On October 9, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) sent a letter (Letter) to senior management of newly registered investment advisers (i.e., advisers that registered with the SEC after July 21, 2011), describing the SEC’s National Examination Program, alerting them to upcoming OCIE examinations of newly registered advisers to private funds to be conducted in the next two years (presence examinations) and highlighting the focal areas of such presence examinations.  This article summarizes some key takeaways from the Letter.