When you open a document in Office 365 that was edited by another user, or by you on another device, all of the changes are highlighted in green.   This is not Microsoft Word’s “Track Changes” feature that many veteran Office users know how to use. It's a new thing and and example of what it looks like is in the screen-cap below showing how Office 365 highlights in green changes to a document made by those with permission to edit it in Office 365. (Office 365 is the cloud version of the Microsoft productivity that  everyone loves to hate but that remains the most p

RIA data-security practices, one of the touchiest topics of our time, was the subject of this week’s A4A webinar. Chris Winn, an authoritative source on the topic, says RIAs are being watched, and the picture isn’t all that pretty.  “Everybody has their eyes on us,” says Winn. “The regulators are focused here. But likely the folks spending the most time on this are the fraudsters.” Fraudsters, based on Chris Winn's description, are business terrorists. They spend 1,000 times more effort trying to defraud you than you are likely to spend on protecting yo

At an A4A webinar last Friday, I covered the major issues compliance RIAs need to know about to be prepared for a regulatory exam in 2014. The session covered a wide range of issues, including some sticky ones about how using an account aggregation application can trigger custody rules that are quite rigorous.  Here's below are the questions and my answers. If you have follow up questions, please don't hesitate to post them here. (A4A members ($60 annually) can see a replay of the webinar now.)   Q: You talked about account aggregation apps unintentionally deeming an advisor to have

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In addition, the SEC a day earlier, had published its list of Examination Priorities for 2014.   Winn’s comments about how account aggregation might unintentionally subject an RIA to onerous custody rules drew a flurry of questions and comments s from attendees. A third of the approximately 25 questions from attendees were about ByAllAccounts and the dreaded custody rules, a strong reaction to one topic.     Taking custody of assets triggers regulations that are costly for a small financial advisory firm to comply with. Depending on exactly how an RIA advises an accou

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