GIPS 2020: What’s Changing and What You Should Do (Updated July 2019)

Sean P. Gilligan, CFA, CPA, CIPM
Managing Partner
September 16, 2018
15 min
GIPS 2020: What’s Changing and What You Should Do (Updated July 2019)

It has been a busy couple of weeks for GIPS! On August 31st, the Exposure Draft of the 2020 Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) was released for public comment and last week (September 14th and 15th) was the GIPS conference. With this exposure draft being released only two weeks before the conference, the forthcoming changes to the GIPS standards were the highlight of the event.

UPDATENotes have been added in red to clarify what has been adopted or modified now that the 2020 GIPS standards have been published.

Why are changes to the GIPS standards necessary?

The three primary reasons GIPS standards are being revised is to make them:

  1. Easier to understand: GIPS compliant firms are required to comply with all of the requirements of GIPS, including issues addressed in Guidance Statements and Q&A’s. Since the 2010 Standards were published, there have been several new Guidance Statements and many Q&A’s issued, which can be difficult for firms to follow. The GIPS 2020 re-write of the Standards is reorganized to avoid having to refer to several different sources to understand what is required.
  2. More relevant for different types of investors: GIPS was intended to be a global standard that is applicable to any type of investment manager, regardless of location or type of investment strategy managed. Despite this intention, GIPS has historically been focused on presenting composite performance, which is only really relevant when marketing a strategy to prospective segregated account investors. GIPS 2020 differentiates between marketing a strategy to potential segregated account investors versus marketing an established pooled fund to prospective fund investors. It also separates out the requirements for Asset Owners who present performance to their oversight board instead of prospective investors.
  3. More consistent across asset classes: In some cases, the Standards have been overly focused on asset class in specifying calculation methodology and valuation requirements where investment vehicle structure and external cash flow control are perhaps more important than the underlying investments. By removing asset class specific requirements for private equity and real estate, the Standards can be applied more appropriately and in a more consistent manner.

What is changing with GIPS?

To be clear, nothing is changing yet. The purpose of the exposure draft is to introduce proposed changes. We are all invited to provide comments during the public comment period (open through December 31, 2018) to ensure our voices are heard before any of these proposed changes become official. Below are some highlights of the most significant proposed changes:

Asset Owners 

While this is largely just a formatting change, the reorganization of how the requirements for Asset Owners are documented will make it significantly easier for Asset Owners to understand and apply GIPS to their organizations. Specifically, GIPS 2020 separates the requirements for Investment Management Firms and Asset Owners, allowing each type of firm to review the provisions applicable to them and see all requirements in one place. Since there are many redundancies between the two sections, this makes the Standards much longer, but easier to read since only the sections of the provisions applicable to them needs to be reviewed. Previously, Asset Owners were required to start with the Standards that were written for investment managers and then remove or adjust the requirements that were not applicable for them. It is now easier for Asset Owners to understand what applies.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards.

Managers of Pooled Funds 

Previously, GIPS compliant firms were required to create composites for pooled funds even if the pooled fund would be the only constituent of the composite. GIPS 2020 no longer requires these composites to be created. Managers of limited distribution pooled funds will instead create a GIPS Pooled Fund Report that presents the information of the fund itself for prospective investors together with required GIPS disclosures for this type of report. Managers of broadly distributed pooled funds are not required to create a special report for GIPS. This will save managers of pooled funds a lot of time and effort and will allow them to create meaningful presentations focused on the funds themselves rather than creating composites that would likely never be used.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards.

Option to present MWR

Previously, only Private Equity funds presented Money-Weighted Returns (“MWR”) (a.k.a. Internal Rates of Return (“IRR”)). GIPS 2020 removes all asset class specific rules and focuses more on the structure of cash flows and the type of vehicle used. For example, under GIPS 2020, if a firm manages a closed end fund where they control the external cash flows, they will have the option to present MWR instead of TWR, regardless of the type of underlying investments being made. In cases where the manager controls the timing and amount of the cash flows rather than the client, MWR is likely a more meaningful performance measure since it does not remove the effect of the cash flows the way TWR does.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards.

Valuation Requirements

Previously only the Real Estate provisions included a requirement for external valuations. Since all asset class specific rules have been removed, the external valuation requirement now applies to all private market investments. To make this manageable, what is accepted as an “external valuation” has been loosened to include annual financial statement audits. This means that as long as the fund is audited, no separate external valuation should be required.

