FINRA Series 14 Guide

Use this guide root when you are preparing for the Series 14 Compliance Officer Exam. This is not a representative-level product exam. It is a compliance-oriented qualification that expects broader regulatory judgment across areas such as supervision, firm controls, and the relationship between business activity and compliance obligations.

The guide combines full chapter-based lessons with quick-reference pages such as the Cheat Sheet and FAQ. The educational chapter sequence follows the official FINRA exam functions, with chapters on regulatory agencies, markets and operations, broker-dealer operations, capital and credit, general supervision, investment banking, registration, customer and employee accounts, and solicitations. That structure is deliberate. Series 14 is written as a broad compliance role, so the guide should be learned the same way.

Use the chapter pages when you need fuller lesson coverage and cleaner compliance reasoning. Use the cheat sheet when the framework is already familiar and you want a faster retention pass.

In this section

• Regulatory Agencies
  Learn the enforcement and disciplinary framework that opens the Series 14 Compliance Officer Exam.
  • Disciplinary Capabilities and Procedures
    Review the disciplinary powers, procedural tools, and escalation framework that shape the Series 14 compliance role.
• Markets and Operations
  Learn the sales-practice, trading-practice, SEC-rule, and surveillance topics that frame the market side of the Series 14 exam.
  • Sales Practices
    Review the sales-practice conduct rules and customer-facing control logic that begin the Series 14 markets chapter.
  • Trading Practices and Market Rules
    Learn how orders, modifiers, auctions, routing, and exchange-market rules fit into the Series 14 compliance framework.
  • SEC Rules and Surveillance
    Review the SEC trading rules and surveillance mindset that Series 14 uses to test market-abuse detection.
• Broker-Dealer Operations
  Learn the recordkeeping and reporting framework that anchors Series 14 operational compliance questions.
  • Recordkeeping
    Review the books-and-records obligations that support operational integrity on the Series 14 exam.
  • Reporting Requirements and Market Events
    Learn the operational reporting duties, program-trading concepts, and market-event obligations tested in Series 14.
• Credit Regulation and Capital Requirements
  Learn the net-capital and credit-regulation concepts that Series 14 expects compliance officers to understand at a general level.
  • Capital Requirements
    Review the net-capital, customer-protection, and notification concepts that Series 14 expects compliance officers to recognize.
  • Credit Regulation
    Learn the margin, day-trading, prime-brokerage, and joint-back-office concepts that Series 14 uses to test credit-regulation awareness.
• General Supervision
  Learn the broad delegation, supervisory-process, and soft-dollar concepts tested in the Series 14 general-supervision chapter.
  • Supervisory Processes and Soft-Dollar Arrangements
    Review delegation of authority, supervisory systems, business-continuity oversight, and soft-dollar issues in Series 14.
• Investment Banking
  Learn the underwriting, tender-offer, control-security, private-placement, and limited-offering framework tested in Series 14.
  • Underwriting, M&A, and Restructuring
    Review the underwriting-process, M&A, restructuring, and information-barrier concepts that open the Series 14 investment-banking chapter.
  • Fixed Price Offerings
    Learn the basic rule framework around fixed-price offerings and the compliance issues they create on Series 14.
  • Tender Offers
    Review tender-offer restrictions and the misuse-of-information risks that Series 14 tests in offer contexts.
  • Control and Restricted Securities
    Learn the resale, distribution, and exemption concepts that govern control and restricted securities on Series 14.
  • Private Placements
    Review member-private-placement rules and the main exemption frameworks that Series 14 expects compliance officers to recognize.
  • Limited Offerings
    Learn the small-offering exemption concepts and related compliance posture tested in the final Series 14 investment-banking section.
• Registration
  Learn the personnel and firm-registration framework that Series 14 expects a compliance officer to oversee.
  • Registration of Personnel
    Review personnel registration, statutory disqualification, CE, and supervision concepts within the Series 14 registration chapter.
  • Registration Forms and Firm Filings
    Learn the use of Form U4, U5, BD, ADV, and related filing systems within the Series 14 compliance framework.
• Sales Practice: Customer and Employee Accounts
  Learn the account-opening, supervision, complaint, and special-account issues that make up the Series 14 customer-account chapter.
  • Account Supervision and Special Rules
    Review suitability, Reg BI, discretionary-account, AML, OFAC, transfer, and penny-stock concepts in the Series 14 account chapter.
  • Customer Complaints
    Learn how Series 14 tests complaint logging, reporting, response preparation, and supervisory escalation.
• Sales Practice: Solicitations
  Learn the communications and cold-calling rules that close the Series 14 Compliance Officer Exam.
  • Public Communications
    Review advertising, research, seminars, media appearances, and approval obligations in the Series 14 solicitations chapter.
  • Telephone Solicitations and Cold Calling
    Learn how Series 14 tests telemarketing controls, cold-calling restrictions, and related supervisory procedures.
• Series 14 Study Plan — A Practical Reading and Review Schedule
  A practical Series 14 study plan with a clear reading order, weekly milestones, review rhythm, and a final review strategy.
• Series 14 Cheat Sheet — Compliance Officer Workflows, Rules & High-Yield Traps
  High-yield FINRA Series 14 reference: supervision and WSP discipline, surveillance and exception management, books-and-records and reporting, net capital/custody basics, investment banking and MNPI controls, registration workflows, and communications/telemarketing supervision.
• Series 14 FAQ — Common Questions & Quick Answers
  Answers to common questions about the FINRA Series 14 exam: eligibility and sponsorship, corequisites, exam format/timing, what’s tested, and how to study.
• Series 14 Resources — Official FINRA Links & Content Outline
  Official resources for the FINRA Series 14 (Compliance Officer Qualification Exam) exam: exam page, content outline PDF, and high-yield rule references.