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In forceBroker-dealersLast checked 13 November 2026

FOCUS Report, broker-dealer financial and operational report (Form X-17A-5)

A regulatory return listed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), United States.

The FOCUS Report is the financial and operational return broker-dealers file so the SEC and self-regulatory organisations can monitor net capital, customer protection and business activity between examinations. Source

Official title: Financial and Operational Combined Uniform Single (FOCUS) Report

The facts

Who files
Every broker or dealer registered under section 15 of the Exchange Act. Part I is filed by a broker-dealer that clears transactions or carries customer accounts. Part II is filed by that same group plus any broker-dealer that is also a registered security-based swap dealer or major security-based swap participant; a broker-dealer with a more limited business files Part IIA instead. Part III, the annual report, is filed by every registered broker-dealer, with narrow exemptions (for example a broker-dealer that deals only with other exchange members and carries no customer accounts). Source
How often
Part I is monthly. Part II and Part IIA are quarterly (and also as of the broker-dealer's fiscal year-end if that falls outside a calendar quarter). Part III, the annual report, is filed once a year. Source
Deadline
Part I is due within 10 business days after the end of each month. Part II and Part IIA are due within 17 business days after the end of each calendar quarter (and within 17 business days after the fiscal year-end where that differs). The Part III annual report is due not more than 60 calendar days after the end of the broker-dealer's fiscal year. Source
Format
PDF, Other. Parts I, II and IIA are filed with the Commission and the broker-dealer's designated examining authority; they are deemed confidential and this library did not confirm their electronic filing mechanism, because that detail sits on finra.org (eFOCUS/FINRA Gateway), whose terms of use restrict automated access. The Part III annual report must be filed electronically on EDGAR, following the EDGAR Filer Manual and Regulation S-T, and (since the December 2024 rule) as an Interactive Data File, though the September 2026 order exempted it from the Inline XBRL tagging requirement specifically. Source
How it is filed
Filing routes recorded for the SEC: EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval); Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) and Private Fund Reporting Depository (PFRD); Central Registration Depository (CRD). See how firms file with the SEC.
Status
In forceA December 2024 rule (Release 33-11342) moved the Part III annual report onto EDGAR and required it, and Item 4 of Form 17-H, to be filed as Interactive Data Files; a Commission order of 11 September 2026 (Release 34-106339) then exempted Form X-17A-5 Part III and Form 17-H from the Inline XBRL tagging part of that requirement specifically, because the Commission judged Inline XBRL tagging less useful for these intermediary-focused, largely non-public filings. The December 2024 rule's compliance dates were separately extended by twelve months by a September 2025 order. Source
Legal basis
Group
Broker-dealers

Templates (4)

The tables and forms inside the return. Plain name first, the SEC's code in brackets.

  • Routine monthly report (Part I)
  • Financial and operational report for carrying/clearing broker-dealers and security-based swap dealers/major participants (Part II)
  • Financial and operational report for broker-dealers with a more limited business (Part IIA)
  • Annual report: financial report, and a compliance report or exemption report, each covered by an independent public accountant's report (Part III)

Read from 17 CFR 240.17a-5 itself; the form's own named sub-schedules (for example Schedule I, and the Part IIB/IIC variants for OTC derivatives dealers and bank-regulated security-based swap entities, listed on the SEC's Forms Index) were not itemised from an HTML page this session. Source

Validation rules

No published validation rules were found for this return. No published catalogue of FOCUS Report edit checks was found on an sec.gov page; any such detail for the eFOCUS filing system sits behind FINRA's restricted website terms. Source

Public data

Published firm by firm. Parts I, II and IIA are deemed confidential by rule. The Part III annual report may be filed as one public document, or split into a public Statement of Financial Condition (with its notes and the accountant's report on it) plus a second, confidential document covering the rest; the confidential portion remains available to the Commission, the designated examining authority, other SROs the broker-dealer belongs to, PCAOB and anyone else the Commission authorises. Source

Official documents (8)

The SEC's own files, with the size and SHA-256 fingerprint of each as downloaded on 13 November 2026, so anyone can tell whether a copy is the same version.

Sources

Every page and document this return's facts were read from.

Knowing exactly what is collected, in what format and under which rules is the first step to real-time supervision. Line4 builds SupTech software for financial regulators that runs checks like these as each return arrives.

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Last checked 13 November 2026.