UPDATE: This was NOT fully adopted. Private market investments are now RECOMMENDED to have an external valuation at least every 12 months; however, real estate investments included in a real estate open-end fund are still required to have external valuations at least every 12 months. Real estate investments that are not included in real estate open-end funds are required to have an external valuation at least every 12 months unless the client agrees to a less frequent external valuation (minimum of every 36 months) OR, instead of the external valuation, the real estate investment can be subject to an annual financial statement audit.

Carve-outs

That’s right, carve-outs are back! Firms that spent a lot of time and money revising their composites when carve-outs were disallowed in 2010 may not be happy to hear this, but this is likely good news for wealth management firms with balanced accounts that want to market asset class specific strategies. It is not yet clear whether carve-outs can be built historically covering the period they were disallowed (2010 – 2020), but this was discussed at the GIPS conference and we expect it to be clarified.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards and updates can be made for historical periods once the firm has adopted the 2020 GIPS standards.

Portability

Under the current Standards, GIPS requires firms to link prior track records to ongoing performance if all of the portability requirements are met. GIPS 2020 proposes to make the linking of historical performance optional.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards.

Advisory-Only Assets

Firms are required to report total firm assets that include the assets of both discretionary and non-discretionary portfolios. GIPS 2020 clarifies that advisory-only assets cannot be presented as a part of total firm assets, but may be presented separately. With the growth of Unified Managed Account (UMA) platforms, many firms’ assets are shifting to the “advisory-only” category. Although presented separately from total firm assets, being able to present these advisory-only assets will allow firms with a large UMA business to demonstrate the amount of assets invested in their models.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards.

Deadline to Update GIPS Presentations

GIPS Composite Reports (formerly known as Compliant Presentations) will need to be updated with the latest annual statistics within 6 months after the annual period ends. This won’t be an issue for most firms, but firms who prefer to have their verification complete prior to updating their presentations may struggle to get this updated in time.

UPDATE: A deadline to update GIPS Reports was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards; however, a more reasonable 12 months after the annual period ends was set instead of the proposed 6 month deadline.

Sunset Provisions for Select Disclosures

GIPS 2020 will allow some disclosures, such as disclosures of benchmark changes or material events to be removed when they are no longer relevant for current prospects.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards.

Additional Statistic in GIPS Presentations

GIPS 2020 will require a 3-year annualized return to be presented for both the composite and benchmark. GIPS already requires the 3-year annualized ex post standard deviation to be presented for the composite and benchmark, so this provides the return that matches the periods included in the standard deviation calculation.

UPDATE: This change was NOT adopted as a requirement of the 2020 GIPS standards, but was instead adopted as a recommendation.

Estimated Transaction Costs

Previously, the use of estimated transaction costs was prohibited. Because of this, many wrap managers, or managers of accounts with asset-based transaction fees that do not reduce gross-of-fee returns, are required to present their gross-of-fee returns as supplemental information. As long as these firms are able to estimate the transaction costs and support that the estimated costs result in gross-of-fee performance that is lower than when using actual transaction costs, these managers will be able to present gross-of-fee returns without the supplemental disclosures under GIPS 2020.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards; however, the requirement for calculating returns that are more conservative when using estimated transaction costs was removed because it may be too difficult to prove. It was clarified that estimated transaction costs may only be used when actual transaction costs are unknown. Guidance on how to determine estimated transaction costs will be included in the Handbook, which is expected to be published by the end of 2019.

Revised Advertising Guidelines

GIPS 2020 takes a broader approach to the Advertising Guidelines to include advertisements to Pooled Fund Investors and Asset Owners rather than only for composites intended for Segregated Account Investors. Additionally, the requirements were loosened by changing some of the previously required disclosures to recommendations and by increasing the options for performance periods presented.

UPDATE: This change was adopted as part of the 2020 GIPS standards.

What action should be taken now?

UPDATE: The 2020 GIPS standards are now published. Please see our latest blog “2020 GIPS Standards: Prepare for the Changes“ to help your firm determine what steps you need to take to comply with the 2020 edition of the GIPS Standards.

The changes listed above are a sample of the most significant changes. If you are concerned about the changes, I would strongly encourage you to review the full exposure draft and provide comments to the GIPS Executive Committee. Read the full Exposure draft and provide any comments to the following email: standards@cfainstitute.org. Comments must be submitted by December 31, 2018.

