To successfully address these complex challenges, investment firms are actively searching for trustworthy and reputable partners with in-depth expertise in post-trade execution. These partners have the ability to seamlessly navigate the intricate network of transactions and provide unwavering assurance to clients in their post-trade activities. 

This blog explores the intricate landscape of trade confirmation and settlement, unravelling the six pivotal steps underpinning these essential processes. Our aim is to demystify the intricacies and shed light on the crucial stages that culminate in the seamless execution of trades within the financial realm. 

Key Stakeholders in the Trade Settlement Lifecycle 

Navigating Trade Settlement Complexities 

Although the trade settlement process aims for efficiency, its complexity arises from various factors. Let’s delve into some of these intricacies and examine why clients frequently rely on external institutions (such as custodian banks and clearinghouses) for assistance in trade settlement: 

• Regulatory requirements: Different geographical regions and financial markets adhere to distinct regulatory frameworks for trade settlement. Complying with these regulations adds intricacies that require specialized expertise to navigate effectively.  
• International transactions: Cross-border deals introduce additional complexities related to foreign exchange dynamics, tax implications, and adherence to global legal regulations. 
• Trade volume and frequency: Institutional investors and traders often handle a high volume of trades. Managing settlement for such a large volume of transactions can be time-consuming and prone to errors. 
• Trade types and instruments: Financial markets host a variety of trade types and instruments, including equities, bonds, derivatives, and more. Each instrument’s settlement process possesses unique characteristics, contributing to overall complexities.
• Time sensitivity: Timely settlements are crucial to prevent trade failures or penalties. Ensuring all parties meet deadlines requires efficient communication and execution. 
• Risk management: Trade settlement involves counterparty, operational, and market risks. Inadequate risk management could lead to financial losses. 

In response to these challenges, investment firms are actively seeking reliable and proficient partners who can confidently manage post-trade execution activities. This is where expert consulting firms come to the forefront, offering comprehensive trade settlement services tailored to the unique requirements of investment firms. 

These firms understand the pivotal nature of the settlement process and the financial and reputational consequences of errors. With a team of experienced professionals, cutting-edge technology, and a profound grasp of the financial sector, these firms are well-prepared to handle the complexities and intricacies of trade settlement. Through meticulous attention to detail and stringent quality control, they ensure accurate and efficient processing of each trade, mitigating the risk of errors and reducing potential losses for clients. 

Conclusion: 

Trade settlement facilitators play a pivotal role in aiding clients with their trade settlement needs. These facilitators offer an array of services aimed at streamlining and speeding up executing and finalizing trade transactions. Their services typically encompass trade matching, clearance, and settlement. Harnessing cutting-edge technologies and established networks guarantees accuracy, transparency, and security in trade settlements. Clients reap the benefits of minimized operational risks and expedited error-free settlement cycles. Moreover, these facilitators provide valuable insights and reporting, empowering clients to make informed decisions and optimize their trade activities. 

Hedge funds strive to attain strong investor returns through varied investment approaches. They must establish structured fund management, compliance, and reporting systems to accomplish this goal. This is crucial to satisfy investor demands, maintain competitiveness, mitigate risks, adhere to regulations, uphold transparency, improve efficiency, and prevent regulatory issues.  

Efficient middle and back-office operations play a critical role in ensuring seamless operations of the fund, and adherence to regulations, resulting in the generation of accurate and reliable reporting. Systematic middle and back-office operations form the backbone of a well-structured and successful hedge fund by managing the operational aspects that underpin the fund’s activities. 

Fund managers understand that it can be difficult to support and scale their operations team; instead, they are moving to outsourced providers to satisfy critical requirements.  The right Managed Services Partner will streamline their middle and back-office operations, allowing them to focus on core business activities and capitalize on service level agreements, which include expanded coverage across multiple time zones.   

This article explains the advantages of outsourcing middle and back-office functions and how it enables fund managers to enhance their operational efficiency and competitiveness in the market. 

Expert Middle & Back Office Support 

Outsourcing middle and back-office operations provides hedge funds with the benefit of utilizing a team of skilled professionals equipped with specialized knowledge. By harnessing this expertise, fund managers streamline their processes, improve productivity, and enhance risk management practices. 

