Solutions
University or institutional fund
An investment pool belonging to an institution such as a university.
No credit card. Nothing is charged until your first 30 days are over.
What this kind of fund is
An institutional pool, often with several internal stakeholders holding notional shares of it and a committee that wants the same numbers every quarter.
What the administration actually involves
A university or institutional pool has a specific problem: the fund is one investment portfolio, but internally it belongs to a dozen faculties, chairs, prizes and restricted gifts, each of which wants to know what its own share did. Almost every institution solves this with a second spreadsheet that allocates the fund's return across internal claimants, and that second spreadsheet is where the errors live.
Here the internal claimants are participants. Each department, faculty or named purpose holds units in a series and is valued at the month's koers, so the internal allocation comes out of the same ledger as the fund total instead of being derived from it afterwards. There is no reconciliation step between the two, because there is only one set of figures.
What makes it hard
The shadow allocation spreadsheet
Splitting one portfolio's return across internal claimants in a second file means two records that have to agree, and no automatic way to notice when they stop agreeing.
Restricted gifts that must not be mixed
A gift with conditions attached needs its own visible position, not a share of a total that somebody works out on request.
The same question every committee meeting
Somebody asks how a figure was arrived at, and answering it means going back to a file rather than showing the working on the spot.
How FundFlow fits
Internal shares without a shadow spreadsheet
Each department, faculty or purpose can be a participant holding units, so internal allocations come out of the same ledger as the fund total.
Quarterly reporting from monthly closes
Close each month, then compose a report for whichever period the committee asked for, personalised per recipient.
Every figure explains itself
Tap a number in a meeting and show the formula, the inputs and the month. That is usually the end of the discussion.
Questions managers ask
Can each faculty or fund-within-the-fund see only its own position?
Access is per organisation and per fund, with four roles enforced in the database, so you can give a stakeholder read access to a fund. Restricting one participant to only their own row inside a shared fund is not something FundFlow does today, so the usual approach is to send each claimant their own statement instead.
Can we answer a committee question during the meeting?
Usually, yes. Any computed figure on any screen can be opened to show its formula, the actual inputs it used and the period it belongs to. That is generally where the discussion ends.
Read how these parts work
The parts of FundFlow this kind of fund leans on most.
Other kinds of fund
Pension fund
Money invested on behalf of employees and retirees.
How FundFlow fitsSovereign wealth fund
A government-owned investment fund, usually funded by national revenues or reserves.
How FundFlow fitsEndowment fund
Capital held by an institution such as a university, museum or foundation.
How FundFlow fits
Replace the allocation spreadsheet with the ledger
Set the pool up with each internal claimant as a participant, close one month, and see whether the internal shares agree with your second file.
In your first session
- Create the fund for the investment pool and add each faculty, chair or restricted gift as a participant.
- Anchor an opening position at the month your current allocation file last balanced.
- Close the next month and compare each internal share against the file you would have used.
No credit card. Nothing is charged until your first 30 days are over.