I took this survey and discovered where I was losing

Acuity Knowledge Partners conducted a survey of asset managers to understand the challenges they face in investment reporting. Our survey targeted chief operating officers (COOs), heads of performance and reporting, heads of client services, heads of investment operations and heads of investment reporting at leading global asset management firms.

Key Takeaways

• Reporting teams are still struggling to meet deadlines, despite using the latest, cutting-edge
  reporting tools
• Only 30% of respondents said they are able to meet their reporting deadlines all the time
• Key problems: Data integration, data quality issues, and inadequate features of off-the-shelf
  reporting tools are the major reasons for delay in report production
• Data management, in particular, is the biggest pain point for all reporting team
• 89% of respondents are facing challenges in data integration owing to the lack of a centralised database
• Collaboration with third-party reporting vendors will likely help overcome these challenges given their expertise and experience with the reporting domain
• 70% of respondents believe such vendors have the ability to provide (a) quality emerging-technology
  solutions, digital expertise and automation support and (b) high-quality services

Originally published at https://www.acuitykp.com.

Authors

Stevi Joseph, Associate Director, Portfolio Research, Operations and Risk, heads the Portfolio Research, Operations and Risk practice at Acuity Knowledge Partners. He has over 12 years of experience in the investment management industry across portfolio analytics, manager research, investment reporting and data management. He has extensive experience in building bespoke tools for asset managers for their analytics and reporting purposes. Stevi holds a Master of Science degree in Physics.

Shankar Shivakumar, CFA, Associate Director, Specialised Solutions, is responsible for implementing strategic initiatives at Acuity Knowledge Partners’ Specialised Solutions division and also heads data management operations for a large hedge fund. He has over 14 years of experience in private equity, investment banking, investment research and corporate finance. Shankar is a CFA Charterholder and holds a Master of Business Administration degree.

Priya Chakkingal, Associate Director, Head — Index Services, has over 16 years of work experience in supporting index and ETF companies in managing both benchmark and strategy indices across asset classes. At Acuity Knowledge Partners, she has been instrumental in setting up and managing teams supporting large, reputed index providers for over 10 years. She was responsible for overseeing index production of over 25,000 indices, including data quality, batch job monitoring, risk calibration and client services. She holds a Master of Economics degree from the University of Southern California and Master and Bachelor of Economics degrees from the University of Mumbai.

Ankita Jhawar, CFA, Assistant Director, Portfolio Research, Operations and Risk, has over 8 years of work experience in portfolio research and operations. At Acuity Knowledge Partners, she supports the investment marketing group of one of the largest global asset managers in client reporting activities. Prior to this, she provided support as a buy-side fixed income product specialist for multi-sector fixed income mandates. She is an alumnus of Goldman Sachs and D. E. Shaw & Co. She is also a CFA Charterholder and holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Economics degree.