For CIRO-registered Canadian financial advisors
What a Canadian client meeting record needs to contain.
The Documentation Standards Kit sets out the content a client meeting record has to carry, block by block, with the regulatory basis for each block. It specifies content rather than layout, so it measures the template you already use instead of replacing it.
$97 CAD, one-time. Founding edition.
The standard specifies content, not layout
A documentation standard can work two ways. It can hand the advisor a template and ask them to adopt it, or it can specify what the record has to contain and leave the format alone.
The Documentation Standards Kit takes the second approach. Each block names the content a given kind of meeting has to capture, and the rule that requires it. An existing meeting-notes format satisfies a block when that content appears somewhere in the record, whatever the section is called and wherever it sits.
This is the coverage model. A format that has already come through a compliance review is rarely rebuilt, and a standard that demands a rebuild does not get used. The Kit gives you a way to check the record you already produce, block by block, and to see where it runs thin.
Why the standard exists
The Client Focused Reforms Phase 2 sweep (CSA Staff Notice 31-368) reviewed 105 firms and found widespread documentation deficiencies.
The requirements are scattered. What a meeting record has to contain sits across CIRO rules, National Instrument 31-103, PIPEDA, and, for Quebec-resident clients, Law 25. An advisor who wants a straight answer assembles it from several sources, then keeps the assembly current as the sources change.
The Documentation Standards Kit is that assembly, done once, with the citation attached to every requirement.
What is in it
The Standards Guide. Seven chapters. Why a documentation standard exists, and what the clinical SOAP-note precedent shows about records that hold up years later. How the library is organised. The six DSK Principles. A walkthrough of every block. The coverage model. Composition. Worked examples. A chapter on documenting for Quebec-resident clients closes the main text, and a versioning and changelog appendix closes the Guide.
The block library. Seventeen blocks, as fillable PDF and editable Word. Fifteen Regulatory blocks, each carrying its rule citations: meeting metadata, KYC collection, KYC refresh, KYC update, know-your-product assessment, suitability determination, alternatives considered, concentration and liquidity, cost impact, recommendation, client-directed trade, discrepancy reconciliation, relationship disclosure acknowledgement, Quebec Law 25 consent, and AMF incident notification readiness. Two Practice blocks: client insight and process notes, and action items and commitments.
The Composition Guide. A decision tree for choosing the blocks a given meeting calls for.
Three worked examples. An onboarding meeting, an annual review, and a recommendation meeting, each composed block by block, in full.
The Meaningful Interaction Examples. Sixteen paired examples. Each one puts a deficient meeting note beside a version that does the same job properly.
The Retention and Archival Checklist. The three Canadian retention regimes set side by side: the CIRO seven-year record requirement, the AMF five-year incident requirement, and the Law 25 five-year incident requirement.
The standard behind the agents
Northern Catalyst publishes the Meeting Documentation Agent, which an advisor builds inside the Microsoft 365 Copilot their firm has already approved. The agent is written to produce a record that covers the blocks in this library. The library is what it is measured against.
A File Coverage Check Agent is planned: an existing record goes in, and a coverage map against this library comes out.
The Documentation Standards Kit is included in every guided install.
The Kit stands on its own. An advisor who uses no AI tool, or a tool from another vendor, gets the same standard and the same coverage check.
Who it is for
CIRO-registered advisors in Canada, at any firm.
The Kit is reference material. Reading it, and measuring your template against it, does not require your firm to approve a vendor or add a tool to an approved list. Advisors whose dealer restricts them to Microsoft Copilot are in scope. So are advisors who use no AI tool at all.
What the Kit does not do
- It is not approved, endorsed, or certified by CIRO, by the Canadian Securities Administrators, or by any dealer. It is a reference work published by Northern Catalyst.
- It does not certify your documentation. It gives you a coverage standard to measure against, and what your firm’s compliance department concludes remains theirs to conclude.
- It is not compliance advice and it is not legal advice.
- It does not require a change of format, a change of software, or anyone’s permission.
What you get
$97 CAD, one-time. The founding edition.
The Kit is a set of files. After payment a download link arrives by email, and a permanent download page is created, so the founding edition stays available at that link. There is no account to create and no subscription.
The Kit is versioned and carries a changelog appendix, so the edition you hold names its own date and the sources it was written against.
Keep in touch about the Kit
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The Documentation Standards Kit is a reference work. It does not constitute compliance or legal advice, and it is not approved or endorsed by CIRO, by the Canadian Securities Administrators, or by any dealer. Consult your firm’s compliance department and your own legal counsel for guidance specific to your situation. The founding edition states its publication date in the Guide, and the Canadian rules it cites are subject to change.