• Optimizing Hedge Fund Efficiency – Hedge funds employ diverse investment strategies to achieve returns surpassing traditional market benchmarks and align with investor expectations. However, the intricate nature of middle and back-office operations can strain a fund’s resources and time, because it requires meticulous attention to tasks such as trade execution, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance. The shift in focus from operational tasks to more investment-focused tasks allows fund managers to make more informed decisions, adapt quickly to market changes, and seize lucrative opportunities.
• Adaptability – Partnering with a service provider with diverse asset class and accounting expertise equips hedge funds for swift adaptation to market shifts and strategies. This seamless flexibility facilitates scaling in trading new asset classes, bolstering the fund’s ability to navigate market fluctuations and make informed decision-making confidently. Fund managers gain reassurance that their daily middle and back-office operations remain unaffected by altering strategies and trade volumes. Expert service providers adeptly accommodate changes, minimizing implementation time and managing the learning curve effectively.
• Advisory – Choosing the right managed service provider is of utmost importance. A reliable service provider surpasses the responsibility of guaranteeing precise daily middle-office and back-office activities. They proactively collaborate with fund managers to enhance workflows and provide advisory support. This approach involves identifying challenges and offering tailored solutions, like incorporating automated swap settlement and reconciliation processes. This is supported by implementing complex tasks like reconciling performance and financing interest against broker files; and adapting tax lot reconciliations to align with specific client preferences, ensuring accurate Profit and Loss (P&L) and General Ledger Providers play a crucial role in delivering valuable expertise and encouraging the adoption of best practices among their clients. This is achieved through a structured series of workflow assessments that are designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their client’s operations. The provider’s commitment transcends contractual obligations, validating the decision to outsource by delivering extra value. Such dedication reinforces the partnership and cultivates a successful, efficient, and productive relationship with the hedge fund.
• Utilizing Time-Zone Difference – Asset managers collaborating with overseas outsourcing partners gain access to a dedicated and efficient support team available around the clock, spanning pre-market and early trading hours. The time zone disparity enables hedge funds to receive continuous support and real-time aid, even during their non-working hours. With a local presence in the US office, clients enjoy 24/5 coverage. Moreover, the US-based team collaborates closely with fund managers and operations heads, directly streamlining workflows and executing new strategies. This setup ensures rapid issue resolution and seamless operations, minimizing downtime and maximizing productivity. The presence of a dedicated support team empowers hedge funds to tackle operational challenges and sustain uninterrupted functionality. This dynamic contributes to their overall success and competitiveness within the market. 
• Customization and Scalability – It is imperative that outsourcing partners recognize the distinctiveness of each hedge fund and understand the importance of catering to their unique requirements. Consequently, the right partner will offer tailored solutions to accommodate individual needs. This necessitates that the outsourced partners possess functional expertise and a technical understanding of the client’s preferred systems and technology. Customization may include curated portfolio reporting, specialized tax lot services, portfolio re-balancing, manual journal entry setups, handling swap and borrow financing adjustments, and other ad-hoc requirements unique to the fund’s operations. This level of personalized service ensures that the outsourcing partner can efficiently address the fund’s individual demands, providing comprehensive and bespoke support that enhances operational efficiency and accuracy. The ability to cater to such diverse and specific requirements further validates the value of outsourcing for hedge funds seeking a highly adaptable and dedicated partner. 
• Risk Mitigation & Better Governance – Efficient outsourcing partners play a pivotal role in assisting hedge funds to navigate risks and enhance governance practices expertly. Their valuable service involves adeptly managing and mitigating operational risks while meticulously monitoring Net Asset Value (NAV) and discrepancies stemming from Fund Administrators’ inputs. This comprehensive process encompasses tasks like calculating dividends, swap accruals, and other non-trading calculations, alongside routine daily and month-end checks. The primary goal is to swiftly identify and rectify potential errors, thus minimizing the chances of financial complexities or regulatory issues emerging during audits. This consistent dedication to compliance and regulatory standards nurtures a deep sense of confidence within hedge funds, highlighting the integrity and professionalism that characterize their partners’ operational approaches. 

FinServ Consulting’s Role in the Middle and Back Office Industry 

FinServ Consulting’s managed services team provides efficient trade, cash, and position reconciliations, allowing front office and operations teams access to reliable, updated, and error-free information.  Accurate positions and NAV data allow portfolio managers and traders to confidently focus on order generation, including sizing and position allocations. 

In addition, our service offering includes daily P&L checks, tax lot reporting, swap financing and dividend accrual assistance, hands-on systems entries, and overall guidance with the goal of ensuring efficient month and quarter-end accounting closes.   Any discrepancies or differences with fund administrators, prime brokers, and other counterparties are resolved quickly and remediated in real-time.   

FinServ Consulting places significant emphasis on five critical service areas, enabling the delivery of quality reconciliations and back-office reporting. This is achievable due to FinServ’s extensive expertise in various aspects of hedge fund operations and a deep understanding of systems and technology. 

Conclusion

Outsourcing middle and back-office operations offers hedge funds a strategic advantage by allowing them to focus on their core business, access to specialized expertise, utilize time zone differences for non-working hours support, receive prompt responses, and benefit from tailored solutions. It enhances risk management practices, improves operational efficiency, and ensures better governance, ultimately supporting hedge funds in their pursuit of excellence in the highly competitive financial landscape. 

Private Equity (PE) firms’ operational efficiency is critical in determining their success, especially against shifting market conditions. PE firms typically have complex inter-departmental processes managed through Excel spreadsheets, email communications, and other disparate applications. While Excel and Outlook are essential tools, an Enterprise Task Management system is far more effective in organizing tasks, providing a centralized place to see the status of critical path items, and creating an optimal Private Equity foundation for your overall success.  

FinServ has spent 18 years working with our clients to enhance their business processes. In the past few years, we have focused on assisting our Private Equity clients in Private Equity in leveraging task management software to address some critical areas of their operations. From this experience, we have gained great insight into how a PE firm’s internal operations can be classified into six main stages and how task management tools can optimize their operations on a day-to-day basis: 

Through our work with several Private Equity clients, we have found that the success of implementing an Enterprise Task Management system comes down to a few critical success factors. 

• Ease of Use & Implementation – Sophisticated workflow tools can provide great automation to operations. However, these tools are highly complex and take many months to implement. They often require very technical resources to set up and code solutions. Task management tools offer a simple, intuitive setup that results in implementing a solution in days or weeks, allowing users to see results quickly. 
• Super Users Drive Adoption – Business users can quickly learn how to set up their projects in a Task Management tool, becoming early adopters who share their successes with other groups. Users have set up issue-tracking projects that have quickly spread to several other departments when they share their success stories. 
• Cross-Departmental Collaboration – One client was struggling with the coordination of onboarding employees between their HR and IT departments. The HR team leveraged the Task Management tool to share the new hire process with the IT team. The IT team created its project, which tracked each detailed step of setting up a new employee, including communications with external parties. The new process resulted in a streamlined process where every new employee gets what they need to succeed, resulting in a great first impression of a process often filled with issues at many other firms.
• White-Glove Support – Even if a system is simple to implement, it does not mean every user can handle it independently. Our firm focuses on providing users with all the support they require, including helping them to model their project if desired and providing them with helpful best practice approaches to everyday task management items. When a client has a question about how to do something in the system or something is not working the way they expect, we respond immediately, ensuring they maintain their enthusiasm for the system. Eventually, the users become self-sufficient, but early on, we make sure they have a large degree of handle holding and support.  

