SEC to significantly increase onsite exams, seeks more resources (ThinkAdvisor)

In their recent Investor Advisory Committee meeting, the SEC made it clear that it has an aggressive goal to increase its examination frequency within the next six months. With its current levels of staff and resources, coupled with the continued growth in the number of registered investment advisers, the SEC faces challenges. It will seek more human capital and technology resources, and according to Amy Lynch, FrontLine’s Founder and President, it will also need to be more strategic with its exams. Ms. Lynch comments that boosting the number of onsite exams would require different approaches by the SEC, such as targeted or limited scope exams. She adds that while the SEC’s usual onsite exams are thorough and lead to multiple findings, they require examiners to typically be focused on one exam, and therefore do not allow examiners to multi-task on several exams at a time. See ThinkAdvisor, “RIAs Keep Growing Faster Than SEC Can Examine Them“