Q & A Database

The GIPS Standards Q&A database contains questions and answers (Q&As) on various searchable topics that provide additional interpretation on an issue. Q&As are considered to be authoritative guidance and must be followed in order to claim compliance with the GIPS standards.

Content from prior Q&As was included in the GIPS Standards Handbook as much as possible and many Q&As were archived. Change the Status drop-down filter to "Archived" to see the archived Q&As.

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1 Result

  • Current

    Effective: 1 January, 2020
    Categories: Calculation Methodology, Client Reporting
    Source: 2020 GIPS Standards

    To present money-weighted returns in a GIPS Report, the firm must have control over the external cash flows and the composite or pooled fund must have one of the following characteristics: it is closed end, fixed life, fixed commitment, or it has illiquid investments as a significant part of the investment strategy. Does the firm violate the GIPS standards by reporting money-weighted rates of return to a current client for their portfolio if these requirements are not met?

    No. The GIPS standards do not address client or investor reporting and, therefore, the GIPS standards would not be violated if the firm reported money-weighted rates of return to a current client for their portfolio. The GIPS standards are primarily based on the concept of presenting the firm’s composite or pooled fund performance to a prospective client or a prospective investor rather than presenting individual portfolio returns to a current client or pooled fund returns to a current investor. Money-weighted returns may add further value in understanding the impact to the client or investor of the timing of external cash flows but are less useful for comparing one firm/manager to another. 

    Please also see the prior version