The Task Management Tool Marketplace and Deciding What Tool is Right for Your Firm

Different types of task management software tools are available in the marketplace. While some are free and relatively simple, others need to be bought and can be deployed firmwide. We have found that the best Task Management tools provide these core capabilities:

Outside of the key benefits from our extensive work in this area, we have found that there are three main benefits of using task management software for a PE firm: 

Greater Transparency:  

Given that PE firms receive information from various sources – third-party vendors, market data providers, disparate internal systems, and ad-hoc data dumps – it is essential to translate all the relevant information into clearly defined workflows in a task management system. The structured workflow enhances operational efficiencies and provides greater transparency, which is especially important when multiple tasks require inter-departmental cooperation, e.g., when a deal closes, in addition to the Deal Execution team, Tax, Legal, Valuation, and Cash Management teams, etc., need to be notified. Different teams can track their combined workflow and easily compare each other’s progress in the task management system.   

Task management systems can also accommodate the underlying dynamics of a workflow by providing capabilities such as approval tasks, dependencies, etc. For example, if the post-deal closing workflow cannot be started until a deal is closed, the workflow can be structured for the post-closing workflow to be triggered only after a deal is closed. Similarly, approval tasks can be created so that unless a task has been approved, the user cannot progress to the following task. Typically, these are ‘soft blocks’ that can be overridden but are crucial in preserving the workflow structure.  

Greater Integration:  

Private Equity firms use multiple tools to track their operations. For example, many PE firms track the Deal from inception to its funding in Salesforce or other CRM systems.  

Most of the clients we have implemented task management systems used to track this info in their email systems which could have been more efficient and decentralized.  After our implementation, the task management tools connect with different software, such as Salesforce, to ensure the Deal information flows automatically into a central place where all deals and statuses are tracked.  When a Deal is funded, it flows into the task management system in a pre-defined workflow and alerts the relevant teams to complete the assigned tasks.  

Where email can come in handy is to notify a person when they have something important to take care of in the task management system. Task management systems provide more intelligent connectivity with email communications. Through their built-in integrations with Outlook, Gmail, etc., emails can provide detailed information from the task management system and link the user directly to the task they must act upon.  

Some PE teams, like Investor Relations, constantly receive emails from investors and prospects. Many task management tools allow emails to be forwarded to a specific project. They can intelligently scrape critical information from the email to automatically create a task for the IR team to act upon. By providing the ability to translate emails directly into tasks, the task management systems significantly reduce the manual effort required to distill the information into actionable items and assign it to individuals as needed. 

Task management tools can also integrate with file-sharing software such as SharePoint Online. Private equity internal operations rely heavily on spreadsheets housed in a central location, e.g., SharePoint. Task management software can integrate with SharePoint, allowing users to attach their files, located in SharePoint, to the workflow as needed. Users can easily be redirected to the SharePoint file through the task management software whenever they need to access the files while completing their tasks. Task management tools can maintain the same privacy rights as SharePoint, thus protecting the security of sensitive documents. 

Greater Reporting:  

Practical task management tools report essential metrics in real-time, allowing users to draw insights about any workflow’s progress. For example, a task management system can produce graphics and visualizations on multiple metrics, such as the number of tasks completed, the number of tasks assigned to a specific user, etc. This allows an executive to quickly see projects or processes in trouble or critical staff members whose workload is too heavy. 

Teams can use these reports to easily track the overall project’s progress and gauge individual members’ performance. For example, through sorting and filtering capabilities, the task management systems allow the users to filter the tasks by an assignee and check if they have completed them on time. Additionally, if a task remains incomplete beyond the due date, it will be highlighted, and the assignee will be notified accordingly. 

Moreover, these reports can easily be exported from the system. Flexible reporting options allow users to customize the reports according to their needs. This provides a quick and effective way to fully understand the workflow’s progress and ensure that delays can be identified promptly.  

Conclusion

Private Equity firms have complex internal operations and continue to rely too heavily on spreadsheets, email, and disparate application software to track their internal operations. These methods could be more inefficient and error-prone, and valuable energy and time are often spent searching for the data to verify its accuracy.  

Adopting a task management system can streamline the workflows across multiple teams and provide greater visibility of each team’s performance. Centralizing all tasks in one system makes it easy for line-level staff or senior executives to get the information they require quickly.  Greater transparency ensures that any bottlenecks can be easily identified and addressed, strengthening organizational transparency and efficiency.  

Whether you are implementing Workday for the first time or are an existing Workday user, proper support is needed to ensure your Workday experience is a success. To realize the system’s full potential and adequately support your business users, Workday must be supported by resources capable of taking on many tasks. These tasks can vary from answering how-to questions, troubleshooting issues, administering recurring events, updating calendar/schedule periods, liaising with Workday, and analyzing/deploying Workday release features.

When building your support team or enhancing it, it is essential to look for the following key characteristics. These characteristics are attributes of individuals who know Workday in and out and how the industry operates. These attributes will result in a support team that can efficiently handle any Workday request.

1. Resources with Industry Experience – Support personnel with experience in the industry are more efficient than newer resources without the requisite background. In addition, these resources can understand and diagnose issues quickly and accurately as they have been through similar situations before.
2. Less Specialization – Resources knowledgeable in multiple Workday modules provide more comprehensive solutions to issues. In addition, cross-module expertise enables these resources to know what components are related, how they impact each other, and what is part of any total solution.
3. Documentation Skills – Resources that know how to create well-written documentation provide value beyond configuring Workday. The documentation they produce will be invaluable to retaining institutional and contextual knowledge, mitigate against staff turnover, and provide a knowledge base for others to leverage.

Resources with Industry Experience

It is important not to fixate only on what resources know in Workday. Knowing the ins and outs of the industry is just as valuable. This knowledge is gained only through experience and provides a perspective on how things are supposed to work regardless of the kind of system.

