Anyone has any suggestions as to what portfolio performance tracking software to use (that complies with CFA’s performance standards)? Typical long/short investment style. A lot of the software I tried are more tailored to traders than to portfolio managers. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
My company uses PortfolioCenter from Schwab Performance Technologies for tracking performance. It does comply with CFAi’s performance standards, and can lead to GIPS compliance. We actually, last month, were audited and became GIPS compliant. It was quite the pain in the butt. As far as performance tracking software goes, it quite simple to use. It is updated daily with a data file from your custodian, and generally (varies with custodian) has daily reconciliation capabilities. Pluses: decent reporting capabilities, customizable reports, relatively cheap compared to competition, now on SQL server (robust database), exports easily to excel, daily transaction posting with cost basis tracking, … Minuses: Schwab charges you to download data from custodians other than them, tech support is decent but wait times can be outrageous, report profiles change for all user when one user makes a change, setup on client/server machine platform so no capability to access remotely without terminal server or such. From what I have seen, it is above bottom end, but if your firm has many resources, I’m sure there is something better out there.
Check out Eagle PACE. It is customizable and works really well if you have the resources and expertise.
mxz - thanks for the post on PortfolioCenter. We’re going to be getting that soon. We use dbCAMs.
We use dbCams as well and are thinking about switching to Portfolio Center. Do you know how easy it is to transfer data from dbCams to PortfolioCenter? Thanks.
Depending on your size you may want to look at Advent Axys too (that is what my firm uses). On the plus size it is more robust than PortfolioCenter, but doesn’t play well with other software.
The Spaulding Group publishes a tech guide every year - google them. All of the programs above are good, but it really depends on your needs.