The small RIA operations guide: every topic in one place
Running the operating side of a small RIA comes down to a handful of areas: billing, compliance records, books and records, investment policy statements, models and trading, client lifecycle, day-to-day operations, growing the firm, and the software that holds it together. This guide lists every Advorra article by area, so you can go straight to the one you need.
We've written plain, practical guides on the operating side of a small RIA. This page groups every one of them by topic, so you can find the one you need without scrolling the whole blog. Each guide answers the question first, links its sources, and says when a step is overkill for a small firm.
What does this guide cover?
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Billing and fees | Running quarterly billing, prorating, fee schedules and fixing errors. |
| Compliance records | The registers, reviews and deliveries a small firm keeps as it works. |
| Books, records and data security | What to keep, where, for how long, and how to protect it. |
| Investment policy statements | Writing an IPS and keeping it in step with the client and the model. |
| Models, portfolios and trading | Model versions, benchmarks, rebalancing, concentration and the trade record. |
| Clients | Onboarding, reviews, suitability and offboarding. |
| Operations and custody | Agreements, reconciliation, custodian questions and continuity. |
| Starting and growing a firm | The first 90 days, the first hire and the prospect pipeline. |
| Choosing software | What practice software is, and how to compare options fairly. |
Billing and fees
Running quarterly billing, prorating, fee schedules and fixing errors.
- Quarterly advisory fee billing in arrears: a step by step for small RIAs
- Changing your advisory fee schedule: how a small RIA rolls it out without billing errors
- Found a billing error? How a small RIA should fix and record it
- Household billing for small RIAs: grouping accounts without billing mistakes
- "Why was my fee this much?" How a small RIA answers a client's fee question in five minutes
- Negotiated fees and fee exceptions: how a small RIA records them so billing stays right
- How to prorate advisory fees for accounts opened or closed mid-quarter
- Tiered, breakpoint or flat advisory fees: how each one is calculated
- What your clients actually pay: a yearly effective fee check for small RIAs
- Brochure, agreement, bill: making a small RIA's fee story say the same thing everywhere
- Missing or odd account values at billing time: what a small RIA should check before charging
- Your fourth-quarter billing run, checked: a pre-run list for small RIAs
Compliance records
The registers, reviews and deliveries a small firm keeps as it works.
- Brochure delivery records for RIAs: what to record and when
- A compliance calendar for small RIAs: what recurs monthly, quarterly and yearly
- The discretionary account list: how a small RIA keeps it accurate
- Personal securities reporting for small RIAs: holdings and transaction reports, step by step
- Proxy voting for small RIAs: vote, or make clear you don't
- The RIA complaints and incidents log: what to record, and when
- Written procedures for a small RIA: how to keep them current without a binder
- The annual compliance review for a small RIA: what it is and how to run it
- Brochure supplements for small RIAs: who needs one, and when to deliver it
- Preparing your annual Form ADV amendment: the operations work to start in January
- Responding to a client complaint: the first 48 hours at a small RIA
- SEC or state registration? What it changes for a small RIA's operations
- Working with a compliance consultant: what a small RIA should have ready, and what to hand over
- When a client moves to another state: what a state-registered RIA should check
- Code of ethics acknowledgments: collecting them every year without the chase
Books, records and data security
What to keep, where, for how long, and how to protect it.
- Regulation S-P for small RIAs: what the 2024 amendments ask of you
- RIA books and records: what to keep, who owns it, how fast you can produce it
- What "audit-ready" actually means for a state-registered RIA
- Which client emails does an RIA have to keep?
- Who can see your client data? A quarterly access review for small RIAs
- AI features in advisor software: questions a small RIA should ask before turning them on
- Cybersecurity basics for a two-person RIA: ten controls worth having this year
- The records-request drill: a one-hour practice run for small RIAs
- The shared inbox at a small RIA: who can see it, what gets kept, and how requests don't get lost
- Sharing client documents securely: email, portals and links compared
- Verifying client money instructions: a callback routine that stops wire fraud at a small RIA
- When a client asks for copies of their records: a small RIA's routine
- Naming and filing documents at a small RIA: a simple convention anyone can follow
- Duplicate client records: a cleanup routine for small RIAs
- Electronic delivery consent: what a small RIA should record
- Keeping advisory agreements current: amendments, versions and a yearly check
- Texting clients at a small RIA: what to allow, what to keep, and what never goes by text
Investment policy statements
Writing an IPS and keeping it in step with the client and the model.
