“The GIPS standards require firms to show investment performance for a minimum of five years, or since the inception of the firm or composite if either has existed for less than five years. After presenting at least five years of GIPS-compliant history, the firm must add annual performance each subsequent year building to a minimum of 10 years.” Is this just saying performance must be shown for at least 10 yrs (or since inception)? OR Is the wording more subtle than that? Is it saying you can choose to initially provide only 5 years, even if you have more than 5 years of track record? E.g. suppose a firm that is new to GIPS has a 20 year GIPS-compliant track record. They would rather not report their performance prior to 5 years ago, so they report their 5 year history and then build that to 10 over time. Apart from not being in the spirit of GIPS, is that permissable?
Yes.
It is completely allowable. I wouldn’t even call it not being in the spirit of the standards. There is something to say about having a longer track record. If the manager did manage this strategy for ten years but after 5 years of under performing, typically the manager changes something making the past 5 years really not relevant.
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They could go past 5 years back if they wanted, hence “minimum”.