Resources
Practical references for fund managers.
Guides drawn from day-to-day fund accounting work. Free to use and share with your team.
Free guide, 17 pages
The emerging manager’s guide to fund accounting
Month-end close, NAV, capital accounts, waterfalls and audit readiness, with worked examples.
Get the guideChecklist
Month-end close checklist
A practical sequence for closing the books each month, from bank reconciliations to NAV sign-off.
Read the checklistGlossary
Fund accounting terms, in plain English
NAV, capital accounts, hurdles, catch-up and carried interest, explained simply.
Read the glossaryGuide
Ten questions to ask before outsourcing
What to ask any provider, including us, before you hand over your fund’s books.
Read the questionsFree guide
How well-run funds close, value and report.
A detailed, practical guide with worked examples you can apply to your own fund. Written for founders, GPs and CFOs of funds from $5M to $150M.
- A 15-day month-end close calendar
- Interest accruals and lender fee treatment
- A full NAV calculation, step by step
- Capital accounts and distribution reinvestment
- A four-tier waterfall with catch-up
- Controls investors and auditors look for
- An audit-readiness checklist
- Common mistakes and how to avoid them
We will email you a link to the guide and may follow up once to see if it was useful. No newsletters and no spam.
Checklist
Month-end close checklist for private credit and mortgage funds
A practical sequence for closing the books each month. Adapt it to your fund’s structure, policies and reporting calendar.
Cash and banking
- Reconcile every operating, trust and reserve bank account to the general ledger
- Investigate and clear reconciling items older than 30 days
- Record bank fees, interest earned and any unrecorded transfers
Loan portfolio
- Reconcile the loan subledger to principal balances in the general ledger
- Accrue interest income to period end and review loans on non-accrual
- Record lender and renewal fees, and amortise them where your policy requires
- Review arrears, renewals and loan loss provisions for the period
Investor capital
- Record subscriptions, redemptions and reinvested distributions at the correct unit price
- Reconcile the investor register to capital accounts in the general ledger
- Accrue distributions declared but not yet paid
Fees and expenses
- Accrue management fees as set out in the fund’s agreements
- Accrue fund expenses such as audit, legal and administration costs
NAV and release
- Calculate NAV per unit for each class and explain the movement from last month
- Prepare the NAV reconciliation and variance commentary
- Complete an independent review and sign-off before anything goes to investors
Glossary
Fund accounting terms, in plain English
The terms that come up most often in investor reporting and fund documents, explained simply.
- Net asset value (NAV)
- Total assets less total liabilities. Usually expressed per unit for each class of units.
- Capital account
- A running record of each investor’s contributions, allocated income, distributions and redemptions.
- Capital call
- A notice asking investors to fund part of the capital they have committed.
- Unfunded commitment
- The part of an investor’s commitment that has not yet been called.
- Distribution
- Cash, or reinvested units, paid to investors from income or capital.
- Distribution reinvestment (DRIP)
- An option to reinvest distributions into additional units instead of receiving cash.
- Preferred return
- The minimum return investors receive before the manager shares in profits. Also called the hurdle.
- Catch-up
- A waterfall tier in which the manager receives a larger share of profits until it reaches its agreed share.
- Carried interest
- The manager’s share of profits once the hurdle has been met, commonly 20%.
- Management fee
- A fee paid to the manager, usually a percentage of committed capital, invested capital or NAV.
- Redemption
- An investor’s request to sell units back to the fund, usually subject to notice periods, limits and early redemption fees set out in the offering documents.
- Waterfall
- The order in which a fund’s distributable cash is shared between investors and the manager.
Guide
Ten questions to ask before outsourcing fund accounting
Ask these of any provider, including us. Good answers should be specific and easy to give.
- Who will actually do the work each month, and how senior are they?
- Have they worked with your fund type, whether private credit, mortgage or real estate?
- Will they work in your existing systems, or require a migration?
- How are NAV and capital accounts reviewed before they are released?
- What does the monthly calendar look like, and what do they need from you, and when?
- How do they handle waterfall and fee calculations under your partnership agreement?
- How will they support your year-end audit?
- What happens to your data and working files if you change provider?
- How is pricing structured, and what would trigger a change in fee?
- What does onboarding involve, and how long does it usually take?
Next step
Want a second pair of eyes on your close?
Book a 30-minute call and we will walk through how your month-end and investor reporting run today.