Please note that the exposure draft contains 47 specific questions that the GIPS Executive Committee would like feedback on prior to finalizing the changes. You can provide comments on as many or as few of those questions as you like. Additionally, you can feel free to provide comments on any aspect of the Standards even if not related to one of the questions posed. Keep in mind that providing positive responses to what you do like is as important as providing critical feedback. If only critical feedback is provided, there is the risk that changes could be made based on the critical responses received that actually represent a minority of the stakeholders’ opinions since they did not hear the positive support for the change.

Questions?

If you have questions about GIPS 2020 or the Standards in general, we would love to talk to you. Longs Peak’s professionals have extensive experience helping firms become GIPS compliant as well as helping firms maintain their compliance with GIPS on an ongoing basis. Please feel free to email Sean Gilligan directly at sean@longspeakadvisory.com.

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When you're responsible for overseeing the performance of an endowment or public pension fund, one of the most critical tools at your disposal is the benchmark. But not just any benchmark—a meaningful one, designed with intention and aligned with your Investment Policy Statement(IPS). Benchmarks aren’t just numbers to report alongside returns; they represent the performance your total fund should have delivered if your strategic targets were passively implemented.

And yet, many asset owners still find themselves working with benchmarks that don’t quite match their objectives—either too generic, too simplified, or misaligned with how the total fund is structured. Let’s walkthrough how to build more effective benchmarks that reflect your IPS and support better performance oversight.

Start with the Policy: Your IPS Should Guide Benchmark Construction

Your IPS is more than a governance document—it is the road map that sets strategic asset allocation targets for the fund. Whether you're allocating 50% to public equity or 15% to private equity, each target signals an intentional risk/return decision. Your benchmark should be built to evaluate how well each segment of the total fund performed.

The key is to assign a benchmark to each asset class and sub-asset class listed in your IPS. This allows for layered performance analysis—at the individual sub-asset class level (such as large cap public equity), at the broader asset class level (like total public equity), and ultimately rolled up at the Total Fund level. When benchmarks reflect the same weights and structure as the strategic targets in your IPS, you can assess how tactical shifts in weights and active management within each segment are adding or detracting value.

Use Trusted Public Indexes for Liquid Assets

For traditional, liquid assets—like public equities and fixed income—benchmarking is straightforward. Widely recognized indexes like the S&P 500, MSCI ACWI, or Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index are generally appropriate and provide a reasonable passive alternative against which to measure active strategies managed using a similar pool of investments as the index.

These benchmarks are also calculated using time-weighted returns (TWR), which strip out the impact of cash flows—ideal for evaluating manager skill. When each component of your total fund has a TWR-based benchmark, they can all be rolled up into a total fund benchmark with consistency and clarity.

Think Beyond the Index for Private Markets

Where benchmarking gets tricky is in illiquid or asset classes like private equity, real estate, or private credit. These don’t have public market indexes since they are private market investments, so you need a proxy that still supports a fair evaluation.

Some organizations use a peer group as the benchmark, but another approach is to use an annualized public market index plus a premium. For example, you might use the 7-year annualized return of the Russell 2000(lagged by 3 months) plus a 3% premium to account for illiquidity and risk.

Using the 7-year average rather than the current period return removes the public market volatility for the period that may not be as relevant for the private market comparison. The 3-month lag is used if your private asset valuations are updated when received rather than posted back to the valuation date. The purpose of the 3% premium (or whatever you decide is appropriate) is to account for the excess return you expect to receive from private investments above public markets to make the liquidity risk worthwhile.

By building in this hurdle, you create a reasonable, transparent benchmark that enables your board to ask: Is our private markets portfolio delivering enough excess return to justify the added risk and reduced liquidity?

Roll It All Up: Aggregated Benchmarks for Total Fund Oversight

Once you have individual benchmarks for each segment of the total fund, the next step is to aggregate them—using the strategic asset allocation weights from your IPS—to form a custom blended total fund benchmark.

This approach provides several advantages:

  • You can evaluate performance at both the micro (asset class) and macro (total fund) level.
  • You gain insight into where active management is adding value—and where it isn’t.
  • You ensure alignment between your strategic policy decisions and how performance is being measured.

For example, if your IPS targets 50% to public equities split among large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks, you can create a blended equity benchmark that reflects those sub-asset class allocations, and then roll it up into your total fund benchmark. Rebalancing of the blends should match there balancing frequency of the total fund.

