Compliance and risk
Examinations, best execution, the basis for a recommendation, rollover documentation, and what ‘risk score’ actually means.
Compliance
Best execution, in practice →
A firm can obtain excellent execution and still fail the obligation.
Compliance
Composites, and what GIPS means →
Using the methodology and claiming compliance are different things.
Risk
Risk tolerance is not one question →
Tolerance, capacity and requirement collapsed into one score — and where that misleads.
Compliance
The alternative you didn't choose →
Every proposal documents what was recommended. Almost none document why.
Risk
The rep-as-PM problem →
A large share of advisors became discretionary managers without deciding to. The workload is the visible part.
Compliance
What an examination is testing →
Mostly whether you can demonstrate what you did, not whether you did wrong.
Compliance
Texting, WhatsApp, and the record →
The violation is rarely what was said — it is that the firm could not produce it.
Compliance
Can advisors use testimonials? →
The modernized advertising rule replaced a flat prohibition with a conditional permission.
Compliance
Outside business activities →
Board seats, rental property, the family business on weekends.
Compliance
Who owns the record? →
The question at the end of every examination is not what you recommended — it is whether you can show it.
Questions? Ask them directly — that is what the twenty minutes is for.