June 9, 2009
The proposed regulations requiring RIA 's to undergo an annual accounting audit I fear may add an additional cost to doing business that will have several effects on RIA practices.
1-The new cost will make it more expensive to do business and hence be passed on to the client making their overall cost go up
2-If advisory clients do not wish to pay the higher fees some RIA's will cease doing business and or rollup and begin to look like wirehouse organizations to simply obtain scale.
It is my opinion that the independent community of RIA's truely deliver unbiased counsel to their clients. Making this model less attractive just points the arrow back to the model of financial supermarkets, which is a step backwards.
Sincerely ,
Don Huber