How to check an adviser on IAPD.

What IAPD is

Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, or IAPD, is a free public website run by the Securities and Exchange Commission at adviserinfo.sec.gov. It holds the registration records of investment advisory firms, whether registered with the SEC or with a state, and of the people who give advice for them.

You do not need an account. A related tool, FINRA BrokerCheck, covers brokers and their firms. The two link to each other where a person or a firm appears in both.

What a CRD number is

Every firm and person in the registration system gets a CRD number, from the Central Registration Depository run by FINRA. The number stays the same through name changes and job moves, so it is the surest way to land on the right record.

Acrylic Financial, Inc.'s CRD number is 288263. It is printed on the cover of the firm's brochure, which also points readers to adviserinfo.sec.gov for more information about the firm.

Look up a firm, step by step

1. Go to adviserinfo.sec.gov.
2. Choose to search for a firm. The same page searches for individuals.
3. Type the firm's name or its CRD number. For this example, type 288263.
4. Open the result to reach the firm's summary page. For this example it is adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/288263.
5. Read the summary, then open the full Form ADV filing and the brochures it links to.

If a name search returns several firms with similar names, check the city and the CRD number before you read further.

What the firm record shows

Registration

Whether the firm is registered with the SEC or a state, and the states where it has made notice filings. An SEC-registered firm files a notice in states where it does business; it does not register in each one.

Form ADV Part 1

The detailed filing: who owns the firm, the assets it manages, the types of clients it has, its other business activities and its affiliations.

Part 2 brochures

The plain-language brochure the firm gives clients, describing services, fees, conflicts and disciplinary information.

Form CRS

The relationship summary, for firms that serve retail investors.

Disclosures

Any reportable regulatory, civil or criminal events involving the firm.

Look up a person

Search by name or by individual CRD number. A person's record shows the firms they are registered with now and in the past, their employment history, the qualifying exams they have passed and their disclosures, such as customer complaints, regulatory actions or certain criminal and financial events. If the person is also a broker, the record links to their BrokerCheck report.

If you cannot find someone, ask the firm. A registration may be new or still pending, or the person may not be registered at all. Each of those is worth knowing before you hire them.

How to read what you find

• Check the date on each brochure. A firm must update its brochure at least once a year, and sooner when something material changes.
• Compare the documents the firm hands you with the ones on file. If the dates differ, ask why.
• Read the disciplinary item. In a Form ADV brochure it is Item 9. A disclosure is not automatically disqualifying, so read what happened and when.
• Read the conflicts. Item 10 covers other business activities and affiliations, and Item 5 covers compensation. They tell you how the firm and its people are paid.

A clean record is not a recommendation. It is one input among several.

Other places to check

• Investor.gov, from the SEC, searches advisers and brokers together, and has plain guides on choosing a financial professional.
• FINRA BrokerCheck covers brokers and broker-dealer firms.
• NASAA, the association of state securities regulators, lists the regulator for your state, which oversees state-registered advisers and takes complaints.