Smarter, Better, Faster Part 3: Multi-Book Investment Accounting

We’ve made it to the end of Kirk Littleton’s Smarter, Better, Faster series on investment accounting, which can only mean one thing — it’s time to talk solutions. 

So far, Kirk has covered the two key factors impacting investment accounting today — the need to manufacture rather than aggregate data to achieve a real-time overview of accounts, and the necessity of an end-to-end accounting system that can process the lifecycles of all asset classes. 

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series for the full picture of today’s investment accounting landscape. 

In today’s third and final part, we explore the potential of multi-book investment accounting and how FundGuard is turning this solution that was long thought to be impossible into reality. 

Why Past Attempts at Multi-Book Solutions Have Failed 

Multi-book technology for investment accounting has long been a vision for asset managers and asset servicers with a view on significantly reducing the amount of manpower needed for investment accounting.

For decades now, the generalized nature of ABOR has made it a popular resource to outsource. However, we are increasingly seeing more asset managers now  outsourcing IBOR as well.  And the resources and systems traditionally required to manage multiple books across different asset classes can be an operational burden regardless of whether firms are managing in-house or outsourcing.

Just picture it: Rather than having to integrate and implement multiple solutions, each designed for a highly specific asset class, a multi-book solution enables your firm to streamline the entire process into a single unified system that covers both your broader ABOR and more tailored IBOR needs. 

Maintaining a multi-book could be a game changer in investment accounting, helping to drastically cut costs and boost efficiency for all types of businesses and institutions. 

Yet, for many years, companies have continued to fail at creating an effective multi-book solution.

In the past, companies that have tried to create viable multi-book solutions have run into one major challenge that inevitably dismantles the entire endeavor — legacy technology.

Even with the massive technological advancements seen across the entire financial sector today, legacy investment accounting systems continue to stand in the way of innovation. As a result, businesses are often forced to rely on the siloed best-of-breed applications and data aggregation that we discussed in Part 1 and Part 2 which ultimately hold them back from reaching true cost and operational efficiency. 

Fortunately, today’s innovation in cloud-native technology has paved the way for multi-book success.

Cloud-Native Technology Transforms Multi-book from a Fantasy to a Reality

Where legacy systems have failed, cloud-native systems now thrive.

When we talk about cloud-native systems, we mean those that are born in the cloud, never having relied on legacy systems in the first place. From an investment accounting perspective, this translates to capabilities that can provide IBOR, ABOR and custody book solutions from a centralized cloud infrastructure, consolidating multiple books of record into one singular operation.

The ability to leverage cloud technology to optimize and legitimize the multi-book method is at the core of FundGuard’s investment accounting solution.  

Unburden Your Investment Operations with FundGuard’s Cloud-Native, Multi-Asset Class, Multi-Book Investment Accounting Platform

FundGuard is the only provider in the market offering a truly cloud-native multi-book investment accounting solution for asset managers and their service providers. Our platform provides a rule-based accounting configurator for IBOR, ABOR, and NAV Contingency. 

Specific processing parameters can be set for each book, ensuring flexibility alongside efficiency. Take exceptions processing, for example. With FundGuard, our clients can see all possible exceptions from one unified view without the clients having to go looking for them separately. 

From identifying key accounting insights to reconciling data, FundGuard ensures your investment accounting system functions in real-time and with significantly reduced total cost of ownership. 

Talk with FundGuard today to unburden your business from legacy systems and embrace the power of the cloud-native multi-book.