What If There's No Market Benchmark?

In some cases, especially for highly customized or opportunistic strategies like hedge funds, there simply may not be a meaningful market index to use as a benchmark. In these cases, it is important to consider what hurdle would indicate success for this segment of the total fund. Examples of what some asset owners use include:

  • CPI + Premium – a simple inflation-based hurdle
  • Absolute return targets – such as a flat 7% annually
  • Total Fund return for the asset class – not helpful for evaluating the performance of this segment, but still useful for aggregation to create the total fund benchmark

While these aren’t perfect, they still serve an important function: they allow performance to be rolled into a total fund benchmark, even if the asset class itself is difficult to benchmark directly.

The Bottom Line: Better Benchmarks, Better Oversight

For public pension boards and endowment committees, benchmarks are essential for effective fiduciary oversight. A well-designed benchmark framework:

  • Reflects your strategic intent
  • Provides fair, consistent measurement of manager performance
  • Supports clear communication with stakeholders

At Longs Peak Advisory Services, we’ve worked with asset owners around the globe to develop custom benchmarking frameworks that align with their policies and support meaningful performance evaluation. If you’re unsure whether your current benchmarks are doing your IPS justice, we’re hereto help you refine them.

Want to dig deeper? Let’s talk about how to tailor a benchmark framework that’s right for your total fund—and your fiduciary responsibilities. Reach out to us today.

Valuation Timing for Illiquid Investments
Explore how firms & asset owners can balance accuracy & timeliness in performance reporting for illiquid investments.
June 23, 2025
15 min

For asset owners and investment firms managing private equity, real estate, or other illiquid assets, one of the most persistent challenges in performance reporting is determining the right approach to valuation timing. Accurate performance results are essential, but delays in receiving valuations can create friction with timely reporting goals. How can firms strike the right balance?

At Longs Peak Advisory Services, we’ve worked with hundreds of investment firms and asset owners globally to help them present meaningful, transparent performance results. When it comes to illiquid investments, the trade-offs and decisions surrounding valuation timing can have a significant impact—not just on performance accuracy, but also on how trustworthy and comparable the results appear to stakeholders.

Why Valuation Timing Matters

Illiquid investments are inherently different from their liquid counterparts. While publicly traded securities can be valued in real-time with market prices, private equity and real estate investments often report with a delay—sometimes months after quarter-end.

This delay creates a reporting dilemma: Should firms wait for final valuations to ensure accurate performance, or should they push ahead with estimates or lagged valuations to meet internal or external deadlines?

It’s a familiar struggle for investment teams and performance professionals. On one hand, accuracy supports sound decision-making and stakeholder trust. On the other, reporting delays can hinder communication with boards, consultants, and beneficiaries—particularly for asset owners like endowments and public pension plans that follow strict reporting cycles.

Common Approaches to Delayed Valuations

For strategies involving private equity, real estate, or other illiquid holdings, receiving valuations weeks—or even months—after quarter-end is the norm rather than the exception. To deal with this lag, investment organizations typically adopt one of two approaches to incorporate valuations into performance reporting: backdating valuations or lagging valuations. Each has benefits and drawbacks, and the choice between them often comes down to a trade-off between accuracy and timeliness.

1. Backdating Valuations

In the backdating approach, once a valuation is received—say, a March 31 valuation that arrives in mid-June—it is recorded as of March 31, the actual valuation date. This ensures that performance reports reflect economic activity during the appropriate time period, regardless of when the data became available.

Pros:
  • Accuracy: Provides the most accurate snapshot of asset values and portfolio performance for the period being reported.
  • Integrity: Maintains alignment between valuation dates and the underlying activity in the portfolio, which is particularly important for internal analysis or for investment committees wanting to evaluate manager decisions during specific market environments.
Cons:
  • Delayed Reporting: Final performance for the quarter may be delayed by 4–6 weeks or more, depending on how long it takes to receive valuations.
  • Stakeholder Frustration: Boards, consultants, and beneficiaries may grow  frustrated if they cannot access updated reports in a timely manner, especially if performance data is tied to compensation decisions, audit     deadlines, or public disclosures.

When It's Useful:
  • When transparency and accuracy are prioritized over speed—e.g., in annual audited performance reports or regulatory filings.
  • For internal purposes where precise attribution and alignment with economic events are critical, such as evaluating decision-making during periods of market volatility.

