First, in the spirit of full disclosure ... The source for this post is one of our GIPS verification clients. They reached out today, alerting me of what they believed was misleading information as reported by Barron's. After some discussion and a bit of review, I...
Performance Perspectives Blog
Thoughts on performance measurement from David Spaulding and other members of our team.
Something smells, and it isn’t sweet perfume: questionable past performance
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Charles Schwab Performance Charts: what’s good/what’s bad?
This post is about performance charts; it just so happens that I'm using one that just appeared on Twitter by Charles Schwab. As the saying goes, "credit where credit is due," so I'm obligated to acknowledge my source. But, I'm not really wanting to critique Charles...
Announcing a GIPS 20/20 Consultation Paper Consultation Webinar
In case you haven't heard, the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) are going to have a rather major "make over." It's planned for 2020, and so to take advantage of the uniqueness of this particular year, it's being referred to as "GIPS 20/20." Get it? You...
Is your verifier requiring you to sign a restrictive contract?
One thing I've always wondered about: why do some verifiers force their clients to sign contracts that restrict them from leaving? We have clients who had to delay coming on board because they were trapped in such contracts that made it difficult to switch. In...
What question does the GIPS for Asset Owners composite return answer?
The revised GIPS for Asset Owners guidance statement hasn't yet been finalized, but we can pretty much expect that the time-weighted composite return requirement will remain. At a recent NYSSA (New York Society of Security Analysts) GIPS program, that I had the...
The GIPS verification field just got a bit smaller: congratulations to ACA
ACA acquiring Ashland's GIPS verification practice In case you haven't heard, ACA Compliance Group has announced that they are acquiring Ashland Partners' GIPS Verification and performance practice. We congratulate ACA for this major achievement. From our...
Not GIPS compliant? How about a non-GIPS verification?
Let's face it, the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS(R)) are extremely popular, and thousands of asset managers throughout the world have adopted them. And, most of these firms get annual GIPS verifications. Both compliance and verifications are de...
Why not turn your car into an automobile university
There's an automobile university near you that's taking new students! I posted about this idea nearly four years ago, and thought it worthy to do so again. Have you thought about enrolling in automobile university? What do I mean by that? Simply, to turn your...
GIPS Pooled Funds Guidance Statement Released!
In September 2013, those of us who attended the annual GIPS(R) conference were provided with some rather scary news: that managers with pooled funds (e.g., mutual funds) would be required to provide all prospective fund shareholders with the composite...
Crossing return gaps to meet client requests
Return gaps can often occur. And so, there are times when we might want to be able to "cross" them: that is, to extend performance across this gap, so that we have a continuous return. However, there are times when the manager may not want to cross it, but the...