Part 9 — Discretionary Account Regulation

Series 30 lesson on discretionary-account authorization, supervision, and review.

This is a narrow lane, but Series 30 uses it to check whether the branch manager understands how authority changes the control requirement.

What this part is really testing

  • whether discretionary authority is real, documented, and supervised
  • whether review intensity matches the account authority granted

Common traps

  • assuming informal customer consent is enough
  • treating discretionary review as identical to ordinary account review

Sample Exam Question

A representative begins making trading decisions in a customer account based on verbal conversations but the file does not support a properly documented discretionary arrangement. What is the strongest Series 30 issue?

A. The branch has a discretionary-account authorization and supervision problem
B. The issue is only a marketing-approval problem
C. No issue exists if the account performed well
D. The issue matters only for institutional accounts

Answer: A

The exam is testing whether the branch manager recognises that discretion changes the required authorization and supervision structure.

Revised on Thursday, April 23, 2026