For example, it is quite common for terminating employees at Asset Managers to be subject to a Garden Leave policy where the terminated worker is essentially paid not to work for a set amount of time after their termination. Workday does not come pre-configured with the means to put someone on Garden Leave; it will be up to your firm to configure this. Resources with experience administering and using Garden Leaves will know how to configure it properly. In Workday, the easy part is setting up the Garden Leave itself so that the terminations could go on leave and not terminate until the end of their Leave. However, there are additional considerations to review regarding whether Garden Leave terminations should be included in active headcount, where they should sit in your organization, or whether they should be visible to employees outside of HR. Support resources knowledgeable about Garden Leaves would know how to configure Workday optimally, focusing on the pitfalls to look out for and specific reporting requirements.

This is just one specific example; however, with so many moving pieces for a feature commonly used by Asset Managers, it is critical to vet resources on their knowledge of Workday and how they have applied Workday to meet HR policies at other firms in the same industry.

Less Specialization

Having less specialization in a specific Workday component may seem counterintuitive, but in our experience, it is quite the opposite. Sure, a specialist in a particular Workday module can expertly configure its module. However, this specialization comes at a cost where they cannot configure other modules or realize the more significant impact a request may have on other areas of Workday.

As a result, a specialist may not be able to implement a comprehensive solution. Or, their lack of knowledge of other Workday components would introduce complexities when handoff and coordination are required between multiple resources.

For example, in Workday Financials, you can set up a Punchout where Workday integrates with a vendor allowing you to purchase items (like office supplies or computer hardware) directly from the vendor, and the order information would flow directly into Financials. Setting this up would involve creating a Purchase Order, matching the invoice, capitalizing the asset (if applicable), and setting up a depreciation schedule. Again, a resource that was knowledgeable in multiple Workday components would be able to advise you on what to watch out for and the best path to implement the solution.

Documentation Skills

The most overlooked attribute when evaluating Workday resources is the mindset and ability to document everything and do it well. Documentation is critical as resolving Workday issues is often an involved process involving researching the subject, implementing the solution, and testing multiple scenarios. Furthermore, many types of problems and projects repeat themselves (i.e., an employee thinks their Time Off Balance is incorrect, Performance Cycles happen twice a year, annual Open Enrollment, and new time off plans). Documentation can prevent having to research and resolve the same issues more than once.

Proper and well-written documentation will preserve the work done, allowing you to retain institutional knowledge, lessen the impact of any resource turnover, and enable work to be done more efficiently. The team will spend less time re-examining common issues, attempting to understand past decisions, and more time resolving the actual problem.

Retaining knowledge of your existing setup is particularly relevant across the alternative investment client base, where firms often devise complex allocation rules to determine the true profitability of each business line.   These rules result in a ‘fully-loaded’ P&L by business line and can be used in some cases to determine the compensation of portfolio managers, traders, or other essential employees associated with the business. In some cases, firms will want access to this P&L but not have it truly posted in the general ledger and instead use it for reporting purposes. This necessitates customized reporting that may exclude or include these allocations depending upon the view of the person running the report. When troubleshooting or modifying these reports, it may take a resource that is unfamiliar with the setup much longer and may lead them to recommend modifications that are not appropriate. It may also require lengthy explanations from the business that is not the best use of time and could otherwise be avoided.  

Conclusion

Successfully supporting Workday is not easy, as there are many types of users to deal with and a wide array of issues to resolve. Therefore, selecting the proper staff to support Workday is in your best interest. Your support personnel must be capable of working with multiple Workday components, documenting solutions and decisions well, and having knowledge of the business to create solutions that fit within the industry. By recognizing and evaluating resources against these critical traits, you will be well-positioned to field the right Workday support team for your organization.

FinServ’s long history servicing the world’s top Alternative Asset Managers, combined with our deep Workday expertise, make us a natural option to help you find a world-class Workday support team.

There are five critical tasks that Workday companies should undertake around the year-end / new year time frame. Individually, these are simple tasks but can significantly impact your HR operations if not completed in time.

Year-end activities come thick and fast, and it is easy in the last month of the year to forget to undertake some essential tasks. FinServ Consulting has identified five essential tasks that every HR department must complete to guarantee a smooth kick-off to the new year. Lack of action on these tasks could create unnecessary errors or preventable breaks in your operations, causing a lot of unneeded January headaches.

These five areas are:

1. Scheduled Processes – (integration, reports, alerts) and Period Schedules (payroll, time off, time tracking) must be reviewed and set up / extended manually. Scheduled processes can be set up in advance up to five instances in a new year. Period schedules can be set up for up to two years in advance.
2. Delegation Review – A review of delegation assignments ensures that they are correct and that expiration dates are extended. This will avoid the Workday inboxes of executives filling up with tasks that generally would be delegated.
3. Compliance Activities – Review what compliance requirements are pending for the new year, including mandated data purging and verifying employee compliance with company policies.
4. Corporate Document Updates – A review of employee documents like the corporate handbook, benefit plan documents, and company policies will ensure that they are updated and properly linked to in Workday.
5. Time Off Calendar and Balances – Update the upcoming holiday calendar to ensure that employees can successfully request time off. In addition, review time-off balances that are carrying over to ensure accuracy.

#1 – Scheduled Processes and Period Schedules

Scheduled processes allow you to automate processes on a schedule (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly), such as an integration with your medical benefits provider or payroll processor. These schedules are typically set up in advance but must be maintained annually. They cannot be scheduled indefinitely and can usually be set for up to five scheduled instances in the following year.

Suppose your payroll file is not sent to your payroll provider because it is no longer automatically scheduled in Workday. In that case, the HR team risks a highly visible and potentially catastrophic mistake.

Period Schedules standardize the sequential periods you use to track absence or payroll. These period schedules also need to be entered and maintained manually and can be entered up to two years in advance.

Not setting your future period schedules can prevent employees from requesting time off or prevent you from processing the next pay run. Like the Scheduled Processes, not maintaining Period Schedules is an easily preventable error.

#2 – Delegation Review

Tasks are often delegated in Workday, usually to assistants of senior executives. Senior executives are generally crucial control points to granting approvals for time off requests from their subordinates or approving high-value expenses and invoices. Executives usually do not have the time or inclination to go into Workday consistently and approve these requests.

