BrokerCheck draws on the industry registration system to show, for any individual representative or firm, which licences they hold, which states they are registered in, where they have worked, and every reportable disclosure event. Disclosures include customer complaints, arbitration awards, regulatory sanctions, terminations for cause, and certain financial events such as bankruptcies and liens.
Check it before opening an account or hiring anyone who touches your money. It takes a minute and it is the single cheapest piece of due diligence available. A pattern of settled customer complaints at several firms is a signal; one old event is not necessarily.
Investment advisers who are not brokers may appear only partially; the fuller record for those is in form-adv on the SEC adviser database.
Related: finra