According to Rule 204-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, all investment advisors registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) must file an amendment to the investment advisor’s Form ADV at least annually within 90-days of the investment advisor’s fiscal year end. Most state securities regulators have similar rules requiring the annual Form ADV filing. For many registered investment advisors December 31 is their fiscal year end, which means that a Form ADV annual amendment will need to be filed through the IARD system no later than March 29, 2013 in order to comply with SEC and state securities regulator requirements.
Under the instructions for the Form ADV, there are certain items that must be updated promptly if the information becomes inaccurate, certain items that must be updated promptly if the information becomes materially inaccurate, and certain items that must be updated annually. The Form ADV items that are only required to be updated annually primarily deal with the numbers that have to be reported on the Form ADV Part 1 and ADV Part 2. (e.g., number of employees, registered investment advisor representatives, advisory clients, and advisory accounts, and the amount of assets under management) Another important requirement that was implemented with the release of the new Form ADV Part 2 was to identify and discuss any material changes to the Form ADV Part 2 since the last annual update of the investment advisor’s Form ADV Part 2.
Although the Form ADV instructions define the specific items that must be updated at least annually all registered investment advisors should closely review the entire Form ADV to confirm all information is correct and make updates as necessary. It is highly unlikely that an investment advisor will review the entire Form ADV and determine that no amendments will need to be made. However if this is the case, the investment advisor must still file an annual updating amendment to confirm that all information is accurate.
For more information on preparing and filing your investment advisor’s Form ADV annual amendment, register to attend our upcoming webinar, “Preparing Your Form ADV Annual Amendment”, that will be presented by RIA Compliance Consultants on January 10, 2013 at 12:00pm CST. The registration fee for this webinar is $69.95. During this webinar, RIA Compliance Consultants will discuss the items that must be updated as part of the Form ADV Part 1 Annual Amendment.. In addition, we will review common mistakes made by registered investment advisors when preparing the Form ADV Part 1 Annual Amendment. To register for this event, click here.
RIA Compliance Consultants can assist you with preparing and filing your Form ADV annual amendment. If you would like to discuss our Form ADV Annual Amendment services further, contact your consultant if you are an existing client or click here to schedule a time to speak to one of our consultants.
Posted by Bryan Hill
Labels: Annual Amendment, Form ADV
