Performance Fees Reporting Question - HELP!

This is a minor (yet at the same time really important) question. This is for you guys that work for hedge funds or HF FoF and have experience with reporting practices.

My fund pays its performance fees on a quarterly basis but the 1 pager shows monthly returns. Now, because the performance fee is earned over the quarter I've realized that I have some options as far as how to report and I was wondering if there was a standard way of reporting this. For example (net of all fees except the perf. fee), my fund was up 12% in January and 25% in February, and for simplicity of illustration purposes, let's assume the fund loses 1% in March (before the performance fee).

If the performance fee shows up only in month it becomes payable, then the last month shows a larger drawdown than really occurred: Jan 12%, Feb 25%, Mar neg. 8.7%

I think this is a bit weird, because it doesn't accurately reflect returns. I guess I could make the performance fee as something that gets earned/deducted from as the fund goes up/down through the quarter, but this would have the effect of reducing volatility, and I don't want to necessarily understate the fund's volatility either (well, I guess I do, but only if that's standard practice). I guess my justification could be that many fund's pay performance fees on a monthly basis, and as such they would not have this issue, but if they report a daily std. dev. then they do face the issue of how the treat perf. fee accruals on a daily basis...

My guess is that perf. fees are shown when they become payable and there is no amortization (just because that's the easiest thing to do), but just wanted to see if anyone knew of anyone doing it otherwise. I guess the same thing goes for management fees since I incur those for the quarter, but they are payable on one month. I don't know if I want to go all accruals crazy...

I know this is a rather nitpicky question but I'm nitpicky when it comes to my fund haha. All comments from individuals with experience with this are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

4 Comments
 
samoanboyEqualisation across the three months I would have thought...not that usual to have a monthly performance fees....Is there a quarterly crystallising HWM as well? if so that would make a little more sense.

There is a HWM every quarter, yes. I think funds that do redemptions/subscriptions on a monthly basis have monthly performance fees. It's usually easiest to have performance fees and management fees match the time periods for redemption/subscription.

 

I was going to say that they should obviously be accrued in the month they were earned, but I guess that would leave you with the problem of having to "restate" performance for past months if you end the fee calculation period with a down month, or show a negative gross performance and a less negative or positive net performance for the 3rd month. More complicated than you'd think I guess.

There have been many great comebacks throughout history. Jesus was dead but then came back as an all-powerful God-Zombie.
 
Best Response

Maiores delectus et ipsa repellendus reprehenderit. Voluptas est labore sed voluptatem voluptatem exercitationem.

Autem expedita cupiditate vitae enim voluptas. Omnis beatae id amet deserunt. Saepe sapiente explicabo eveniet consequuntur et voluptas quia. Vitae exercitationem sit in officiis nemo. Est excepturi nihil assumenda rerum. Distinctio minima est repellendus eos exercitationem.

Et recusandae ab ducimus maxime provident. Incidunt dolorem fuga quia quam facere. Aspernatur et assumenda amet voluptate. Est harum unde doloribus deleniti corporis consequatur et. Enim animi vel quia est. Aperiam quas reiciendis sequi tempore cupiditate reprehenderit. Recusandae sapiente voluptatum odio minus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Millennium Partners 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $192
  • Analysts (242) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (28) $146
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”