- Getting IPS documents signed and filed: a small RIA's routine for chasing signatures
- How to write an investment policy statement for a small RIA
- When to update an investment policy statement: eight triggers for small RIAs
- Changing a client's strategy: the record trail from conversation to trades
Models, portfolios and trading
Model versions, benchmarks, rebalancing, concentration and the trade record.
- How many model portfolios should a small RIA run?
- Model portfolio versioning and the strategy of record: a guide for small RIAs
- Rebalancing for small RIAs: calendar, drift bands, or both?
- Time-weighted vs money-weighted returns: a plain guide for small RIAs
- The trade blotter for a small RIA: what to record for every trade, and why
- Backtesting a model portfolio: what a small RIA can learn from it, and what it can't tell you
- Benchmarks for model portfolios: how small RIAs choose, record and change them
- Client investment restrictions: how a small RIA records them so model trades respect them
- Documenting investment decisions at a small RIA: a one-page record for every model change
- Held-away and non-discretionary accounts: how a small RIA records the accounts it doesn't fully manage
- Does a small RIA need an investment committee? A lighter version that works for two people
- Monitoring concentrated positions across client accounts: a routine for small RIAs
- Uninvested cash: how a small RIA spots it and decides what to do
- Non-discretionary trades: how a small RIA gets and records client approval
- The one-page model description: what every model portfolio at a small RIA should have written down
- What a small RIA's quarterly client report should include (and what to leave out)
- Raising cash for a client withdrawal: a simple routine for small RIAs
- Telling clients about a model change: what a small RIA should say, and what to record
- Trade errors at a small RIA: how to correct them and what to record
- Putting a client account on trade hold: when a small RIA should pause trading, and how to record it
- Rebalancing a model across many accounts: a batch routine for small RIAs
- Block trades and fair allocation: an operations routine for small RIAs
- New money in: a routine for investing a client's deposit
- A substitute list for your models: what to buy when a client can't hold the model's fund
Clients
Onboarding, reviews, suitability and offboarding.
- The annual client review: an agenda and a record for small RIAs
- Client offboarding for small RIAs: a checklist for when a client leaves
- The client onboarding checklist for a small RIA: from prospect to first review
- Client suitability reviews for small RIAs: a practical cadence that holds up
- Client meeting notes for small RIAs: what to write down after every call
- When your firm ends a client relationship: a calm, documented exit for small RIAs
- Households, members and accounts: how a small RIA should structure client records
- Keeping client details current: a small RIA's routine for contact and household changes
- Onboarding a trust account: what a small RIA should have on file before managing it
- Tracking required minimum distributions across clients: an operations routine for small RIAs
- When a client dies: an operations checklist for a small RIA
- Checking beneficiary designations at client reviews: a small RIA routine
- When markets fall: a small RIA's plan for contacting clients, and what to record
- Service standards for a small RIA: what to promise clients, and how to keep the promise
- Client service tiers at a small RIA: matching time to complexity without treating anyone badly
- Clients you can't reach: a routine for lost contact and quiet accounts
- When you're worried about an older client: noticing, recording and getting help
- The new-client welcome pack: what a small RIA should send in the first week
- Scheduling client reviews across your whole book, so nobody slips a year
- When spouses have different risk tolerances: recording it account by account
- Tax season requests from clients and CPAs: an operations routine for small RIAs
- When heirs become clients: the operations side of keeping the next generation
- Year-end giving requests: handling charitable transfers from client accounts
- Before the client review: a prep checklist for small RIAs
Operations and custody
Agreements, reconciliation, custodian questions and continuity.
