How does an alternative manager benefit from shadow services? Shadow accounting is when a manager directs or performs in-house accounting books and records to reconcile or shadow the books and records maintained by a third-party administrator. A manager performs these tasks for a variety of reasons—they may be required to by fund documents, or they want control and fast access to investment results, or they believe that they have a higher level of expertise in the strategies behind their business than the record keepers.

At a time when margins are down, performance is under pressure, global regulation is driving up costs and fundraising competition is fierce, alternative fund managers need to be looking at operational and technology transformation as a means to differentiate their offerings and boost the bottom line. In this environment, the case for outsourcing is increasingly compelling for firms to offload their IT burdens and reduce the risks posed by legacy system constraints.

Hybrid funds emerged from the turmoil of the 2008 financial crisis, when hedge funds experienced a huge amount of redemptions and disorderly liquidations. Hybrid funds share characteristics with both hedge and PE/real asset funds.

On 16-17 May, the IMN West Real Estate CFO & COO Forum was hosted in Santa Monica, California, and professionals from SS&C’s Real Assets team were there offering insight as panelist participants in two separate sessions: technology and opportunity zones.