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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Archived

Effective: 1 September, 2001 - 31 October, 2012

Categories: Dispersion

Source: Investment Performance Council (IPC)

How should a firm that calculates rates of return on a quarterly or monthly basis meet the GIPS standards requirement of including a measure of composite dispersion in a performance presentation in compliance with the GIPS standards?

When disclosing the dispersion of portfolio returns within each composite, only the portfolios that have been managed for the full period should be included in the dispersion calculation. The returns (monthly or quarterly) of those full-year portfolios should be calculated and linked together to determine the annual returns for each portfolio. The annual returns of these portfolios should be used to compute the composite dispersion.

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