Series 14 Broker-Dealer Operations Compliance

Learn the recordkeeping, reporting, and operational-control framework that anchors Series 14 broker-dealer operations questions.

The third Series 14 chapter focuses on operations. A compliance officer has to understand the books, records, and reporting systems that prove the firm is functioning properly. This is where the exam shifts from market conduct to the operational evidence that regulators rely on when they review the firm.

Read this chapter as the documentation-and-reporting layer. Start with the records the firm must create and preserve, then move into operational reporting, including trading-related reports and market-event obligations.

What this chapter should help you do

SkillExam use
Identify required evidenceRecognize which books, records, reports, or operational logs support the firm’s compliance position.
Separate operations from supervisionDecide whether the issue is a reporting/recordkeeping failure or a broader supervisory-system failure.
Apply reporting disciplineChoose answers that create, preserve, correct, or escalate required operational information.

Series 14 section lessons

Use these section lessons as the main reading path for this Series 14 function. They connect compliance-officer judgment to exact tested controls, escalation points, records, and remediation evidence.

In this section

  • Recordkeeping
    Review the books-and-records obligations that support operational integrity on the Series 14 exam.
  • Reporting Requirements
    Study Series 14 reporting requirements, including short-interest reporting, beneficial ownership, Section 16(a), ownership and control data, reporting calendars, amended filings, reconciliations, and supervisory review evidence.
  • Program Trading
    Study Series 14 program-trading oversight, including program trading definition, market-wide halt concepts, DMM-facilitated closing auctions, volatile-market escalation, basket strategy risk limits, and post-event reviews.
Revised on Friday, May 29, 2026