The forms your firm handles, and the work behind them
What each form is, who deals with it, and the data, document, and evidence work it creates across your stack. Some go to a regulator. Most do not: new account paperwork goes to a custodian, a transfer form goes to the receiving firm, and an advisory agreement, a services agreement, or an investment policy statement is filed with nobody at all. The filings run on a cycle. The account paperwork runs every time a client, an account, or an instruction changes, which is where the hours actually go. For requirements and deadlines, each page points at the regulator's own guidance.
Get an email the day one of these forms changes
We check the SEC, FINRA, NASAA, and IRS forms, plus the custodian forms that are public, through the day. When a new version is published, you hear about it that day, with a link to the new file.
Form ADV family
Form ADV
Form ADV is the uniform registration and reporting form that investment advisers file with the SEC and state securities authorities through the IARD system.
IARD · SEC-registered RIAForm ADV Annual Updating Amendment
The Form ADV annual updating amendment is the once-a-year filing in which a registered investment adviser updates its entire Form ADV and affirms that the information in it is current.
IARD · SEC-registered RIAForm ADV Part 2A
Form ADV Part 2A is the investment adviser's narrative brochure: a plain-English document describing the firm's advisory business, fees, conflicts of interest, and disciplinary history.
IARD · SEC-registered RIAForm ADV Part 2B
Form ADV Part 2B is the brochure supplement: a short disclosure document covering the individual supervised persons who provide investment advice to a particular client.
IARD · SEC-registered RIAForm ADV-E
Form ADV-E is the certificate of accounting filed in connection with the surprise examination of an investment adviser that has custody of client funds or securities.
IARD · SEC-registered RIAForm ADV-W
Form ADV-W is the form an investment adviser files through IARD to withdraw from registration.
IARD · SEC-registered RIAForm CRS
Form CRS is the client or customer relationship summary: a short, plain-English document that registered investment advisers and broker-dealers must deliver to retail investors.
IARD · SEC-registered RIARegistration forms (U4, U5, BR)
Form U4
Form U4 is the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer.
FINRA Gateway · Broker-dealerForm U5
Form U5 is the Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration.
FINRA Gateway · Broker-dealerForm BR
Form BR is the Uniform Branch Office Registration Form.
FINRA Gateway · Broker-dealerPrivate fund and holdings reporting
Form PF
Form PF is the confidential reporting form that SEC-registered investment advisers to private funds file about the funds they manage.
PFRD · SEC-registered RIAForm 13F
Form 13F is the holdings report filed through EDGAR by institutional investment managers whose discretionary holdings in Section 13(f) securities exceed the SEC's reporting threshold.
EDGAR · SEC-registered RIAAccount opening and transfer paperwork
New Account Form (NAF)
A new account form, usually called the NAF or just new account paperwork, is the application that opens a brokerage or advisory account at a custodian or broker-dealer.
Custodian · SEC-registered RIACustodian Account Opening Forms
Custodian account opening forms are the packets each custodian publishes to open and fund an account on its own platform.
Custodian · SEC-registered RIAACAT Transfer of Assets Form (TOA)
An ACAT transfer form, also called a transfer of assets or TOA form, instructs a receiving firm to bring an account over from another firm.
Custodian (ACATS) · SEC-registered RIAModel Selection Form
A model selection form records which model portfolio or strategy an account is assigned to inside a managed account program.
Program sponsor · SEC-registered RIANAP and RAP Letters (New and Revised Account Paperwork)
NAP and RAP letters are the cover packets that carry account paperwork to a client for signature.
Custodian · SEC-registered RIAAccount maintenance and client authorizations
Beneficiary Designation Form
A beneficiary designation form names who receives a retirement or transfer on death account, in what shares, and in what order of priority.
Custodian · SEC-registered RIAAccount Maintenance and Registration Change Forms
Account maintenance forms are the paperwork that changes an account after it is open: address and name changes, a change of registration or ownership, banking instructions and standing letters of authorization, trusted contact additions, cost basis elections, and account closure.
Custodian · SEC-registered RIATax and e-file authorization
Agreements and client documents (not filed)
Investment Policy Statement (IPS)
An investment policy statement is the written agreement between an adviser and a client setting out how the portfolio will be managed: objectives, risk tolerance, target allocation, constraints, and review cadence.
Retained by the firm · SEC-registered RIAInvestment Advisory Agreement (Service Agreement)
An investment advisory agreement, sometimes called the service agreement, is the contract between an adviser and a client.
Retained by the firm · SEC-registered RIAThird Party Investment Services Agreement (TPISA)
A third party investment services agreement, or TPISA, is the contract between a financial institution and the broker-dealer or investment adviser that provides investment services to that institution's customers.
Retained by the firm · Broker-dealerWant help automating the filing and filling of these forms?
- Caddi pulls the data out of Addepar, Black Diamond, Tamarac, your CRM, and completed PDFs, and fills the form.
- It checks every field against the client record and the last filing, then hands your team a finished form to sign off and submit.
Working with the forms themselves rather than the deadlines? See PDF form filling and extraction for the underlying capability: reading fields out of completed forms and writing data into blank ones.