# Vetting a financial advisor: a BrokerCheck and IAPD walkthrough

URL: https://www.financialadvsr.com/guides/how-to-check-a-financial-advisor
Updated: 2026-10-10
Publisher: Financial ADVSR (https://www.financialadvsr.com)

Search the advisor's name on FINRA's BrokerCheck (brokercheck.finra.org) or the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site (adviserinfo.sec.gov), which draw on the same regulatory registration records and link to each other. A report shows current and past registrations, up to 10 years of employment history, exams passed and any disclosures, such as customer disputes, regulatory actions, terminations, criminal charges and certain financial events. Then confirm the picture with the firm's Form CRS and Form ADV brochures, your state securities regulator, the SEC's action lookup and, for a CFP professional, CFP Board's verification tool.

Key points:
- BrokerCheck and IAPD are free; FINRA says BrokerCheck information comes from the Central Registration Depository (CRD), the registration database used by FINRA and the states.
- An individual report lists registrations, exams passed with dates, and employment history for the last 10 years as reported on Form U4. FINRA does not release exam scores or failed exams.
- FINRA keeps a broker's information on BrokerCheck for 10 years after they leave the industry, and permanently for people with certain disclosure events such as a final regulatory action.
- FINRA withholds the free-text reason for termination and internal review disclosures on Form U5, and a criminal event is reportable only once formal charges are filed.
- About 7% of advisers had misconduct records in 2005 to 2015 data, rising above 15% at some large firms, according to Egan, Matvos and Seru in the Journal of Political Economy (2019).
- Form CRS must answer yes or no to whether the firm or its financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history and must point investors to Investor.gov/CRS.
- FINRA counted 639,723 registered representatives at year-end 2025 in its 2026 Industry Snapshot.

## Where do you look up a financial advisor's record?

There are two main public databases. FINRA's BrokerCheck covers brokers and brokerage firms. The SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site, known as IAPD, covers investment adviser firms and their representatives, including those registered only with a state. The SEC's Investor.gov runs a single search box, "Check Out Your Investment Professional," that routes a name to IAPD or to BrokerCheck.

The two tools overlap. According to FINRA, advisers who are not registered with FINRA can still be looked up in BrokerCheck, and their profiles link to IAPD. Many advisors are dually registered: FINRA's 2026 Industry Snapshot counted 331,802 individuals with both broker and investment adviser representative registrations at year-end 2025, out of 639,723 FINRA-registered representatives.

Neither database is the final word. The SEC says that to see whether a professional has a judgment or order against them in an SEC enforcement action, investors should search its separate SEC Action Lookup for Individuals (SALI). FINRA's BrokerCheck help line is (800) 289-9999, and the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy takes calls about IAPD at (800) 732-0330.

## What does a BrokerCheck or IAPD report contain?

According to FINRA, an individual BrokerCheck report includes a registration history listing the securities firms where the person is or was registered, current licenses and registrations, qualification exams passed with the date passed, and employment history for the last 10 years, both inside and outside the securities industry, as reported on the person's most recent Form U4. Employment history can include self-employment, military service, unemployment and full-time education.

FINRA says it does not release exam scores or failed exams, and that passing an exam does not on its own let a broker do business without an active registration. IAPD reports for individuals follow a similar layout, listing registrations by regulator with approval dates, exams such as the Series 65 Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination, prior firms and up to 10 years of employment history. IAPD reports note that not every state requires investment adviser representatives to register.

For firms, IAPD also posts the current Form ADV and Form CRS relationship summary. The SEC describes IAPD as holding registration documents that adviser firms file electronically through the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD).

## How do you read the disclosure section?

Disclosures are the part most people check first. FINRA says the disclosure section covers customer disputes, disciplinary events, and certain criminal and financial matters, and it cautions that some items may be pending or allegations that have not been resolved or proven. Investor.gov notes that the words "Disclosure Reported" next to a name mean the individual or firm has a disclosure on file.

Customer disputes are, in FINRA's definition, consumer-initiated complaints or investment-related arbitrations alleging sales practice violations, forgery, theft or misappropriation of funds. Each entry shows whether the matter is pending, closed, denied, settled or decided, so a dismissed complaint reads very differently from an arbitration award against the broker. Regulatory events are actions by the SEC, FINRA, a state or another regulator. Criminal disclosures follow a charging threshold: FINRA says a broker need not disclose a criminal event until law enforcement files formal charges.