2. Lagged Valuations

With the lagged approach, firms recognize delayed valuations in the subsequent reporting period. Using the same example: if the March 31valuation is received in June, it is instead recorded as of June 30. In this case, the performance effect of the Q1 activity is pushed into Q2’sreporting.

Pros:
  • Faster Reporting: Performance reports can be completed shortly after quarter-end, meeting board, stakeholder, and regulatory timelines.
  • Operational Efficiency: Teams aren’t held up by a few delayed valuations, allowing them to close the books and move on to other tasks.

Cons:
  • Reduced Accuracy: Performance reported for Q2 includes valuation changes that actually occurred in Q1, misaligning performance with the period in which it was earned.
  • Misinterpretation Risk: If users are unaware of the lag, they may misattribute results to the wrong quarter, leading to flawed conclusions about manager skill or market behavior.

When It's Useful:
  • When quarterly reporting deadlines must be met (e.g., trustee meetings, consultant updates).
  • In environments where consistency and speed are prioritized, and the lag can be adequately disclosed and understood by users.

Choosing the Right Approach (and Sticking with It)

Both approaches are acceptable from a compliance and reporting perspective. However, the key lies in consistency.

Once an organization adopts an approach—whether back dating or lagging—it should be applied across all periods, portfolios, and asset classes. Inconsistent application opens the door to performance manipulation(or the appearance of it), where results might look better simply because a valuation was timed differently.

This kind of inconsistency can erode trust with boards, auditors and other stakeholders. Worse, it could raise red flags in a regulatory review or third-party verification.

Disclose, Disclose, Disclose

Regardless of the method you use, full transparency in reporting is essential. If you’re lagging valuations by a quarter, clearly state that in your disclosures. If you change methodologies at any point—perhaps transitioning from lagged to backdated—explain when and why that change occurred.

Clear disclosures help users of your reports—whether board members, beneficiaries, auditors, or consultants—understand how performance was calculated. It allows them to assess the results in context and make informed decisions based on the data.

Aligning Benchmarks with Valuation Timing

One important detail that’s often overlooked: your benchmark data should follow the same valuation timing as your portfolio.

If your private equity or real estate portfolio is lagged by a quarter, but your benchmark is not, your performance comparison becomes flawed. The timing mismatch can mislead stakeholders into believing the strategy outperformed or underperformed, simply due to misaligned reporting periods.

To ensure a fair and meaningful comparison, always apply your valuation timing method consistently across both your portfolio and benchmark data.

Building Trust Through Transparency

Valuation timing is a technical, often behind-the-scenes issue—but it plays a crucial role in how your investment results are perceived. Boards and stakeholders rely on accurate, timely, and understandable performance reporting to make decisions that impact beneficiaries, employees, and communities.

By taking the time to document your valuation policy, apply it consistently, and disclose it clearly, you are reinforcing your organization’s commitment to integrity and transparency. And in a world where scrutiny of investment performance is only increasing, that commitment can be just as valuable as the numbers themselves.

Need help defining your valuation timing policy or aligning performance reporting practices with industry standards?

Longs Peak Advisory Services specializes in helping investment firms and asset owners simplify their performance processes, maintain compliance, and build trust through transparent reporting. Contact us to learn how we can support your team.

Key Takeaways from the 2025 PMAR Conference
This year’s PMAR Conference delivered timely and thought-provoking content for performance professionals across the industry. In this post, we’ve highlighted our top takeaways from the event—including a recap of the WiPM gathering.
May 29, 2025
15 min

The Performance Measurement, Attribution & Risk (PMAR) Conference is always a highlight for investment performance professionals—and this year’s event did not disappoint. With a packed agenda spanning everything from economic uncertainty and automation to evolving training needs and private market complexities, PMAR 2025 gave attendees plenty to think about.

Here are some of our key takeaways from this year’s event:

Women in Performance Measurement (WiPM)

Although not officially a part of PMAR, WiPM often schedules its annual in-person gathering during the same week to take advantage of the broader industry presence at the event. This year’s in-person gathering, united female professionals from across the country for a full day of connection, learning, and mentorship. The agenda struck a thoughtful balance between professional development and personal connection, with standout sessions on AI and machine learning, resume building, and insights from the WiPM mentoring program. A consistent favorite among attendees is the interactive format—discussions are engaging, and the support among members is truly energizing. The day concluded with a cocktail reception and dinner, reinforcing the group’s strong sense of community and its ongoing commitment to advancing women in the performance measurement profession.

