Over the past few years there have been at least two lawsuits filed, where an asset manager had committed fraud, either with a Ponzi scheme or some other means, and where the firm had claimed compliance with GIPS(R) (Global Investment Performance Standards). When...

You're probably familiar with the expression "just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should." There have been several times where this saying has come in handy, and this post deals with one more case: standard deviation.In performance measurement we can...

We often get questions about a problem all asset managers face: a client requests you to sell some of his/her/their securities, to free up cash that they plan to withdraw. Between the time that the cash is created and it's finally taken by the client, it's sitting in...

A recent WSJ headline referenced one major bank's problems as regulators challenge its risk management practices. This made me think of comments I usually make during our firm's Fundamentals of Performance Measurement course, when I touch on risk management: having a...

This has been quite a year. We've had our ups, and our downs, just like all years. Overall, TSG had a great year. Our verification practice continues to grow, and our GIPS(R) verification clients now number more than 100. Our PMAR conferences both had record...

The Spaulding Group's December newsletter deals with the use of spreadsheets, and their all too frequent use as "systems." I point out, as I've done countless times elsewhere, that they are:time-consumingerror pronecumbersomenot databasesand so should be avoided,...

When I teach our fundamentals of performance or attribution classes, I often mention how we adopt ideas from other segments of society. Measuring performance, for example, is found in many areas, with sports perhaps being the most thorough (with baseball leading the...

Almost every day I receive questions from clients and others about various aspects of performance and risk. And for the most part I am able to respond, either with my opinion or an answer based on fact.What occurred yesterday in Newtown, CT leaves me, and no doubt...

At this month's Fall (Autumn) Performance Measurement Forum meeting, which was held in one of my favorite cities (San Francisco), one member posed a question about ancillary systems (i.e., those systems that sit aside the packaged or programmed systems that most asset...

Jason Zweig often provides inspiration for a blog post, and his article in this past weekend's WSJ ("Are You Brilliant, or Lucky?") has done just that. The subject of luck versus skill has been one that academics, as well as practitioners, have wrestled with for...