Form ADV Part 2B, the brochure supplement, is a short document about one advisor at a firm: their education, work history, disciplinary record, other business activities, extra compensation and who supervises them.
A firm must prepare one for each person who gives you investment advice and has direct contact with you, and for anyone with discretion over your account. Its items are Educational Background and Business Experience, Disciplinary Information, Other Business Activities, Additional Compensation and Supervision, plus one more for state-registered advisers.
Other Business Activities is the item to read closely. If the advisor is also a registered representative of a broker-dealer, or earns commissions or other pay from selling investment products, the supplement must say so and explain that this gives them an incentive to recommend products for the pay rather than for your needs.
Firms registered with the SEC don't have to file supplements with the SEC; they only have to keep them and give them to clients. So the supplement for a person at an SEC-registered firm often won't appear on the public site. State-registered firms do file them.
How to check
Ask the firm for the Part 2B supplement of the person who will advise you before you sign. Compare its disciplinary section with that person's record on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site and FINRA BrokerCheck.
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