Terminations come from the Form U5 that a former firm files when an advisor leaves. Under FINRA Rule 8312, the free-text reason for termination in Section 3 of Form U5 and the internal review disclosure in Section 7 are not released, though reportable termination events still appear. Financial disclosures cover matters such as bankruptcy proceedings and unpaid judgments or liens, the categories CFP Board points investors to when it describes what regulators' records show.

A single old, closed or denied complaint is common and not necessarily disqualifying. Patterns matter more: several disputes, settlements, a regulatory sanction or a termination after allegations deserve a direct question to the advisor and a careful read of the details in the report.

## What doesn't appear, and how long do records stay?

Records do not stay forever for everyone. FINRA says BrokerCheck information remains available for 10 years after a broker leaves the securities industry, and permanently where the broker was involved in certain disclosure events. Rule 8312 keeps information about former associated persons public regardless of when they were registered if they were the subject of a final regulatory action, and the SEC approved expanding the general window for former brokers from two years to 10 in 2010. IAPD likewise keeps reports on advisers that are no longer registered for 10 years, according to the SEC's investor bulletin.

Some information is withheld or removed. Beyond the Form U5 fields above, Rule 8312 does not release regulatory proceedings that were vacated or withdrawn. Brokers can also seek to expunge customer dispute information from CRD and BrokerCheck through arbitration; FINRA says Rules 12805 and 13805 set a narrow set of circumstances where that is appropriate, and it tightened the process with changes effective Oct. 16, 2023.

Data can be stale. FINRA notes that employment information is updated only while a person is registered, so a job listed as "Present" for someone who has left the industry may no longer be accurate. And some people never appear: the SEC says an investment adviser representative may not show up on IAPD if not registered with a state now or in the past two years and not subject to a reported final regulatory event.

## How common are disclosures?

The most cited academic estimate comes from Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos and Amit Seru, whose study "The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct" was published in the Journal of Political Economy in 2019. Using records on U.S. financial advisers from 2005 to 2015, they found that about 7% of advisers had misconduct records, and that the share exceeded 15% at some of the largest firms.

The same research, in its NBER working paper version, found that roughly a third of advisers with misconduct were repeat offenders, and that prior offenders were about five times as likely as the average adviser to commit new misconduct. The authors counted only certain disclosure types as misconduct, so the share of brokers with any disclosure of any kind is a different number, and estimates vary with the definition used.

## How do state regulators, NASAA and CFP Board fit in?

State securities regulators register many investment advisers and license brokers within their borders. NASAA, the association of state and provincial regulators, tells investors to verify a broker's or adviser's registration, background and employment history with their state regulator, and says state regulators will provide information from CRD and IARD records, including disciplinary history, as authorized by state law. Investor advocates including PIABA have noted that some states, such as Florida and Iowa, have provided fuller CRD reports than BrokerCheck shows, so it can be worth asking.

Credentials are a separate check. CFP Board's verification tool at cfp.net shows whether someone holds CFP certification and lists public discipline, such as a public letter of admonition or censure, a suspension or a permanent revocation, along with bankruptcy disclosures made to CFP Board. CFP Board says private discipline, such as a cautionary letter or private censure, is confidential and does not appear. It also tells investors to use BrokerCheck and IAPD for regulatory history.

## What do Form CRS and Form ADV brochures add?

Form CRS, the relationship summary the SEC adopted in 2019, is a short document that brokers and advisers give retail investors describing services, fees, conflicts, standards of conduct and disciplinary history. The SEC requires it to carry the heading "Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history?" with a yes or no answer, and to direct investors to Investor.gov/CRS. SEC staff have said firms may not leave the answer blank or omit reportable history.

Registered investment advisers also deliver Form ADV Part 2. Part 2A is the firm brochure, and Item 9 requires disclosure of material facts about legal or disciplinary events bearing on the integrity of the adviser or its management; the SEC's instructions treat listed events in the prior 10 years as presumptively material. Part 2B, the brochure supplement, covers individual advisors, including their educational and business background and their own disciplinary information. Both are posted on IAPD. For more on the form, see our Form ADV explainer.

