The Securities and Exchange Commission tackled a large group of new advisers, Post-Dodd-Frank, with the Presence Exam initiative. Then tackled a backlog of exams with the never-before examined initiative. The SEC stated that it wanted to start reaching out to advisers soon after they register to get on top of things from the onset. A … Read more »
Category: Examinations and Audits
Preparation for SEC Examinations
Ascendent Compliance put together a presentation on Preparation for SEC Examinations. Last year the SEC examined 9% of advisers which represent 25% of the RAUM. Of those exams, 87% had deficiencies, 25% had significant findings, and 14% were referred to enforcement. The SEC has implemented a new telephone assessment for offsite remote exams. The examiners … Read more »
SEC Exam Priorities for 2015
In 2013 the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the Securities Exchange Commission laid out their examination priorities for 2013 and did so again last year with its 2014 Examination Priorities. OCIE just released its Examination Priorities for 2015. One item jumps out for a focus for private funds: Fees and Expenses in Private … Read more »
Private Equity Funds and Broker-Dealer Registration
There was a lots of hand-wringing after a speech by David Blass indicated that the SEC was focusing on transaction based fees that private equity funds were earning on securities transactions. Since then, there has been rumblings during presence exams, but no official enforcement action or ruling from the SEC. One group of fees at … Read more »
Getting Ready for Your SEC Exam – Introductory Presentation
The phone rings and the caller ID pops up with US Securities and Exch… You swallow hard. They are coming. What now? One thing a private fund manager can do to smoothly take the SEC through an exam is to have an introductory presentation when they walk in the door. The SEC examiners will have … Read more »
More Findings on SEC Exams of Private Funds
Andrew Bowden unloaded a truckload of information at the recent CFA Institute in Boston. Andrew Bowden is the Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. His comments were based on audience questions, instead of a prepared speech. You can’t find it on the SEC website, but you can … Read more »
How Does the SEC Use Form PF in Adviser Exams?
You slave over Form PF trying to get the information demanded by the Securities and Exchange Commission. What happens to that data? The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act Section 404 directed the SEC to establish reporting requirements for investment advisers to private funds as necessary and appropriate in the public interest and … Read more »
The SEC Has Seen Your Private Equity Fees And Is Not Happy With Them
According to a story in Bloomberg, the Securities and Exchange Commission has examined about 400 private equity firms and found that more than half have charged “unjustified fees and expenses without notifying investors”. The editor decided to change the headline from “unjustified” to “bogus”. Fees and expenses charged by a fund manager to investors in … Read more »
What Are the Implications of the SEC’s New Private Fund Exam Unit
Greg Roumeliotis and Sarah N. Lynch are reporting in Reuters that the Securities and Exchange Commission has formed a new group dedicated to the exam of private equity and hedge funds. This new private fund unit will be co-chaired by Igor Rozenblit and Marc Wyatt. Rozenblit is coming from the asset management unit of the … Read more »
Get Ready for the SEC to Knock on Your Door
With the SEC’s presence exam initiative for new registrants and the Never-before-examined initiative for existing registrants, the odds have never been greater that the SEC will knock on your door and start an examination. I’ve also heard from a friend that the SEC is coming in for a full blown examination of her firm. (I … Read more »