adv_search_firm

How to use adv_search_firm

adv_search_firm is the firm-name search on the Pipeworx SEC ADV server. Call it when you know the advisory firm and you do not yet have its CRD. The box on this page takes the firm name. It returns matching firms and links each one to its firm record.

Type this

1. Type the start of the firm name, as it appears on the filing. The example is Vanguard.
2. Use at least two letters. One letter is rejected.
3. Press Look up. Read the list. Each row shows the firm name and the firm CRD.
4. Open the row whose office matches the firm you mean. The link goes to /firm/{id}/.
5. On that page, copy the firm CRD if you still need a detail call.

The stored name must start with what you type. Vanguard finds a firm named Vanguard Group. It does not find a firm whose name merely contains those letters in the middle. If the list is empty, delete the last word and try again. Legal names often add Inc, LLC, or Advisors.

Do not paste adv_search_firm into the box. Do not paste a person name. A person belongs on adv_search_individual.

Read the result

One row is one firm. The CRD on the row is the number the detail tools expect. Open the firm page and read the name, the CRD, the offices, and the Form ADV fields before you treat the row as the right firm. Two firms can share a similar start. The city on the firm page is how you tell them apart.

An empty list means no stored firm name starts with that text. Shorten the query. Then try the same name on SearchIAPDFirm, which runs the same firm-name lookup under the Fintel tool name.

Use this next

• adv_firm_profile when you now have the firm CRD and the agent asked for the profile call.
• GetIAPDFirmDetail when the agent used the Fintel name for that same CRD lookup.
• SearchBrokerCheckFirm when the firm is a broker-dealer and the agent used a BrokerCheck firm search.
• adv_search_individual when the next question is a person at that firm.

Do not do this

• Do not put a CRD in this box when you already have one. Open adv_firm_profile.
• Do not use a ZIP code here. Search by city or ZIP is the place search.
• Do not stop at the name list. Open the firm page, then confirm that CRD on IAPD. The public firm URL pattern is https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/ plus the CRD.

Background on the filing: What is Form ADV? and the Form ADV field guide.

Every tool page

• All agent tool lookups
• adv_search_firm
• adv_firm_profile
• adv_search_individual
• SearchIAPDFirm
• GetIAPDFirmDetail
• SearchIAPDIndividual
• GetIAPDIndividualDetail
• SearchBrokerCheck
• SearchBrokerCheckFirm
• GetBrokerCheckDetail

After the record opens

• Search by city or ZIP when you have a place and no name.
• What is Form ADV?
• How to check an adviser registration
• RIA versus broker
• Form ADV field guide
• SEC IAPD to confirm the same CRD on the regulator site.