Those are not words that many brokerages want to hear. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's aggressive stance on the issue may, in some cases, reach beyond the scope of FINRA's jurisdiction, compliance professionals say.

The Authority is honing in on the relationships between certain retail brokerages and their related businesses, such as investment adviser units and futures brokerages, says Carlotta Romano, who heads the member regulation-sales practices unit for FINRA's Midwest region.

"We are trying to look more holistically at the entities. We want to understand how they interrelate," Romano told about 1,000 attendees at FINRA's annual conference in Washington on Monday.

Call it another legacy of Bernard Madoff's multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme: retail brokerages, since around 2009, are dealing with more prodding from regulators during examinations. A 2009 report by a special committee commissioned by FINRA's board revealed that the industry-funded regulator missed opportunities to uncover the Madoff fraud.

While FINRA's lack of authority to examine investment advisers was not a factor in missing the fraud, according to the report, it has since been more daring about gathering details related to investment advisory businesses affiliated with brokerages.