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Form ADV Part 1A Item 5C(1) · Answer type: string · Item 5 - Clients
Item 5C(1) asks to approximately how many clients the firm provided investment advisory services during its most recently completed fiscal year.
This counts the number of separate client relationships the firm served during that twelve-month period, not the dollar value of those relationships. A client might be an individual, family, business, pension plan, mutual fund, or other entity that received advisory services from the firm.
The count reflects fiscal year activity, not current relationships. Some clients listed may have terminated relationships before the Form ADV filing, while others might have been added after fiscal year-end. The figure represents advisory activity during the measurement period.
For firms with more than 100 clients, Form ADV may request the count rounded to the nearest 100 for easier reporting. This creates approximate ranges rather than precise figures for larger advisory firms.
Do not confuse client count with account count, since some clients may have multiple accounts, or with assets under management, since clients contribute different asset amounts. A firm could serve many small clients or fewer large institutions with the same reported client total.
5C(1) - To approximately how many clients did you provide investment advisory services during your most recently completed fiscal year.
If the answer is more than 100, a follow-up question asks for the count rounded to the nearest 100.
This appears in Item 5C, Advisory Clients, which provides context about the firm's client base size and composition.
Client count indicates the scale of the firm's advisory relationships during the reporting period. Review regulatory AUM in Item 5F(2)(c) separately because it covers assets in accounts that qualify for RAUM reporting, not every client counted in 5C(1).
However, client count alone does not reveal service quality, investment performance, or individual attention levels. Some firms serve many clients efficiently through technology and systematized processes, while others require smaller client bases to provide personalized service.
The number also does not indicate current client relationships or recent growth trends. Market conditions, business changes, or client acquisition efforts after fiscal year-end may have significantly altered the client base.
Review employee figures in Item 5B separately for staffing context. Form ADV does not show which employees serve which clients, so these figures do not establish an adviser-to-client ratio or service capacity.
Look for the client count or range in Item 5C(1) on the firm's Best Investors ADV panel. If the form shows "more than 100" with a rounded follow-up number, use the more specific rounded figure for analysis.
Do not divide total RAUM by the 5C(1) client count. The fields cover different populations: a client can have no RAUM account, and one client can have multiple accounts.
Review client type breakdowns in Item 5D when available to understand the composition of the client base across individuals, institutions, and other categories.
Check advisory employee numbers from Item 5B(1) as a separate firm-size measure. The filing does not allocate clients among those employees.
Remember this represents fiscal year activity, which may be months old depending on when the firm files its annual amendment and what fiscal year-end month appears in Item 3B.