Annual compliance audit
Every registered RA and IA is audited once a year against its own regulations. The audit has three dated steps and an adverse-findings filing, and a missed one is a compliance gap in its own right. We prepare the documentation and coordinate the auditor.
Research Analysts and Investment Advisers.
To see when this and your other duties fall due, use the free compliance calendar.
- The audit covers compliance with the Research Analyst or Investment Adviser Regulations and is completed within six months of the financial year end. For a 31 March year end, that is 30 September.
- The report goes to the BSE administration body (RAASB for RAs, IAASB for IAs) and to SEBI within one month of the audit report date.
- Adverse findings, with the action taken and approved by you or your management, are filed within one month of the report date and not later than 31 October each year for the previous financial year.
- The auditor can be a chartered accountant, a company secretary or a cost accountant. Cost accountants were added to the professional pool in the February 2026 master circulars.
- The audit status is published on your website, along with adverse findings and the action taken. Investment Advisers also give the report to clients.
- The client-segregation certificate is part of the audit. It has its own page.
- Build the audit file from your records, disclosures, client agreements and website, so the auditor starts with everything in one place.
- Line up the auditor and brief them on what the regulations ask them to test.
- Draft the adverse-findings note and the action-taken statement for your approval.
- Prepare the documentation for the report and any adverse findings to the BSE administration body and SEBI, and diarise 31 October.
- Update the audit-status section of your website after each audit. See the compliant website page.
- Your financial year end and the date of your last audit, if there was one.
- Client list or client count, fee records and signed client agreements.
- Research reports or advice records for the year, and your trading-restriction or risk-profile records.
- Access to the website or the person who maintains it.
Quoted on a call
We scope it against your registration, client count and financial year end, and give you a written price before you pay.
When does the audit have to be done?
Within six months of the end of the financial year. For a 31 March year end that is 30 September. The report is filed within one month of the audit report date, and adverse findings go in not later than 31 October.
Who can be the auditor?
A chartered accountant, a company secretary or a cost accountant. We line one up if you do not have one.
Do we publish the audit report on the website?
The audit status must be published on the website, along with any adverse findings and the action taken. We build that section and update it after each audit.
Does BuildWright do the audit itself?
No. The audit is carried out by the qualified professional. We prepare the documentation and coordinate the auditor. The audit conclusions are theirs.
Want this taken off your list?
Tell us your registration type and financial year end. We will tell you what we would handle and what we need from you.
Sources: SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014, as last amended on 6 August 2025; SEBI Master Circular for Research Analysts, 6 February 2026; SEBI Master Circular for Investment Advisers, 6 February 2026; SEBI circular 2025/004 of 8 January 2025 (Guidelines for Research Analysts); SEBI circular 2025/003 of 8 January 2025 (Guidelines for Investment Advisers).