How Do You Register Withthe Sec As Ria

How To Annals as an Investment Adviser

Division of Investment Management
Links to New Material Added, October xiv, 1999

Introduction

If y'all are required to annals with the SEC as an investment adviser, you must file Course ADV and keep information technology current by filing periodic amendments, including an annual amendment on Schedule I to Form ADV. You must as well, among other things: comply with the "brochure rule," which requires nearly advisers to provide clients and prospective clients with information about the adviser's business practices and educational and concern groundwork; maintain accurate and current books and records, every bit specified by SEC rules; and be subject to inspection and test by the SEC staff. Yous also may exist subject to limited forms of state regulation. These requirements are discussed beneath, and in the document "General Information on the Regulation of Investment Directorate." In add-on, delight consult the Investment Directorate Act, the rules thereunder, and the instructions to the forms, all of which take been included in this booklet for your convenience.

Form ADV

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

How Long Does it Take To Process Form ADV?

Within 45 days after you file your Form ADV registration application, the SEC must grant your registration or begin proceedings to deny information technology, assuming that you have fully and properly completed all items of the form and accompanying schedules. The SEC staff volition return any Form ADV that is not fully and properly completed. A new 45 day period will begin when the Form ADV is resubmitted.

Amending Form ADV

SEC-registered advisers must update Form ADV annually by alteration Schedule I and whatever information on the form that has become inaccurate. Educational activity 10 to Course ADV specifies the type of data that must exist corrected promptly, and the type that must be corrected inside ninety days of the end of the adviser'due south fiscal year. Schedule I to Form ADV must be amended every twelvemonth, within ninety days of the cease 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 within 180 days after the finish of the adviser's fiscal twelvemonth.

Alteration the form requires completing the execution page (page ane of the form) and the entire folio(s) containing the updated item(due south). Circle the items being amended. Rule 204-1 and the instructions to Form ADV give more consummate information on amendments.

Current Books and Records, Balance Sheets

All SEC-registered investment directorate must maintain true, authentic, and electric current books and records, as specified in Dominion 204-2. Not all SEC-registered investment advisers, nevertheless, are required to submit financial statements to the Commission. SEC-registered investment advisers must file a balance sheet for the almost recent fiscal twelvemonth if they have custody or possession of customer funds or securities, or if they require prepayment of more than than $500 in fees per customer, vi months or more in advance. Run across Course ADV, Office Ii, Item 14, and Schedule G to Form ADV. If yous are required to submit a remainder sheet, it must exist audited past an independent public accountant. Information technology is filed annually on Schedule One thousand every bit an subpoena to Form ADV. In addition, an adviser that has custody of client funds or securities must arrange for an independent public auditor to perform a "surprise" inspection of the custody property at some time during the calendar year, and the accountant's report of this examination must be filed with the Commission every bit an attachment to Form ADV-E.

Filing Requirements

Obtaining Forms

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

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

Where to File

Submit all forms to:

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

Instructions

All of the forms, including Forms ADV and ADV-W, comprise detailed instructions. Additional inquiries regarding the mechanics of completing and filing the forms should be directed to: Branch of Registrations and Examinations, SEC Operations Eye, Post Stop A-ii, 6432 General Green Way Bulldoze, Alexandria, VA 22312; phone: (202) 942-8980.

Copies, Signatures, Names

All adviser filings must exist typed, and submitted in triplicate. Failure to submit three copies will result in the filing existence returned. The filing also may exist declared runaway when it is resubmitted. You should retain a fourth copy of all filings for your records. Each copy of an execution page must contain an original, manual signature. Anyone executing a Form ADV or an amendment to Form ADV must utilize his full proper noun unless the individual legally only has an initial. If the registration application is filed by a sole proprietor, it should be signed by the proprietor; if filed past a partnership, information technology should be signed in the name of the partnership by a general partner; if filed by a corporation, information technology should be signed in the corporation's name by an authorized primary officer. The signature to Form ADV must exist notarized, or may exist signed without notarization nether penalty of perjury.

Fees

In that location are no fees for registration as an investment adviser, nor are there any fees for amendments or other filings.

http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/iaregulation/regia.htm