In early 2024, CrossCountry Consulting partnered with the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) to develop the next evolution of reporting templates. Initially based on the SEC’s Private Fund Advisers (PFA) rule, which sought to enhance transparency into quarterly reporting on 1) fees and expenses and 2) performance, the initiative involved months of intensive collaboration with industry stakeholders, including 100+ global representatives from LPs, GPs, fund of funds, fund administrators, and consultants.
After the U.S. Fifth Circuit ruled to vacate the PFA rule, the QRSI evolved by shifting from PFA adherence to delivering the templates based on adoption and best practices. To accommodate this shift, the QRSI team facilitated a 10-week public comment period, leveraging feedback to finalize the revamped ILPA Reporting Template and the new ILPA Performance Template.
Benefis of New Reporting Templates
Above all, the primary benefits for adopting the new templates consist of standardization, transparency, and comparability.
For the updated ILPA Reporting Template, this includes:
- Breaking out internal recharges to isolate expenses allocated or paid to GPs/Related Persons.
- Adding more granular external Partnership Expenses better aligned to general ledgers.
- Consolidating the previous levelled structure for offsets into a uniform listing for GPs to report.
For the brand new ILPA Performance Template, this includes:
- Introducing tables to capture cash flows and fund portfolio-level transaction type mapping for transparency into the calculation methodology of performance metrics.
- Incorporating standardized reporting of performance metrics, including IRR and TVPI/MOIC, with designated breakouts for reporting the relevant gross and net figures with and without the impact of sublines.
- Providing an alternative methodology for GPs reporting performance on the basis of less-granular cash flows (i.e., a “gross-up” methodology).
The QRSI team released the updated ILPA Reporting Template and the new ILPA Performance Template to the public on January 21, with additional materials flagged for release later in 2025.
Since Day 1: CrossCountry’s Involvement With QRSI
Following CrossCountry’s selection as ILPA’s primary consulting partner on the QRSI, our firm has consistently implemented value-add strategies to enhance the overall initiative. On project management, CrossCountry instituted a comprehensive governance structure, including the formation of two dedicated working groups meeting weekly to workshop template elements, with monthly SteerCo sessions to ensure buy-in. These engagement efforts prioritized continuous outreach to incorporate diverse viewpoints across both organization types and geographies into the final templates.
Furthermore, CrossCountry executed a broad change management program, prioritizing the release of key QRSI communications and feedback polling throughout the process. During the comment period, CrossCountry deployed an innovative approach to gather feedback via Qualtrics polling as an enhancement over less-automated methods historically used for similar comment periods in the industry.
By deploying this solution, we received 100+ submissions, empowering the QRSI team to more efficiently translate raw feedback into digestible trends for analysis. This analysis quantified industry stances on key template elements and also proved fruitful in reporting insights to stakeholders. In totality, the implementation of Qualtrics surveys to facilitate the comment period significantly reduced workload while simultaneously improving the outputs.
“Since QRSI kickoff, CrossCountry’s partnership with ILPA was integral to the initiative’s success. From best-in-class project management to subject-matter expertise in asset management, fund reporting, and accounting frameworks, CrossCountry enabled ILPA to deliver the next evolution of reporting templates to the PE industry. I’ve been incredibly pleased with their support.” – Neal Prunier, Managing Director – Industry Affairs at ILPA
How CrossCountry Helps Organizations Adopt the New ILPA Reporting Standards
With our team’s background in supporting ILPA’s QRSI initiative since day 1, we’re well-positioned to help firms understand the new requirements and implement them efficiently. Our team has developed accelerators for implementation, including:
- A detailed Chart of Account mapping across multiple general ledger systems.
- Pre-built templates enabling seamless integration with your GL and data warehouse, thereby eliminating the need for extensive in-house development.
With deep experience in data lineage, expense category mapping, close timing adherence, prepping GLs, and testing considerations prior to implementation, CrossCountry makes adoption more effective and seamless. To learn more and discuss QRSI adoption, contact CrossCountry Consulting.