Delegating these tasks to assistants allow the tasks to be completed in a timely and consistent manner. These delegations do have expiration dates and need to be reviewed annually. Letting delegation settings expire can result in a senior executive’s Workday inbox being flooded rather than the tasks going to the correct delegated employee for processing. If the executive is not looking at their Workday inbox, critical invoice payments may not be approved, leading to unnecessary late payment penalties. For example, Market Data vendors’ unpaid invoices may lead to unnecessary late fees or, even worse, denial of critical data that the business requires.

As administrative permissions have time limits, it is easy to set them and forget them until something goes horribly wrong.

#3 – Compliance Activities

​Data purging and employee compliance are two of the essential resets needed at year-end / beginning of the year. This means verifying that everyone has signed the required employee and corporate policy documents such as the employee handbook, Covid / return to work attestations, restricted trading policy attestations, and other necessary documents.

As these documents are disseminated throughout the year, it is easy to lose track of whether they have been reviewed and signed off on by all employees.

The time surrounding the new year is a natural time to conduct a holistic overview of the status of the firm’s overall policy attestations. For example, employees may be required to attest to understanding the code of ethics or conflicts of interest policies. Ensuring that these policies are enforced and that enforcement is tangible is key to assuaging any concerns of regulators or potential investors.

This time is also an excellent time to review how well the firm is in compliance with data retention and purging regulations. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) stipulates that personal data is collected for legitimate reasons and is only kept if needed. Because of these regulations, companies will need to place greater scrutiny on terminated employees and their personal data. The HR or compliance departments must be vigilant in reviewing this data and determining if there is a legitimate reason to continue storing it in Workday.

#4 – Corporate Document Updates

Corporate documents such as employee handbooks, benefit plan documents, and policies can get out of date quickly as policies evolve, such as Diversity and Inclusion and Remote Work policies. In addition, the companies’ benefit providers often change, or the company changes the plan offerings themselves. The document file itself can change from content updates to file name changes or file location changes. Once this happens, the reference link in Workday may no longer work and inevitably lead to errors during any attestation process or during an employee onboarding.

Checking that the latest document versions are set up in the system should be part of any end of year to new year process. Multiple or outdated versions of documents can cause problems; ensuring that only one version – the latest – exists is essential.

Performance review templates are another area to double-check along with offer letters and other templates used throughout the year. These templates can change. Since they impact all employees and prospective hires, it is critical to be consistent and accurate in what is shown. If these templates link to external documents or are set to send information to vendors, it is vital to make sure that the links still work.

#5 – Time Off Calendar and Balances

A simple task that can cause many headaches is ensuring that next year’s calendar includes the correct dates for holidays. Different localities and regions may have special holidays, and observed holidays change from year to year. These are not automatically loaded into Workday; they need to be set up every year manually. This is particularly important for companies with international offices where the holiday dates may differ.

The time around year-end is also a good time to get ahead of nuances in the calendar for the upcoming year to give you more time to be prepared to address any employee concerns. For example, most financial services firms follow the stock market’s holiday schedule. At the end of 2021, the stock market is not observing New Year’s Day 2022 as a holiday since it falls on a Saturday. Usually, the holiday would be observed on the preceding Friday. But, because Friday is a key accounting period (year-end / quarter-end / month-end), the stock market will be open. Try explaining that on New Year’s Eve when this calendar quirk dawns on your employees.

Another critical activity for year-end is to check your employee’s time off balances due to carry over. Carry-over balances should be checked for accuracy; this will ensure that your time off eligibility and carry-over rules are correct and that an unexpected employee type / setup is not breaking the time-off rules.  Unused time off that can be paid out will need to be appropriately reviewed and loaded into payroll.

Conclusion

Overall, it is best never to assume that these essential tasks have been completed. Much of what needs to be done annually is common sense, but HR and Operations teams often overlook these additional inputs / actions in the crunch of a busy fourth quarter.

FinServ Consulting has found that many clients outsource support for these activities after they have experienced one of these painful events.

Whether you choose to seek our support or not, we hope these top tips help you avoid any adverse effects on your company’s operations. Getting to grips with these tasks early and on an annual basis will save a lot of time, energy and headaches in the coming year.

To learn more about FinServ Consulting’s services: info@finservconsulting.com or (646) 603-3799.

There are many reasons for an asset management company to undertake an operational assessment. The most common are that firms grow assets under management, change or add the types of assets traded, expand the range of strategies and/or funds it manages and have a more complex investor base with different requirements for shareholders. All these changes mean systems and processes set up at the beginning of the firm’s life cycle may no longer be fit for purpose.

FinServ Consulting leverages all its experience and expertise gained in working with similar funds or businesses to help support its clients in this exercise. This has given the company unique insights into how assessments can be conducted and what asset management firms will gain from the process.

Identifying Problem Areas

The first step in the process is to look at and analyze an investment firm’s full operations and processes to identify inefficiencies that are holding back the growth of the firm. This process can also reassure investors that the firm is doing everything it can to use its resources effectively while at the same time having processes and controls in place to ensure that operations from front to back office are running smoothly and are fit for the present as well as the future.

The assessments can highlight a variety of areas where firms may want to make changes. This strategic initiative looks at how technology is being used, whether service providers deliver in the most effective way and if teams are structured for optimal efficiency.  The review can expose bottlenecks, suggest areas where best practice can be implemented and show how to streamline a business. Ultimately, a target operating model is defined and presented with a path to get there.

Although operational assessments are routinely conducted by many firms, lately there has been an increase in requests for these evaluations. This is due to several reasons. For example, because of the pandemic, some technology investment has been delayed however, firms have only grown in complexity. Inefficiencies caused by manual processes may be exacerbated as the fund grows its assets under management (AUM).

Many firms still use Excel or have many operations done manually when there are more eloquent automated solutions available. The frequency of this can be a direct result of the infrastructure set up at the beginning of a firm’s life cycle. As it grows, those processes may no longer be adequate, particularly if it has experienced changes in the types of asset classes traded, the size and volume of trades or other factors. These factors mean existing infrastructure is less optimal. The systems used at the start of a business may not be scalable or the most efficient as it grows.

