Tax filings is the clear number one outsourced function. Over half of all advisors state that they always or most of the time outsource taxes, which is not surprising, considering the high educational and professional requirements for tax preparation and filing. Core functions such as portfolio management, asset allocation, research, trading and marketing - with no response above 23% across the three channels - are the least likely to be outsourced. However, the RIA channel is notably less likely to outsource these functions than W/Rs and IBDs. For example, only 8% of RIAs outsource research, compared to 22% and 20% of the W/R and IBD channels, respectively. Falling in between tax filings and the core advisory functions are administrative functions such as compliance, bookkeeping and human resources. The W/R channel is the more inclined to outsource these functions likely because firms in this channel have more flexibility to have those activities conducted by the parent company or corporate office.
Next Part 3 of 7: Advisors' Most Time-Consuming Activities