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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Effective: 1 August, 2021

Categories: Total Fund Definition

Source: GIPS Standards Technical Committee

Asset owners are required to provide a GIPS Asset Owner Report for all total funds to the oversight body. If we have different funds for different purposes, how should we determine what is considered to be a total fund and subject to this requirement?

For example, we have an investment cash fund that is managed separately from our other total funds and is used for our short-term liquid cash needs. Is this investment cash fund considered to be a total fund and thus required to be presented to the oversight body in a GIPS Asset Owner Report?

A total fund is defined as a pool of assets managed by an asset owner according to a specific investment mandate, which is typically composed of multiple asset classes. The total fund usually consists of underlying portfolios, each representing one of the strategies used to achieve the asset owner’s investment mandate.

An asset owner with multiple objectives may have more than one total fund. In this instance, the investment cash fund is not part of a broader strategy and is managed on its own according to a specific investment mandate. Therefore, it is considered to be a total fund that is required to be presented to the oversight body in a GIPS Asset Owner Report. If the cash account were an operating cash account instead, it would not be considered a total fund.

Q & A Database

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