Monique Gretta, CFA, has a long-standing client relationship and provides fund managers with draft copies of her research before dissemination. Regarding her research, which choice describes the least likely CFA Ethics violation?

• A. A The report is a draft
• B. B This practice benefits all clients
• C. C The long-standing client relationships are not disclosed
• D. D The practice is beneficial to the bank’s clients

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is avoiding selective disclosure and managing conflicts of interest so that all clients have fair access to research and the analyst’s independence is preserved. Sharing a research report in draft form to fund managers before its broader release isn’t itself a violation; drafts are often circulated for input, and if this practice ultimately benefits all clients and doesn’t create unequal access or biased conclusions, it can be ethically acceptable. Saying the practice benefits the bank’s clients further supports that it can be appropriate if it enhances the quality and reliability of the research that reaches clients.

Disclosing conflicts is important, and not disclosing long-standing client relationships would raise a concern, but this description doesn’t directly tie to the dissemination of the draft research in a way that shows a concrete ethics breach in this context. If there’s no evidence that those relationships biased the research or affected how information was distributed, the statement about undisclosed relationships is the least likely to describe a violation specific to the described research-disclosure activity.