Financial Planning Coalition Statement on SEC 2015 Budget Appropriations

The Financial Planning Coalition – comprising Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board), the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®), and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) – issued the following statement in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) budget appropriations for fiscal year 2015.  The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and Government today approved a $1.4 billion funding measure for fiscal 2015 – $300 million less than the $1.7 billion set out in President Obama’s budget request.

"The Financial Planning Coalition is disappointed that once again Congress has refused to take a positive step to protect American investors by adequately funding the SEC investment adviser examination program.

“In her recent appearance before the Appropriations subcommittee, SEC Chair Mary Jo White testified that additional funds were necessary in order to increase the frequency of examinations of the 11,000 registered investment advisers the agency is tasked with overseeing, which, at the current rate of once every 11 years, is unacceptably low.

“This only highlights the need for Congress to move forward with pending legislation, H.R. 1627, the Investment Adviser Examination Improvement Act of 2013, which would authorize the SEC to collect user fees from investment advisers to improve examination frequency.  This issue is too important to American investors to do nothing.”

About the Financial Planning Coalition