Methodology & data sources

Primary source is the SEC IAPD compilation feed for SEC-registered adviser firms, published at reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov. The loaded vintage is the 2026-08-12 feed, containing 23,740 firm records, of which 16,865 carry an APPROVED registration status.

The monthly Form ADV spreadsheet published by the SEC serves as a fallback when the compilation feed is unavailable for a given vintage.

• Identity, registration status, and addresses — ADV Part 1A Item 1.
• Regulatory assets under management, discretionary split, and account counts — Item 5F.
• Client counts and per-client-type AUM — Item 5D.
• Compensation arrangements — Item 5E. Advisory activities — Item 5G.
• Custody of cash or securities, firm and related person — Item 9.
• Disclosure event flags — Item 11, reported as the specific sub-question answered yes.
• Employee counts — Item 5A.

The complete flattened attribute tree from each filing is preserved alongside the mapped columns, so no filed element is silently dropped.

A firm is marked retail-facing when Item 5D reports one or more individual clients (either high-net-worth or non-high-net-worth individuals). This is a direct read of the filing, not a business-model judgment.

Firms are placed using US Census ZIP Code Tabulation Area centroids matched on the filed business postal code (18,631 firms). Where the ZIP is absent or unmatched, the state centroid is used, which means map placement is approximate while the filed address text is exact.

Cohort statistics report the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile of a metric across a peer set: nationwide, within a state, or within an AUM tier. Metrics covered are total AUM, AUM per client, AUM per account, total clients, total accounts, and employee count. Percentile context is descriptive positioning within filed values, never a score or grade.

Each ingest writes a dated snapshot per firm. Successive snapshots are diffed field by field to produce a change log covering new registrations, withdrawals, and movement in filed values. Deltas are arithmetic differences between two filed numbers.

• Chief compliance officer name is not present in this feed vintage and is left blank rather than sourced elsewhere.
• Filings are point-in-time. A firm that amended its ADV after the feed vintage will show its prior figures here until the next ingest.
• Only SEC-registered advisers appear. State-registered advisers and broker-dealers are out of scope.