FINRA recently announced that, in the first quarter, it will issue a risk control assessment survey to all member firms. Although this is a voluntary program, member firms should strongly consider their participation. Your efforts on the front-end may alleviate the work you would otherwise perform during an examination.
The purpose of the survey is for FINRA to better understand member firm business models, the risks attendant with those models and the controls intended to manage those risks. According to FINRA, responses to this survey will afford it the ability to conduct more focused examinations. In other words, the program will give examiners a better understanding of your firm before arriving on site and allow the examiners to streamline the examination.
According to FINRA, firms who do not participate will not suffer negative consequences. However, those non-participating firms should expect FINRA to spend more time during an examination. FINRA plans to conduct this survey on an annual basis; the content will change as new risks emerge and as priorities evolve.
Even though answering the survey will take time to complete, streamlining the examination process is a laudable goal. If the time spent on completing the survey results in a more focused and shorter examination, it seems to me that the decision to participate in the survey should be a forgone conclusion.