measurement in Washington, D.C. by calling (202) 942-4046, or by sending a written asking to: Publications Unit, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE, Post Stop LL610, Washington D.C., 20549. There is no charge.

Investment Adviser Registration and Withdrawal Forms are at present available on the SEC website

Where to File

Submit all forms to:

U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee
100 F Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20549
Attn: Filing Desk

Instructions

All of the forms, including Forms ADV and ADV-W, contain detailed instructions. Additional inquiries regarding the mechanics of completing and filing the forms should exist directed to: Branch of Registrations and Examinations, SEC Operations Center, Mail Finish A-2, 6432 General Green Style Drive, Alexandria, VA 22312; phone: (202) 942-8980.

Copies, Signatures, Names

All adviser filings must be typed, and submitted in triplicate. Failure to submit iii copies volition result in the filing being returned. The filing likewise may be declared delinquent when it is resubmitted. You lot should retain a fourth re-create of all filings for your records. Each copy of an execution folio must incorporate an original, manual signature. Anyone executing a Form ADV or an amendment to Form ADV must utilise his full name unless the individual legally merely has an initial. If the registration awarding is filed past a sole proprietor, it should exist signed by the proprietor; if filed past a partnership, it should be signed in the proper noun of the partnership by a general partner; if filed by a corporation, information technology should exist signed in the corporation's proper noun past an authorized master officer. The signature to Form ADV must be notarized, or may be signed without notarization under penalisation of perjury.

Fees

There are no fees for registration every bit an investment adviser, nor are in that location any fees for amendments or other filings.

http://world wide web.sec.gov/divisions/investment/iaregulation/regia.htm