AdventGuru

I have been talking about the evolution of investment reporting for years and telling anyone who would listen that their clients will soon have other investment reporting options.  My dream or vision of the future includes me (of course) providing the interface to facilitate getting data from financial services firms to a secure data warehouse via xPort where their clients could download the data for analysis on an open reporting platform.

As I discussed this with one of my clients at a recent Schwab conference, they shared their concerns with me.   I was told, “It’s basically a problem of apples and oranges.”

My long-time client and friend explained to me that they would have concerns that data they reviewed and corrected (“apples”) might be reported as uncorrected data (“oranges”).

Though data aggregators exist and have much of the data required, they won’t have it all unless advisors participate and cooperate in the process.  Reconciliation needs to be performed and maintained on an ongoing basis with respect to assets under management, inception-to-date performance, and tax cost.  No one is more motivated and qualified to maintain that data integrity than the advisors whose decisions, service, and bottom line are impacted by the quality of that data.

Big Brother will have access to this data too – that’s not part of my plan, but just a given eventuality and perhaps already a reality.  Regulatory powers will employ predictive analytics to proactively search for potential fraud.  For example, an advisor reporting the same exact composite return two years in a row is possible, but highly unlikely and worth investigating.  When more scrutiny is applied to this data, one can only hope that the benefits of additional regulation will outweigh the compliance headaches.

Enter SigFig

According to their web site, SigFig was born out of the noble desire to serve the millions of investors that don’t meet typical portfolio minimums and cannot afford quality investment advice.  Your clients may be using SigFig already.  If you haven’t seen it, SigFig is to investment reporting what Mint is to personal financial reporting.  Unfortunately for investment advisors, SigFig has a similar business model, meaning that investors do not pay for the service, but instead get solicited with offers that appear relevant to their investments; for example, “this fund is outperforming your fund “or “your investment advisor is overcharging you.”

Using SigFig, investors can view a dashboard summary of investment reporting information that looks better than what many investment advisors currently provide to their clients.  However, as one familiar the details of performance calculations, client billing, and reconciliation, I am naturally concerned about possible data quality issues.  The idea of replacing the sound advice of an investment professional with algorithms designed to place ads – even though those ads are intended to be unbiased – seems inherently flawed.

To learn more, you can check out SigFig here:

www.sigfig.com

In my preferred vision, advisors would pay an interface fee and their participating clients would purchase SAAS reporting or a Droid/iOS app.  Idyllic as it might seem, this version of the future would allow investment advisors and their clients to share views of reports created by impartial third-party reporting sources.

SigFig is a step in the right direction, and should serve as warning to investment advisors that more robust investment reporting information will be delivered to their clients whether they participate in the process themselves or allow their clients to find it on their own.

The Best Investment Reports

It makes perfect sense that your firm should want to provide the best reports possible to your clients, without incurring an unreasonable expense or maintaining an unmanageable reporting process.  Unfortunately, what’s best for your firm and what’s best your client may be two different things. You want to validate your investment methodology and highlight the value continued use of your firm offers, but you also need to keep your client’s best interests in mind.  More than one advisor I have worked with in the past has chosen to shy away from slick, eye-popping reports, instead favoring black-and-white reports where simple numbers alone underscore performance.  In the opinion of these advisors, the relationship with a client is more important than fancy reporting and such reports can distract investors.

Call modern reports a prudent best practice or self-serving marketing effort designed to ensure your firm’s survival.  The truth is that they are a little of both.  Clients expect decent reporting, so substandard reports are now passé.  Quarterly report packages like those I have helped clients create for twenty years are also known as presentations, and perhaps that is a better name for them.  It describes what investors are really trying to do at quarter end.

Sample Client Reporting Presentation

Every quarter, advisors have an obligation and opportunity to make a presentation of how their clients’ investments are doing.  Most advisors also write a quarterly letter in which they address the near-term market conditions and reasonable expectations for the future while trying to impart some relevant wisdom to their investors.  Advisors are, in fact, presenting and remarketing to their clients on a quarterly basis.  Good presentations typically illustrate an advisor’s general knowledge of the markets, educate clients, and show how the advisor adds value.  The reports included in these presentations also present holdings analyses that provide clients with additional insight into their investments, but, most importantly, these reports provide the client with performance figures and comparative benchmarks for various time periods.

Report Development or Adoption

For some firms, proprietary custom report writing is required to meet the needs outlined above.  With this requirement comes the necessity to employ staff or contract with vendors to produce and maintain the reports.  The effort to produce high-quality reports can be daunting whether the project is handled internally or outsourced.  Many custom reports, by definition, are in flux.  In a typical quarter, custom reports may undergo additional feature enhancements and require maintenance modifications or bug fixes.  In order to maintain custom reporting systems, an ongoing commitment of time and money is necessary.

Advisors may want to create distinct custom reports that are part of their brand, but given the potential complexity and cost of creating those reports – the best investment reports for those with limited funds are the ones that already exist.

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About the Author: Kevin Shea is President of InfoSystems Integrated, Inc. (ISI); ISI provides a wide variety of outsourced IT solutions to investment advisors nationwide.

For details, please visit isitc.com, contact Kevin Shea via phone at 617-720-3400 x202 or e-mail at kshea@isitc.com.