Identifying Where Efficiencies Can Be Made

Once the parameters of the operational assessment are established, everyone involved in a specific process in a fund are interviewed using a set list of questions. This helps identify ways to streamline work – such as trading workflows.

For instance, portfolio managers do not always have all the information they need at their fingertips. There may be a lot of manual work before a trading decision is made. Interviews with portfolio managers, traders, operations, finance, and anyone from the technology side involved in these processes are interviewed to identify areas where there may be ways to update work streams or plan for future expansion.

A list of predetermined questions also gives the conversations a focus and helps identify areas of inefficiency that can be improved.

The resulting list of projects – ways a firm can change processes, technology and even people to be more efficient – can be daunting. These projects can be small or large, complex or simple, easy to implement or difficult.

While it is always up to the firm to decide which projects it wants to tackle in the short or long term, some like to focus on quick wins that may be relatively inexpensive while others put together a program aimed at gradual transformation of processes and procedures.

FinServ Consulting has developed a project impact/effort matrix that helps identify which actions will have the most impact on the business while also judging the difficulty or complexity in implementing these compared with those that are much easier to do but have less overall effect on the business.

This assessment is a snapshot, giving the firm an overview of inefficiencies and what the impact of fixing them will be. Quick wins could include things like reorganization of the folder directory, discontinuing daily reports or giving Bloomberg access to more people. Key improvements that may take longer to implement might include hiring more people, like a tax director, implementing new systems like a portfolio management system (PMS) or a data warehouse.

The addition of new strategies and funds may also put a strain on existing infrastructure. Likewise, the introduction of managed accounts, funds of one or onshore/offshore structures to accommodate a wider range of investors will necessitate different procedures and processes.

Operational due diligence by investors can also identify red flag areas where improvements need to be made.

A Path Forward: Recommendations

At the end of the operational assessment there are usually five to six strategic areas where change is recommended. These range from relatively inexpensive projects to more long-term changes.

The assessment gives a timeline and costs to help firms make decisions on what to tackle first and what it may want to consider in the longer term. It is the firm’s decision what to do next and how.

By using FinServ for this exercise, unlike other consultants, the job does not end at giving the firm recommendations. FinServ is available to help implement all the suggestions, provide assistance in choosing the right technologies, service providers, processes and procedures to ready the firm for present operations as well as for the future.

While the operational assessment does not look at whether and how a firm might go into another business, like loan servicing, the process does look at operations where targeted improvements will make jobs more efficient and scalable. Some growing firms worry that every time they add a new fund or strategy, they will need to hire more persons, adding to the costs and making it difficult to scale the business. For them, outsourcing options and third parties that can assist them and make more staff unnecessary may be better options than adding to the employee list.

Assessments are also made on third party providers, like fund administrators. By looking closely at what a fund administrator provides, they could request more services and gauge whether the amount of money the administrator is charging is close to the costs for similar businesses. The assessments are holistic, looking at all the processes of the entire firm.

Whether the need for an operational assessment is necessitated by operational due diligence by investors, a more complex investor base, firm growth or just a health check after a few years of operations, the process is geared to help tighten processes and procedures, streamline controls, and get the firm to the desired future state where it is capable of being more efficient and making more informed decisions. A fund’s infrastructure should never dictate what trading strategies are permissible or impede a business decision.

Even firms that believe they are relatively straight forward as they only do a small number of investments or trades may be challenged by the complexity of regulatory filings, the different types of data needed for a variety of purposes and a complex investor base.

Conclusion

FinServ Consulting, with years of experience working with a wide variety of asset managers, brings its knowledge and expertise to the operational assessment process – and does not leave the client with a list of “to-dos”. It helps in the implementation of the suggestions to create a firm fit for purpose now and in the future.

To learn more about FinServ Consulting’s services, please contact us at info@finservconsulting.com or (646) 603-3799. 

FinServ is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Mumbai, India. Shaurin Jobalia, who has worked with leading hedge funds and alternate asset management firms globally, will lead a growing team in India, which has more than two decades of collective middle- and back-office experience in fund accounting. The Indian team includes professionals who have previously worked at industry-leading firms such as Enfusion, SS&C Technologies, GlobeOp, Morgan Stanley Fund Services, and Bank of America.

The office will serve funds in a broad range of areas, including:

• Assisting with daily trade positions and cash reconciliations with custodians, prime brokers, and fund administrators.
• Providing break analysis for any issues
• Assisting with corporate actions and swap financing accruals and setup.
• Providing complete shadow NAV with clients’ third-party administrators, including balance sheet and income statement reconciliations.

FinServ’s Managed Services aims to provide fund managers with customizable and scalable solutions to tailor their firms’ operations.

The opening comes at a time when two key trends are converging. First, alternative asset managers are under increased pressure to reduce costs. Fees fell to new lows in 2020 according to Hedge Fund Research, as investors pulled roughly $46 billion from funds.  Secondly, COVID-19 has disrupted day-to-day operations and provided a new set of challenges for asset managers in keeping their businesses functioning effectively. A silver lining has emerged, however. The global pandemic has accelerated the use and adoption of remote workers among fund managers.  With teams working remotely, managers have leaned on service providers and recognized that they can support operations and technology through outsourcing.

With a team in India, FinServ can meet those requirements and deliver new benefits, such as reduced costs and more flexibility. The FinServ team is unique as they bring systems expertise which allows for detailed analysis and problem solving.  In addition, the team is staffed by experienced resources that have a deep understanding of different asset classes.  If a fund trades equities, credit or privates, the team brings the appropriate knowledge to assist in the processing.  By leveraging the team, funds can efficiently scale their operations by eliminating the need to increase headcount for non-core activities, or job functions.  The new India office will support FinServ’s core consulting business across specialized middle and back office managed services, software customization and implementations, industry systems integrations, and bespoke systems development.