## What are the red flags?

The most basic red flag is not finding the person at all. Investor.gov says that if a name does not appear in its search, the person may not be a registered professional. FINRA also warns that scammers forge BrokerCheck reports in the names of real professionals, so investors should look up the record themselves rather than rely on a copy sent by the seller, and send deposits directly to the registered firm.

FINRA's red-flag list includes guarantees of performance or lofty returns, returns that are unusually steady regardless of markets, pressure to act quickly, requests for secrecy, and an advisor who also holds custody of the client's assets. In a record, warning signs include multiple customer disputes or settlements, regulatory sanctions, a termination after allegations, frequent firm changes, and a Form CRS that says no disciplinary history when the databases show otherwise.

This guide is general information, not legal or investment advice. A disclosure is a reason to ask questions and read the details, and a clean record is not a guarantee of future conduct.

## Questions

**Is BrokerCheck free?** Yes. FINRA's BrokerCheck and the SEC's IAPD are free to search online, and FINRA runs a BrokerCheck help line at (800) 289-9999.

**What is the difference between BrokerCheck and IAPD?** BrokerCheck is FINRA's database for brokers and brokerage firms; IAPD is the SEC's database for investment adviser firms and representatives, including state-registered ones. They link to each other, and Investor.gov's search routes a name to the right one.

**How long do disclosures stay on BrokerCheck?** FINRA says information stays for 10 years after a broker leaves the industry, and permanently for people with certain disclosure events, such as a final regulatory action.

**Does a customer complaint mean the advisor did something wrong?** Not necessarily. FINRA notes that some disclosures are pending or unproven allegations, and each entry shows whether a dispute was denied, settled or decided, so read the details and look for patterns.

**Can a disclosure be removed from BrokerCheck?** Customer dispute information can be expunged through FINRA arbitration under Rules 12805 and 13805, which FINRA says apply only in narrow circumstances. FINRA changed the process effective Oct. 16, 2023.

**How do I check whether someone is really a CFP professional?** Use CFP Board's verification tool at cfp.net, which shows certification status, public discipline and bankruptcy disclosures. Private discipline is not shown.

**What share of advisors have misconduct on their record?** Egan, Matvos and Seru, in a 2019 Journal of Political Economy study of 2005 to 2015 data, found about 7% of advisers had misconduct records, and more than 15% at some large firms.

Sources:
- FINRA: About BrokerCheck (https://www.finra.org/investors/investing/working-with-investment-professional/about-brokercheck)
- FINRA: 8312. FINRA BrokerCheck Disclosure (https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/8312)
- FINRA: Regulatory Notice 10-34 (https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/notices/10-34)
- FINRA: Expungement of Customer Dispute Information (https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/key-topics/expungement-of-dispute-information)
- FINRA: Watch for Red Flags (https://www.finra.org/investors/protect-your-money/watch-red-flags)
- FINRA: 2026 FINRA Industry Snapshot (https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/2026-05/2026-Industry-Snapshot.pdf)
- SEC Investor.gov: Check Out Your Investment Professional (https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/check-out-your-investment-professional)
- SEC Investor.gov: Investor Bulletin: What is IAPD (Investment Adviser Public Disclosure)? (https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins/investor)
- SEC: Joint Statement Regarding New FAQs for Form CRS (https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/joint-statement-faq-form-crs)
- SEC: Form CRS Relationship Summary; Amendments to Form ADV (Release 34-86032) (https://www.SEC.gov/files/rules/final/2019/34-86032.pdf)
- SEC: Part 2 of Form ADV (https://www.sec.gov/about/forms/formadv-part2.pdf)
- NASAA: How to Check Your Broker or Investment Adviser (https://www.nasaa.org/investor-education/how-to-check-your-broker-or-investment-adviser/)
- CFP Board: CFP Lookup & Verification Tool (https://www.cfp.net/verify-a-cfp-professional)
- NBER: The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct (Working Paper 22050) (https://www.nber.org/papers/w22050)
- PIABA: Comment Letter: Four groups urge SEC to improve BrokerCheck now (July 14, 2015) (https://piaba.org/comment-letter-four-groups-urge-sec-improve-brokercheck-now-july-14-2015/)