Scenario: A member fails to update a client about material changes in a recommendation and does not provide a new suitability assessment. Which CFA Institute Standard is violated?

• A. Standard VI.A Disclosure of Conflicts
• B. Standard IV.C Suitability
• C. Standard IV.D Performance Presentation
• D. Standard IV.E Preservation of Confidentiality

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is ongoing suitability. When a recommendation changes in a material way, or the client’s circumstances shift, you must re-evaluate whether the proposed investment remains appropriate given the client’s objectives, constraints, and risk tolerance, and you must communicate that reassessment to the client. If you fail to update the client about what changed and do not provide a new suitability assessment, you’re not ensuring the recommendation stays aligned with the client’s needs. That violates the standard governing suitability of investments and the ongoing monitoring and disclosure that go with it.

Other standards address different obligations. Disclosure of conflicts relates to revealing conflicts of interest that could affect judgment; performance presentation concerns how performance results are reported; preservation of confidentiality deals with protecting client information. None of these directly require updating a client with material changes to a recommendation and providing a new suitability assessment, which is why the suitability standard is the applicable one here.