At a time when funds are accustomed to receiving what has historically been a commoditized service, FinServ’s team takes it a step further. The teams are well-versed in each client’s unique needs and deliver on those requirements through both a hands-on and customized approach.

To learn more about FinServ Consulting’s services, please contact us at info@finservconsulting.com or (646) 603-3799.

Effective Project Management

Effectively managing a project and team(s) is a difficult task that faces increased challenges in a remote environment. Obstacles are exacerbated by the lack of in-person collaboration and the inability to stop by a colleagues desk for a quick and informal update. However, selecting the correct project management methodology can help alleviate numerous issues and ensure that your project is completed successfully.

Agile & Waterfall Methodology Overview

No project management technique is best suited for all situations. The most common methodologies are Waterfall and Agile. Although both approaches are popular and have been around for an extended period of time, specific projects are better suited by one or the other.

The Waterfall methodology is the traditional and sequential approach that is best for projects with a well-known scope likely to experience minimal change. Client input takes place at milestones as the project transitions throughout the various phases. In a Waterfall project management strategy, each phase must be completed prior to transitioning to the following phase. These phases are clearly outlined and define clear objectives that must be accomplished before progressing.

As indicated by the name, an Agile methodology is designed to accommodate change. Its iterative nature focuses on completing certain objectives by the end of a specified time period known as a sprint. Agile methodologies are well suited for projects with unclear initial requirements. The methodology prioritizes the most important aspects of a project and relies on continuous client input throughout the engagement. Deliverables are reviewed by the client and other applicable teams after their corresponding sprint. 

Advantages of Each Method

The Waterfall approach’s numerous advantages derive from its structured nature. The first of which, is that it clearly defines all aspects of the project and ultimately increases planning accuracy and detail. Consequently, this approach aligns well with fixed price contracts and government entities. Furthermore, progress can be measured through the completion of each phase as opposed to a product backlog that hasn’t been addressed.

It is less reliant on client input because it is predominantly collected at milestones. This allows the client to take a hands off approach and focus on the day-to-day operations of their business. Finally, successful completion of projects managed with a traditional methodology ensures that all items are addressed and eliminates ambiguity.

One of the greatest advantages to the Agile approach is its flexibility. An Agile approach is particularly useful when the project’s timeline is strained because it prioritizes the most important features. The sprint structure aligns with Time & Materials contracts because sprints are predetermined timeframes that specify workload.

Additionally, constant client interaction augments quality via increased feedback, additional testing, and dynamic user requirements that account for evolving needs. The constant nature of client feedback allows for frequent modification of the product backlog. This is particularly useful for a technical client that wants to get a deeper understanding of the solution. They can work through their use cases and determine if their needs will be better served by an alternative route. 

Disadvantages of Each Method

Although each method is effective in its own right, they are not without disadvantages. The Waterfall methodology requires a thorough understanding of business requirements prior to beginning. The Project Manager must have a clear sense of all client needs and initially account for them throughout the various phases. Scenarios where the client is unable to provide a comprehensive overview of the requirements may force the PM to “fill in the gaps” – which is far from ideal.

Another disadvantage associated with the Waterfall approach is the risk of a final deliverable that is not in line with client expectations. Given that the client is less involved in the process, they may be surprised by the end result. However, the traditional approach hedges against this with comprehensive requirements and periodic updates.

Agile method drawbacks tend to be associated with one of its strengths, frequent client input. It requires a significant amount of coordination and cooperation across multiple internal and external teams. While this is great in theory, it may be difficult in practice. Clients may not have the resources, interest, or expertise required for the Agile approach’s mandated involvement. This is especially relevant when the client outsources the work as they hired another firm to step away.

The adaptability of the approach leads to many changes in the project’s scope. These changes affect the project’s cost and timeline. Unfortunately, this is not feasible for certain clients and situations. Moreover, low priority items may not get completed within the original time frame due to a focus on high priority items.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both the Waterfall and Agile Project Management methodologies include pros and cons. In an ideal scenario, the project would be completed successfully regardless of the utilized approach. However, certain client types, engagements, and solutions are better suited by one of the two methods. It is critical that you discuss both options with the client and pick the one that they are most comfortable with. Many professionals blend the two techniques to benefit from each’s strengths while minimizing the drawbacks. Recent trends have increased popularity for Agile management, but it is beneficial to gather all available requirements as early as possible.

The evolution of technology and its impact across various industries has become widely accepted, particularly for Financial Services. However, Private Equity’s acceptance of new technology has lagged behind other subsectors. Resistance is subsiding as Private Equity Funds are rushing to adopt Client Relationship Management (“CRM”) tools, utilize unstructured data, and transition to the cloud.

Relationship Management

Success within Private Equity is reliant upon strong and enduring relationships that are difficult to manage without the proper infrastructure. Scattered data paired with a lack of centralized oversight can serve as a catalyst for inefficiencies that hinder deal execution and frequency. Efforts to combat the before mentioned issues have given rise to the popularity of CRM systems. Furthermore, numerous CRM solutions can be configured to streamline reporting and eliminate user error.

Although the absence of a CRM system can be detrimental to a firm’s success, a poorly configured system that fails to meet user requirements may be worse. Inadequate systems are generally accompanied by a lacking implementation partner that failed to assess the organization’s needs prior to vendor selection. It is crucial to enlist the services of an experienced implementation partner that has “been there, done that”.

FinServ has successfully implemented CRM solutions for countless Alternative Asset Managers and Financial Institutions. Not only are we a Salesforce Partner, but we also have significant experience with other industry CRMs such as Backstop, Clienteer, and Dynamo. FinServ can walk you through the entirety of the process by gathering business requirements, managing the implementation so you can focus on your business, and tailoring the solution to facilitate your unique procedures.

Data Utilization and Analytics

We are in the golden age of data and organizations are eager to leverage as much of it as possible. Unfortunately, sourcing data from a variety of locations often leads to a lack of uniformity and an assortment of issues. Private Equity firms are implementing robust analytics and data science for Transactional Due Diligence, Post-Investment Value Creation, and more. The application of data science within Transactional Due Diligence is exceptionally groundbreaking as perspective buyers are often subjected to tight timeframes of approximately 6 weeks.

