Four major changes will be made to the financial reporting form advisers use to submit annual returns to the FCA, if new proposals launched today are adopted.
The FCA has launched a consultation asking advisers if they back a number of alterations to the Retail Mediation Activities Return.
The regulator has put forward the following proposals after feedback from the industry:

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1. Incorporate the contents of the interim technical note into Handbook guidance
- An interim technical note was published in November 2013, intended as an immediate first step to help investment advice firms report adviser charging data to the FCA by guiding firms through completing Section K of the RMAR.
The FCA report said: "The informal feedback we have received suggests that firms have found the interim technical note helpful when completing Section K of the RMAR."

2. Clarify the field labels used on the Section K data collection form and streamline the form to make it easier for firms to complete.
- The FCA report said: "The feedback we have received from firms has highlighted that the labelling of the fields on
the data collection form are, in some places, unclear. Firms indicated that the design of the data collection form makes it difficult and unnecessarily time consuming to complete."

3. Reduce the reporting obligation for investment advice firms by only requiring adviser charging data to be reported annually
- Current rules require investment advice firms to complete Section K of the RMAR on a six-monthly basis.
The FCA report said: "Collecting this data every six months is useful to both our supervisory work and to monitor the market more generally.
"However, we recognise that this places a significant half-yearly reporting obligation on investment advice firms."

4. Allow firms to complete Section K of the RMAR on a cash or accruals accounting basis
- The FCA report said: "Informal feedback we have received from smaller investment advice firms suggests that reporting adviser charging data on an accruals basis creates additional reporting costs.
"There appears to be a variety of views among industry practitioners on the
accounting basis under which it would be easiest to report adviser charging data."