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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Start by identifying the legal entity behind the account and the role it plays: adviser, broker-dealer, custodian, fund manager, or more than one. Then match each claim to the document that can verify it. An adviser’s disclosures explain its services, fees, and conflicts; custody records show account activity and asset statements; an audit covers specific financial statements for a defined entity and period; and a performance report shows results calculated under stated assumptions. None, by itself, guarantees safety or future returns.
First identify the firm, its role, and the right documents
“Investment platform” is a product description, not a single regulatory category. The legal name on your account agreement may differ from the platform’s brand, and different entities may provide advice, execute trades, hold assets, or manage a fund. Write down the entity names and what each one does before deciding which disclosures should exist. The SEC’s Form ADV overview explains the adviser filing framework; it does not establish that every service a platform offers is covered by it.
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For a US investment adviser serving retail investors, begin with Form CRS and Form ADV. Use Investor.gov’s investment adviser guidance and regulator lookup tools to check relevant firms and professionals, registration information, available filings, and disciplinary history. Registration is not government endorsement of a firm or its investments.
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- Form CRS: A short retail-facing summary of services, fees and costs, conflicts, conduct standards, legal or disciplinary history, and questions to ask.
- Form ADV Part 1: Structured information about the adviser’s business, ownership, clients, practices, affiliations, and disciplinary disclosures.
- Form ADV Part 2A: The firm brochure, in narrative form. It describes advisory services, fees, conflicts, strategies, risks, and disciplinary matters.
- Form ADV Part 2B: Supplementary information about supervised individuals who provide advice or make discretionary decisions.
Read Form CRS for orientation, then use the brochure and filing for detail. Investor.gov’s Form ADV brochure bulletin says advisers generally must give clients an annual summary of material brochure changes together with a revised brochure or an offer to provide one. Check the document date and the latest available filing rather than relying on a saved older copy. The bulletin was updated August 27, 2020; if a specific delivery obligation matters to you, verify it against current SEC form instructions and rules.
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If an entity is acting only as a broker-dealer, custodian, bank, fund sponsor, or another type of provider, do not assume the adviser disclosure framework applies to that service. Identify the entity and service first, then look for the documents and protections applicable to that relationship.
How to work out what you really pay
Start with the adviser’s fee schedule, then add the other costs described in the documents. A stated advisory fee is not necessarily the whole cost of investing: brokerage, custody, transaction charges, and fund expenses may be separate. The brochure may also describe performance-based fees, sales compensation, referral arrangements, or incentives tied to products or affiliated businesses. The SEC’s Form ADV bulletin describes the brochure’s role in explaining fees and conflicts.
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Build a cost picture from the terms
- Record the advisory fee and whether it is negotiable.
- Check how and when it is billed, and whether it is deducted from the account.
- List additional brokerage, custody, transaction, and fund expenses the documents identify.
- Look for performance-based compensation, sales payments, referral fees, and payments from product providers or related persons.
- Ask how an incentive could affect a recommendation and what the firm does to address that conflict.
A disclosure tells you that a conflict exists or may exist; it does not prove that the conflict has been eliminated or that it has no effect on the service. Consider the actual arrangement and how it relates to the recommendations or products offered.
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What an account statement and an audit each establish
A custodian statement and an audit are different kinds of evidence. Custodians such as banks and registered broker-dealers may provide direct periodic statements under the SEC custody framework. The framework also calls for an independent surprise examination when applicable. Its annual financial-statement audit route is available to eligible pooled investment vehicles only under specified conditions; it is not a universal audit requirement or description of an individual brokerage or advisory account. See the SEC’s custody compliance guide.
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For eligible pooled vehicles using that audit route, the SEC guide describes a requirement to distribute audited financial statements to investors within 120 days after fiscal year-end. Application depends on the adviser’s custody circumstances, the account or fund type, and applicable exemptions. A fund audit does not, by itself, establish that an individual account has been audited or verify every asset shown on a platform screen.
Check the scope of a claimed audit
Before treating “audited” as meaningful reassurance, establish exactly what the report covers. Record:
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- The legal entity audited—such as the fund, adviser, platform operator, or another company.
- The financial period covered and the audit firm.
- The statements and notes included, and the auditor’s opinion, including any qualifications or emphasis paragraphs.
- Whether the report concerns financial statements or internal controls; those are not interchangeable assurances.
- Whether investors received the report when required.
A brochure’s description of an audit process is not proof that a particular year’s audit was completed and delivered. In a September 17, 2024 enforcement release, the SEC charged an adviser over custody-rule failures; the release describes the rule’s audit and distribution requirements, but an enforcement action is not evidence about a different firm. See the SEC’s release.
The SEC staff’s custody-rule FAQ says electronic delivery of statements can be used if the client has given informed consent, can effectively access the information, and there is evidence of delivery, such as an email return receipt or confirmation that the information was accessed. This is staff guidance, not a substitute for the rule text.
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How to test a performance report
A performance number only makes sense with its dates, calculation method, costs, and comparison basis. Separate actual account results from fund returns, benchmark comparisons, advertised models, and hypothetical or predecessor performance. An advertised result is not the same thing as an account statement or an audited fund financial statement.
Record the assumptions behind each result
- Period: Note the exact start and end dates. Compare providers over matching windows.
- Fees: Determine whether returns are gross or net, which fees are deducted, and what assumptions were used.
- Benchmark: Identify the named benchmark and the basis for the comparison; a different benchmark can change the impression a chart gives.
- Portfolio represented: Ask whether results include all relevant similar portfolios or only selected investments, and whether cash flows are reflected.
- Type of result: Check whether the figure is actual, extracted from a larger portfolio, hypothetical, or based on a predecessor account or record.
The SEC’s investment adviser marketing guide describes conditions and prohibitions concerning adviser advertisements, including gross and net performance, time periods, extracted results, hypothetical performance, and predecessor performance. The related marketing compliance FAQs provide staff views on application and may change. The rule and related amendments took effect May 4, 2021, with a November 4, 2022 compliance date; those dates do not show whether a particular platform complies.
To check a reported account result, reconcile account values and transactions against custodian statements, then compare the report’s period and methodology with the records. Past performance cannot predict future results, and an SEC rule or filing is not SEC approval of an investment or of a platform’s performance calculation.
Compare platforms on the same basis
Use the same account type, service level, time window, and assumptions. Mark missing or incomparable information as unknown rather than filling gaps with assumptions.
| Comparison area | What to compare | Evidence to check |
|---|---|---|
| Legal role and registration | Which entity advises, executes, holds assets, or manages the product; applicable registrations | Account agreement, regulator lookup results, and relevant filings |
| Costs | Advisory fees plus brokerage, custody, transaction, and fund expenses; billing terms | Fee schedule and disclosures in the adviser brochure or applicable service documents |
| Conflicts | Compensation, affiliations, referrals, and incentives that could affect recommendations | Conflict disclosures and the described approach to addressing them |
| Asset custody | Who holds assets and how statements reach the client | Account agreement and direct custodian statements |
| Audit | Entity, auditor, scope, period, opinion, and report distribution | The actual audit report and relevant custody disclosures |
| Performance | Net results over matching periods, with comparable strategies and benchmarks | Performance report methodology, account statements, and stated assumptions |
Regulator records and platform documents answer different questions: filings and disciplinary records help you assess a provider’s history and stated practices, while account statements and underlying reports help reconcile what happened in a particular account or fund. Neither alone proves future returns or the absence of risk.
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