Practical Portfolio Performance Measurement and Attribution, Second Edition

Appendix D

European Investment Performance Committee – Guidance on Performance Attribution Presentation¹⁰

SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION

Performance attribution has become an increasingly valuable tool not only for assessing asset managers’ skills and for identifying the sources of value added but also for facilitating a meaningful dialogue between investment managers and their clients.

Like any other performance presentation, a presentation of performance attribution results provides meaningful information to the user only to the extent the user understands the assumptions and concepts underlying this presentation. That’s why it is crucially important that the presentation of attribution results is provided in a way that does not mislead the users and contains all necessary disclosures to explain the underlying assumptions and concepts.

Given the aforementioned, the European Investment Performance Committee (EIPC) has decided to take the initiative and to address the demand of the investment management industry for specific guidance with respect to presentation of return and risk attribution analysis. The first step was the issue of the EIPC Working Paper “Guidance for Users of Attribution Analysis” in early 2002. The following Guidance on Performance Attribution Presentation represents the next milestone in this process and establishes a reporting framework, which provides for a fair presentation of return and risk attribution results with full disclosure. EIPC acknowledges that ...