Johannes Meir, CFA, is a compliance officer for Family Estate Planning, LLC, a private-wealth consulting firm. Many of his colleagues have family members who have started their own retail businesses. Some of Meir’s colleagues have been asked by relatives to serve as non-executive directors or advisors to their companies. Meir should most likely recommend which of the following policies to ensure compliance with the CFA Institute Standards?
C is correct because the Standards require the disclosure of conflicts (Standard VI (A)). For Meir to understand what potential conflicts of interest employees may have with the firm and with their clients, he would need to know the outside interests of each staff member. The staff members themselves may not know enough about the company and its clients to disclose those interests that would present a potential conflict. Therefore, it may be best to have all employees declare their outside business interests on an annual basis so Meir can make the determination as to what outside business interests need to be disclosed to clients.