Business Intelligence, Data Science, and Machine Learning allow Private Equity firms to conduct real-time analysis and assess billions of data records in a limited amount of time. Granular post-investment analysis can be attributed to geography, customer type, and more. The segmentation of the data enables a comprehensive understanding of the business. Thus, augmenting the Private Equity firm’s ability to perform the focused improvements that are central to their business model.

Exhaustive analysis of the fund’s overarching portfolio and individual companies hinges upon access to structured data. FinServ has the extensive Business Analysis and Operational Assessment experience that is required for structuring processes and data accordingly. We will partner with your organization to remediate operational issues while integrating innovative technology.

Transitioning to the Cloud

Cloud utilization is rapidly increasing as stigmas against housing data in off-premise locations have eroded. Private Equity firms are realizing the significant benefits provided by transitioning their data to cloud environments, SaaS, and IaaS locations. Migration allows firms to focus on their core competencies rather than hosting data. Cybersecurity is a predominant concern that will be alleviated by outsourcing a portion of the responsibility to an organization that exclusively focuses on housing internal and client data. Safeguarding this sensitive information is required for client safety, firm reputation, and regulations such as GDPR.

One consideration that may be inhibiting your organization’s migration to the cloud is the massive undertaking of doing so. FinServ has honed our data migration expertise through 15+ years of working alongside more than 40 of the world’s top 100 Hedge and Private Equity Funds. Communication is emphasized throughout our engagements and we will partner with your organization to ensure a proper and efficient transition. Furthermore, FinServ will take the opportunity to streamline processes and eliminate bottlenecks that have been hindering your business.

Even though Private Equity has been slower to adopt new technologies than other Alternative Asset Managers, the industry has begun to align with key initiatives offering indisputable benefits. The implementation of superior technologies like CRM systems, Cloud infrastructure, and the utilization of data for advanced analytics supplements competitive advantages and investor returns.

COVID-19 abruptly forced many financial institutions into a remote staffing model without the slightest inclination of its duration. Barring the infrastructural challenges, many employees have enjoyed the elimination of commuting, comfortable attire, and flexibility. The mandatory adoption of working from home will have significant implications for the daily trips to the office that were once the norm.

An Operational Assessment of your firm’s technology and procedures will identify issues that will be exacerbated by a sustained virtual workplace and provide insight into four verticals: Planning, Security & Controls, Collaboration, and Client Interaction. It is important to perform an exhaustive analysis of your firm’s technology and procedures to identify issues that will be magnified by a remote model.

Planning

The importance of planning is one of the few constants in today’s erratic climate. Many organizations are creating management teams and enlisting the assistance of third-party specialists to navigate these tumultuous times. Creating a specialized team will enable flexibility, establish accountability, guide the implementation of new technologies, and mitigate risks.

Security

The sensitivity of client data within financial services results in security being a predominant concern. One particular issue is numerous employees accessing company information with wireless networks beyond the organization’s control. The combination of unsecured networks and increased attacks from opportunistic deviants poses significant risk to financial institutions and their clients.

Furthermore, cybersecurity teams’ impeded ability to respond may affect their capacity to remediate issues in a timely fashion. Many teams are accustomed to face-to-face collaboration and/or additional resources that may not be available when working from home. Prevention is the best defense and can be achieved by conducting a detailed assessment of your firms processes and systems.

Establishing procedural controls and maximizing the native features of current technology will enable your company to stop attacks before it is too late. An effective defense for eliminating external access to company information can be as simple as utilizing 2 Factor Authentication or modifying a monthly process.

Collaboration

Collaboration is a major concern that inhibited employer’s from implementing a remote workforce prior to the pandemic. The recent success of remote work has assuaged worries and has even led banking heavyweights such as JPM and Barclays to consider the implementation of remote teams and/or rotational models. Rotational models are particularly attractive because they reduce fixed costs while balancing the benefits of in-person and entirely remote staffing models.

The short-term success of a virtual workplace will not persist if institutions fail to align their technology and operations accordingly. Video conferencing has emerged as the predominant medium for establishing virtual connections but has unfortunately been accompanied by a series of growing pains.

The sheer volume of concurrent employees leveraging the video conferencing system often overloads the solution if it was configured for a lower number of users. Additionally, various teams utilizing different platforms may result in access issues. Mass collaboration can be facilitated through the implementation of a uniform video conferencing system such as Microsoft Teams or a sophisticated document management system like SharePoint.

User error caused by a lack of sufficient training and limited employee access contributes to bottlenecks that can be easily avoided by partnering with an experienced implementation partner. Although the days of side-by-side spreadsheet collaboration may be behind us, teamwork can be augmented with the use of platforms such as Microsoft’s SharePoint. Multiple users can simultaneously work on the same file while SharePoint maintains versioning, audit trails, and an assortment of security features that protect sensitive data.

Client Interaction

Successful client interactions are dependent on thorough and frequent communication. The investment industry has recently experienced a level of volatility and uncertainty that makes communication more important than ever. Asset managers and financial institutions must have the necessary operations and technology to efficiently communicate and protect information that has traditionally been delivered in person.

A popular solution for the mass distribution of content among Salesforce users is Pardot. Pardot is a marketing automation tool offered by Salesforce that boosts communications with potential and current investors. Moreover, it is important to evaluate CRM solutions such as Backstop, Clienteer, Dynamo, or Salesforce to ensure that your team is maximizing their functionality.

The unexpected transition to remote work was a daunting task that will have lasting impacts throughout the financial services industry. Organizations must align their processes and technology if they desire a seamless changeover. Technologies such as Microsoft Teams & SharePoint, an Operational Assessment, and a dedicated Management Team are likely required. FinServ has served as a trusted advisor to the world’s leading Asset Managers & Financial Institutions for more than 15 years and is the ideal partner for facilitating this conversion.