Who We Serve
Every firm has a different reason for calling us. A principal may be managing compliance on top of an already full workload, a leadership team may have outgrown its current consultant, or a breakaway team may be building a new RIA and realizing how many decisions need to be made before the doors even open. What these firms have in common is growth, increasing complexity, and a need for experienced compliance leadership that understands the business behind the program. SCD works primarily with SEC-registered RIAs and advisory firms that see compliance as part of protecting and growing the business, not a separate function bolted onto it.
As your firm grows, compliance rarely gets simpler. We help it keep pace with where the business is headed.
Handling compliance yourself only works for so long. We take the role off your plate, fully and directly.
Launching your own RIA means building a compliance foundation from scratch. We help you get it right from day one.
Private funds and affiliated broker-dealers need more than standard RIA compliance. We bring that broader experience.
Growth and acquisition introduce new risk fast. We help you spot it early and move forward responsibly.
Who We ServeGrowing RIAs Ready for a Different Approach to Compliance
As an advisory firm grows, compliance rarely gets simpler. New employees, services, technology, acquisitions, marketing initiatives, and operational changes introduce questions that may not have existed when the firm's original compliance program was built, and SCD works with RIAs that need their compliance function to keep pace.
For many of our clients, that means serving as an outsourced Chief Compliance Officer and taking responsibility for the ongoing compliance program. For others, it means supporting the current CCO, or helping leadership work through a period of change or complexity. Either way, we begin by understanding how the firm operates, where it is going, and where risk is most likely to emerge.
Who We ServeAdvisors Ready to Hand Off the CCO Role
At many RIAs, compliance starts as one of several responsibilities assigned to a founder, advisor, or other principal. That may work for a while, but as the firm grows, the time and responsibility involved can become difficult to manage alongside clients, employees, and the rest of the business.
SCD provides experienced outsourced CCO leadership for firms ready to make that transition. We take responsibility for the compliance function, establish a clear calendar and process, and work directly with people throughout the organization, so leadership stays informed and involved without having to personally manage every part of the program.
Who We ServeBreakaway Teams Building Their Own RIA
Launching an RIA gives advisors greater control over the business they want to build. It also creates an entirely new set of regulatory and operational responsibilities.
Registration is only part of the process. Policies, procedures, supervision, marketing, technology, recordkeeping, and other decisions need to work together from the beginning.
SCD helps breakaway teams establish that foundation and transition into ongoing compliance support as the firm launches and grows. That continuity means the person helping build the program already understands the thinking behind it once the firm is operating.
Who We ServeRIAs Navigating Growth, Acquisitions, and Change
Compliance becomes especially important when the business is changing. An acquisition can introduce new employees, systems, services, clients, and processes, adding a new business line may create risks that the existing compliance program was never designed to address, and rapid growth can expose gaps that were manageable when the organization was smaller.
SCD works alongside leadership during these transitions to identify compliance and broader business risks early, determine what needs to change, and help the organization move forward responsibly. That kind of support works best when it starts before the transition is finalized, not after questions have already surfaced.
Who We ServeRIAs With Added Complexity
Some advisory firms operate beyond the traditional RIA model, including private fund structures, hybrid models, or affiliated limited-use broker-dealers, and these organizations often need a compliance partner with experience across investments, operations, supervision, and risk, not just traditional investment adviser compliance. SCD brings that broader perspective to firms whose structure or services require more than a standardized RIA compliance program.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We take on the full CCO role: policies and procedures, ongoing monitoring, regulatory filings, employee training, and being the person regulators and your team reach out to when something comes up. It's not a quarterly check-in. It's the job, just outsourced.
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The biggest difference is who actually does the work. At larger shops, the person you hire often isn't the person handling your firm day to day. At SCD, you work directly with Matt, and our client roster stays small on purpose so that stays true.
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A principal handling compliance themselves is doing it on top of everything else, usually without the years of dedicated CCO experience that come from doing this full time. We hand that role to someone who's done exactly this, for over a decade, at large advisory firms.
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We're built for SEC-registered RIAs generally in the $500 million to $10 billion AUM range, particularly ones that are growing, acquiring, or expanding services. Smaller or state-registered RIAs are usually outside our focus.
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The first three to six months are intensive by design, frequent contact and conversations across just about every department, because that's what it takes to actually understand a firm well enough to protect it. After that, things settle into an ongoing rhythm.
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We're priced in the middle of the market, well below the premium rates of the big-name consulting shops, but built with the experience and breadth those shops charge a premium for.
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Yes. We support RIAs with affiliated, limited-use broker-dealers and private fund advisors, bringing experience across investments, operations, and supervision, not just standard RIA compliance.
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Yes, and we handle formation and the transition into ongoing compliance as one continuous relationship, so you're not handed off from a formation specialist to a separate consultant once you're up and running.
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The most common thing we hear from firms switching is that their previous consultant was slow to respond and hard to reach. Responsiveness is central to how we operate, and it's usually one of the first things clients notice.