FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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 No. Most outsourced services are delivered on an ongoing monthly or as needed basis and do not require an annual contract. Services can and often are perpetual in nature and continued for as long as desired. Specific types of services and their scope can be increased or decreased based on the needs of your firm. Services can also be discontinued on any given month.

Most services, including Supervisor Principal ("SP") and Chief Compliance Officer ("CCO") services are delivered off-site, and on-site when required such as during regulatory examinations, when requested, or when regularly scheduled. This is tailored to the needs of the firm.

Yes. Whether acting as a Supervising Principal or Chief Compliance Officer communication is vital and encouraged whether via direct phone calls, texts, emails, or video calls. Communication is as frequent and ongoing as desired and required whether on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Responses times are extremely fast, normally well within the hour depending upon the nature of the issue. Many questions can be answered and issues resolved with a simple phone call or email.

Yes. In almost every case we work within your firm's existing operational and internal structure when we take over regulatory compliance and/or supervisory functions. This includes most firm's existing third party vendors such as: Global Relay, Smarsh, RegEd, third party clearing firm(s), communication platforms e.g. Slack, any internal data base platform or  CRM, FINOP, PCAOB auditor, etc. We would only recommend a possible change of vendor or platform if the current is performing poorly or better options are available. 

Whether your firm is big or small; a broker-dealer, investment adviser, or private fund, there is some basic information we will need to understand scale and scope. It is easier to address such questions directly with the firm via a phone or video conference. Below we will provide an example of some questions we would address an SEC registered broker-dealer:

• In what business lines is your firm actively engaged?
• Number of registered reps/staff?
• Number of operations staff?
• Number of OSJ and regular branch offices?
• What current third party vendors does your firm use? 
• What specific functions and/or roles do you need us to take over e.g. chief compliance officer, supervising principal, regulatory filings; advertising, transaction, communication, reviews etc.
• Do you need us to address current, ongoing, or future SEC, FINRA, and state regulatory exams, inquires, investigations, or customer arbitrations?
• Approximately how long has it been since your last FINRA or SEC exam?