Tag Archive for: 2020 GIPS

Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) For Marketers

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With the finalization of 2020 performance, most marketing departments are completing their presentations.  We have compiled pertinent questions from the GIPS Annual Conference to help compliant firms create marketing materials that follow the latest GIPS standards updates.

Must the GIPS Report reference be on the Table of Contents for pitch books or can it be referenced on the performance pages at the beginning of the performance section?

A GIPS Report can be provided in a slide deck with other material and still meet the distribution requirement. What is new in 2020 is that firms are now required to indicate that a GIPS Report is included. According to the Handbook, the disclosure should be prominent and the GIPS standards suggest adding it to the Table of Contents. A firm can indicate the inclusion of a GIPS Reports in the table of contents or applicable page, such as in the footnote of a relevant composite/representative performance page.

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GIPS® Report Do’s and Don’ts

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Wondering what updates need to be made to you compliant presentations/GIPS Reports to meet the 2020 GIPS Standards? Check out this PDF which summarizes many of the updates.

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GIPS® Verification Basics

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GIPS Verification Basics

Attendees at this fall’s Annual GIPS Standards Conference submitted questions about verification and CFA Institute notification. We’ve answered 5 of those questions below.


Why would a GIPS-compliant firm want to be verified?


More than 1,700 firms currently claim compliance with the GIPS standards. Over 80% of these firms choose to have a verification conducted even though it is not required. Verification adds to the assurance that the standards are fully implemented on a firm-wide basis. Experienced verifiers have worked with hundreds of different types of composites and have tested policy manuals at dozens of firms. They have first-hand knowledge of what works and how to make workflows better. A verifier can provide suggestions on how to enhance the firm’s policies and procedures as well as test that they have been implemented. They also keep firms updated on changes and new interpretations, so the firm isn’t learning that they have been incorrectly claiming GIPS Compliance during a regulatory examination.

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GIPS® Reports – Managing Distribution Requirements

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GIPS Reports – Managing Distribution Requirements

Does your firm manage segregated accounts and pooled funds? Are you writing 2020 policies to provide a composite report with the fee schedule and expense ratio for the fund in the disclosures? Do you have policies requiring you provide a pooled fund report?  Are there ways to avoid having two different composite reports, one for prospective clients and one for prospective investors? 

Many firms don’t know in advance of initial meetings whether a prospect is going to be a prospective investor (in a pooled fund product) or a prospective client (in a segregated account).  So what if you provide a GIPS Composite Report—without your fund’s expense ratio or fee schedule—and the prospective client turns into a prospective investor?

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2020 GIPS® Standards Q&As

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This is a comprehensive list of Q&A’s released as part of the GIPS standards Newsletter, organized by subject matter.  As CFA Institute continues to add Q&As through the GIPS Standards Newsletter, we will continue to update this page.

GIPS 2010 Transition to GIPS 2020

Pooled Funds

Composite Management/Policies

Input Data and Portfolio Calculation

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MWRs vs. TWRs – Are 2020 GIPS Standard Changes a Better Fit for Your Firm?

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With the 2020 edition of the GIPS standards, firms claiming compliance with the GIPS standards now have a choice of whether to use time-weighted returns (TWRs)  or money-weighted returns (MWRs).  This is fantastic news for the alternatives community. In the 2010 version of the GIPS standards, a series of since-inception MWRs was required for private equity funds,  but no other investment structure or strategy had the option to present MWRs without also showing a series of annual TWRs.

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