Category: Reporting
-
Why Our Private Fund Returns Differ from a Fund Manager’s Statements
You receive a statement from a private equity fund, then review your consolidated family office report. Both show a rate of return for the same investment, but the numbers differ. Does that mean someone has made a mistake? Not necessarily. Performance depends on which cash flows are included, when they’re recorded, what valuation is used,…
-
AI Can Generate a Family Office Report, Is It Good Enough?
I recently came across an interesting example of an AI-generated family office report. And, I think it’s pretty cool to see how AI can generate consolidated financial reports in the same class as the incumbent software providers (at a fraction of their cost). This development also demonstrates how quickly the reporting landscape is changing, and…
-
The Benefits of Simplicity
As families accumulate wealth, their financial affairs often become more complex. That’s a shame. Investors may establish investment holding companies, family trusts, donor-advised funds, private foundations, insurance structures, and multiple investment accounts. They may hire several investment managers, tax advisers, lawyers, bookkeepers, and reporting providers. Each new arrangement may appear sensible when considered on its…
-
What a True Family Office Does Beyond Investment Management
The term “family office” used to mean something quite specific: the organized people, processes, records, reporting, and decision-making structure that helped a wealthy family manage the complexity of its financial life. A family office was not simply an investment strategy, it was more like a CFO. It was the operating system around the family’s wealth.…
-
How Family Offices Benefit from an Addepar Reporting Service
Family office investors often face a surprisingly basic problem: they don’t always have a clear, consolidated view of what they own. Assets may be spread across personal accounts, holding companies, trusts, registered accounts, charitable foundations, privately held investments, custodians, bank accounts, employer plans, and investment managers. Each provider may produce its own report, but those…
-
The Case for Investment Transparency in Philanthropy
Investments often represent the majority of a foundation’s assets, yet they remain one of the least visible parts of how philanthropic capital is governed. While grant making is typically well documented and publicly shared. Investment decisions, such as who makes them, how they’re made, and what they aim to achieve, are often opaque. This gap…
-
What Canada’s 2025 MFO Survey Really Reveals About “Family Offices”
The newly released Canadian Family Offices Multi-Family Office Landscape 2025 report provides a clear view into what Canadian Multi-Family Offices (“MFOs”) actually look like; who they serve, how they charge, and how they operate. But beneath the numbers lies a deeper story about what is and is not a true family office. Two findings stand…
-
The 9 Most Common Asset Classes Used by Canadian Investors
Investors in Canada rely on a core set of asset classes to create balanced, resilient portfolios. Each asset class behaves differently—its volatility, expected returns, and correlation patterns shape how it contributes to long-term wealth. Clear understanding of these characteristics, along with the benchmarks that represent each category, helps families build simple, enduring investment policies. 1.…
-
Active Returns: More Than a Simple Calculation
Active return is one of the most important measurements investors should make with their portfolios. And a full understanding of active return can provide powerful insights into how your investments are performing. Many investors often compare their portfolio’s performance to a benchmark. Like, an index or composite that represents the market or strategy they’re making.…
-
Would You Rather Build a Complex Tech System or Simply Hire Another Admin?
As family offices grow, the volume of data grows with them. More accounts, more private assets, more custodians, and more reporting requirements. At some point, every wealth-holder or family office faces a pivotal question: Would you rather embark on an overwhelming new tech project with a long onboarding process that nobody on your team is…