by Professional Advisor Due Diligence Tools
Professional Advisor Due Diligence Tools – Trust Everyone Tie Camel Tree – VERIFY – There is an Arab proverb reminding us that while it’s all very well to trust in Providence and have faith that everything will work out, it
does not let us off the hook from doing whatever we can at the same time to ensure a favorable outcome. When selecting an attorney, CPA, or other financial advisor or finance/investment professional in the United States, there are very easily accessible tools online. If you don’t vet your advisors carefully there is a substantial likelihood of consequences you may not want.
A comprehensive discussion of available resources for vetting advisors registered with the US follows.
Resources For Vetting Accounting, Tax, Regulatory Compliance and Other Financial Advisors
The first step when you consider engaging a tax professional is verification of their credentials and review of professional disciplinary history.
The tools available to perform that task include cpaverify.org is a CPA lookup tool populated by official state regulatory data sent from Boards of Accountancy to a central database. The website represents the first ever single-source national database of licensed ‘ and CPA firms. Determine a CPA or CPA firm’s credentials without having to search each of the 55 Boards of Accountancy website individually.
Lawyer Legion is our “go to” for attorney license lookups for all fifty states, legal associations, legal specialty credentials, and quick links for basic legal research. When seeking detailed access to information about members of the California Bar, you can find that here.
Finra BrokerCheck is a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers, and firms. BrokerCheck helps you make informed choices about brokers and brokerage firms-and provides easy access to investment adviser information. BrokerCheck tells you instantly whether a person or firm is registered, as required by law, to sell securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more), offer investment advice or both. BrokerCheck gives you a snapshot of a broker’s employment history, licensing information and regulatory actions, arbitrations, and complaints.