- The advisory agreement, read by operations: eight details to record correctly
- Migrating client data to new software: a checklist for small RIAs
- Moving custodians? The records checklist for RIAs under $100M
- Choosing a custodian as a small RIA: the operational questions to ask
- The year-end records checklist for small RIAs
- Adding a new advisor to a small RIA: the operations checklist for the first 30 days
- Avoiding "not in good order" paperwork: a pre-submission check for small RIAs
- A business continuity plan for a solo RIA: what happens if you can't work tomorrow
- Client service requests: a simple tracker so nothing falls through at a small RIA
- Taking a vacation from a small RIA: a coverage plan so nothing slips while you're away
- Reconciling custodian data with your records: a monthly routine for small RIAs
- Moving custodians: a 12-week operations timeline for small RIAs
- The monthly operations close: a one-hour routine that keeps a small RIA's records current
- Ten operations numbers worth watching at a small RIA
- Preparing for new practice software: what a small RIA should gather before setup starts
- Tracking incoming account transfers: how a small RIA keeps a new client's move on schedule
- Moving money between a client's own accounts: a lighter routine that still leaves a record
- Planning next year's operations at a small RIA: one page, three priorities, a calendar
- Getting your team to actually use new practice software: the first 30 days at a small RIA
- The weekly operations meeting: a 30-minute agenda for a small RIA
- When an advisor leaves your firm: an operations checklist for the first two weeks
- Where to start: the first three operations fixes for a small RIA that feels behind
- Who owns what at a small RIA: a one-page responsibility chart
Starting and growing a firm
The first 90 days, the first hire and the prospect pipeline.
- The breakaway advisor's first 90 days: what to set up before the first client moves
- Your first operations hire at a small RIA: what to hand over first
- A prospect pipeline for small RIAs: from first contact to signed client
- After the first prospect meeting: what a small RIA should send, and what to record
- Client minimums at a small RIA: setting one, applying it fairly, and recording the exceptions
- Getting a small RIA's records ready for a sale, merger or successor
- Where your clients come from: tracking referral sources at a small RIA
Choosing software
What practice software is, and how to compare options fairly.
- Advyzon alternatives for small and solo RIAs: how to choose
- Billing spreadsheet or billing software? When a small RIA should switch
- Practice software vs a custodian platform: what each does for a small RIA
- What is practice management software for an RIA?
- RIA operations glossary: 60 terms in plain English
- How to get the most from a software demo: what a small RIA should ask to see
- Wealthbox, Redtail or Orion? What a small RIA should know (October 2026)
- What does RIA software cost? How to add up your real tech stack (October 2026)
- Auditing your firm's software stack: a one-hour review for small RIAs
Where should a small firm start?
Feeling behind? Read where to start: the first three fixes, then work through these.
- RIA books and records: know what you keep and where.
- A compliance calendar: put every recurring task on one page.
- Quarterly billing in arrears: the process most errors come from.
- Writing an IPS: the document that ties the client to the model.
Prefer paper? The free Small RIA Operations Toolkit turns twelve of these guides into printable checklists. New to the terms? Start with the RIA operations glossary.
Advorra is practice software for independent RIAs, built by The CollabHub: clients, models, IPS documents, billing and compliance records in one place, on top of the custodian you already use. See the product page.
Practical guides, not legal, compliance or investment advice. This page is updated as new guides are published.
Questions advisors ask
Who are these guides for?
Solo and small independent RIAs, especially firms where the adviser also runs operations and compliance.
Are the guides legal or compliance advice?
No. They are practical operations guides. Where a rule is cited, the rule text is linked, and readers are pointed to their compliance consultant for firm-specific questions.
How often is this page updated?
Whenever a new guide is published.
Where should I start?
Books and records, the compliance calendar, billing in arrears and the IPS guide cover the areas that cause most problems in small firms.
See it on a demo firm
Advorra is practice software for independent RIAs: clients, models, IPS, billing and compliance records in one place, on top of the custodian you already use. Built by The CollabHub.
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