One-Stop Shopping for GIPS® Guidance

Abstract

If the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) represent the gold standard for calculating and presenting historical performance, the newly released GIPS Handbook is the “owner’s manual” for investment professionals worldwide who are involved in investment performance measurement and reporting. “It’s one-stop shopping—pretty much everything you need in one place to help determine how the GIPS standards apply practically in the marketplace,” says Iain McAra, director of the GIPS standards for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region at CFA Institute, former member of the GIPS Executive Committee, and former vice president of performance strategy at JPMorgan Asset Management Inc. “The handbook provides investment managers with the insights and discussion that allow them to integrate their specific set of circumstances with the Standards.” The new edition of the GIPS Handbook, which replaces the 2006 version, reflects the updated GIPS provisions adopted in 2010 and provides interpretive guidance as well as applications for each provision. In addition to including the 2010 edition of the GIPS standards, it also contains all current GIPS “guidance statements,” which address issues that go beyond the scope of a simple application of the standards and may require additional interpretation and clarification. “While the principles of the GIPS standards remain the same, the GIPS standards and the interpretive guidance must continue to evolve in response to the dynamic nature and increased complexity of the financial services and asset management industries,” stresses Jonathan Boersma, CFA, executive director for the GIPS standards at CFA Institute. “Unlike 15 or 20 years ago,” adds Karyn Vincent, CFA, CIPM, founder of Vincent Performance Services LLC and a member of the GIPS Executive Committee, “firms that now comply with the GIPS standards are managing more complex products; the firms themselves may be more complex; and also firms that previously didn’t comply are now looking to comply with the GIPS standards. It’s become more necessary to provide technical guidance for lots of different situations.”