If you’re not yet a member and are interested in joining the community, find WiPM here on LinkedIn.

Uncertainty, Not Risk, is Driving Market Volatility

John Longo, Ph.D., Rutgers Business School kicked off the conference with a deep dive into the global economy, and his message was clear: today’s markets are more uncertain than risky. Tariffs, political volatility, and unconventional strategies—like the idea of purchasing Greenland—are reshaping global trade and investment decisions. His suggestion? Investors may want to look beyond U.S. borders and consider assets like gold or emerging markets as a hedge.

Longo also highlighted the looming national debt problem and inflationary effects of protectionist policies. For performance professionals, the implication is clear: macro-level policy choices are creating noise that can obscure traditional risk metrics. Understanding the difference between risk and uncertainty is more important than ever.

The Future of Training: Customized, Continuous, and Collaborative

In the “Developing Staff for Success” session, Frances Barney, CFA (former head of investment performance and risk analysis for BNY Mellon) and our very own Jocelyn Gilligan, CFA, CIPM explored the evolving nature of training in our field. The key message: cookie-cutter training doesn't cut it anymore. With increasing regulatory complexity and rapidly advancing technology, firms must invest in flexible, personalized learning programs.

Whether it's improving communication skills, building tech proficiency, or embedding a culture of curiosity, the session emphasized that training must be more than a check-the-box activity. Ongoing mentorship, cross-training, and embracing neurodiversity in learning styles are all part of building high-performing, engaged teams.

AI is Here—But It Needs a Human Co-Pilot

Several sessions explored the growing role of AI and automation in performance and reporting. The consensus? AI holds immense promise, but without strong data governance and human oversight, it’s not a silver bullet. From hallucinations in generative models to the ethical challenges of data usage, AI introduces new risks even as it streamlines workflows.

Use cases presented ranged from anomaly detection and report generation to client communication enhancements and predictive exception handling. But again and again, speakers emphasized: AI should augment, not replace, human expertise.

Private Markets Require Purpose-Built Tools

Private equity, private credit, real estate, and hedge funds remain among the trickiest asset classes to measure. Whether debating IRR vs. TWR, handling data lags, or selecting appropriate benchmarks, this year's sessions highlighted just how much nuance is involved in getting private market reporting right.

One particularly compelling idea: using replicating portfolios of public assets to assess the risk and performance of illiquid investments. This approach offers more transparency and a better sense of underlying exposures, especially in the absence of timely valuations.

Shorting and Leverage Complicate Performance Attribution

Calculating performance in long/short portfolios isn’t straightforward—and using absolute values can create misleading results. A session on this topic broke down the mechanics of short selling and explained why contribution-based return attribution is essential for accurate reporting.

The key insight: portfolio-level returns can fall outside the range of individual asset returns, especially in leveraged portfolios. Understanding the directional nature of each position is crucial for both internal attribution and external communication.

The SEC is Watching—Are You Ready?

Compliance was another hot topic, especially in light of recent enforcement actions under the SEC Marketing Rule. From misuse of hypothetical performance to sloppy use of testimonials, the panelists shared hard-earned lessons and emphasized the importance of documentation. This panel was moderated by Longs Peak’s Matt Deatherage, CFA, CIPM and included Lance Dial, of K&L Gates along with Thayne Gould from Vigilant.

FAQs have helped clarify gray areas (especially around extracted performance and proximity of net vs. gross returns), but more guidance is expected—particularly on model fees and performance portability. If you're not already documenting every performance claim, now is the time to start.

“Phantom Alpha” Is Real—And Preventable

David Spaulding of TSG, closed the conference with a deep dive into benchmark construction and the potential for “phantom alpha.” Even small differences in rebalancing frequency between portfolios and their benchmarks can create misleading outperformance. His recommendation? Either sync your rebalancing schedules or clearly disclose the differences.

This session served as a great reminder that even small implementation details can significantly impact reported performance—and that transparency is essential to maintaining trust.

Final Thoughts

From automation to attribution, PMAR 2025 showcased the depth and complexity of our field. If there’s one overarching takeaway, it’s that while tools and techniques continue to evolve, the core principles—transparency, accuracy, and accountability—remain as important a sever.

Did you attend PMAR this year? We’d love to hear your biggest takeaways. Reach out to us at hello@longspeakadvisory.com or drop us a note on LinkedIn!