Performance Standards for Transition Management

Description

“When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean- neither more nor less.” Humpty Dumpty

It is time for a more objective standard than Humpty Dumpty’s to be applied to transition performance numbers.  Unlike traditional investment management, transition management does not yet enjoy a consistent set of performance standards used by all in the industry.  The adoption of such standards would held investors:  it would remove the need for “performance holidays,” improve the information available to buyers of transition services, make that information easier to use a clearly defined methodology in which investors have confidence.

These standards should focus on portfolio performance. This avoids the need to measure trading costs directly, a difficult and contentious process.  It enables the principles underlying GIPS, namely, fair representation and full disclosure, to be used as the basis for transition performance measurement.

This paper sets out a framework for evaluating the performance of transition accounts according to these principles.  Our purpose is to encourage debate in the industry, attract comment from other interested parties and thus facilitate the introduction of generally accepted standards.