Guides & Resources

Investment Governance

Practical guides to investment mandate design, manager oversight and reporting rhythm — for investment committees, family offices and principals who want to govern their investment activity with institutional discipline.

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Investment Governance Topics

  • Investment Policy Statement design guide
  • Mandate documentation standards
  • Manager due diligence process guide
  • Investment committee governance
  • Reporting framework design
  • Performance measurement standards
What We Cover

Topics & Content Areas

Investment Policy Statement Guide

A comprehensive guide to writing an Investment Policy Statement — the eight core sections, how to make objectives measurable, how to specify permitted and prohibited instruments, and how to make the IPS operationally useful rather than merely descriptive.

Mandate Documentation Guide

A guide to documenting investment mandates — the Investment Mandate Agreement, how it differs from the IPS, how to specify risk limits and return objectives precisely, and how to structure the mandate for ongoing compliance monitoring.

Manager Due Diligence Guide

A step-by-step guide to investment manager due diligence — the DDQ framework, quantitative analysis (performance attribution, risk-adjusted returns, drawdown), qualitative assessment (team, process, infrastructure) and reference checking standards.

Investment Committee Design

A guide to designing an effective investment committee — membership criteria, meeting cadence, decision authority, quorum and voting rules, paper preparation standards and the annual review process.

Reporting Framework Guide

A guide to designing investment reporting frameworks — what to report, to whom, in what format and how frequently. Covers performance reporting, risk reporting, mandate compliance monitoring and board pack design.

Performance Measurement Standards

A guide to performance measurement for private investment portfolios — benchmark selection, time-weighted vs money-weighted returns, GIPS compliance considerations, attribution methodology and how to present performance honestly.

About This Section

How to Use These Resources

Investment governance is not a constraint on good investment management — it is the framework that makes good investment management possible, repeatable and accountable.

Our investment governance guides are written from advisory practice — reflecting the governance frameworks we design for family offices, endowments and investment committees, translated into practical guides that any principal can apply.

Investment Governance Components Our Guides Cover

  • Investment Policy Statement — philosophy, objectives, constraints
  • Investment Mandate Agreement — specific instructions to each manager
  • Manager Due Diligence — selection, appointment and ongoing oversight
  • Investment Committee — design, authority, process and cadence
  • Performance Reporting — measurement, attribution and presentation
  • Risk Management — limits, monitoring and breach response

Governance Document Hierarchy

  • 1. Investment Policy Statement (IPS) — the foundation
  • 2. Investment Mandate Agreement (IMA) — manager-specific
  • 3. Manager Due Diligence Report (DDQ) — pre-appointment
  • 4. Investment Management Agreement (IMA) — legal contract
  • 5. Performance Report — ongoing accountability
  • 6. Annual Review — governance quality assessment

Common Governance Gaps

  • No IPS — decisions made against unstated objectives
  • Mandate too vague to provide genuine discipline
  • Manager selected on recent performance alone
  • No ongoing monitoring framework post-appointment
  • Reporting produced without governance action items
IPS
Investment Policy Statement — foundation of every mandate
DDQ
Due diligence questionnaire framework included
IC
Investment committee design guide included
GIPS
Performance measurement standards aligned where applicable
Finding What You Need

How to Navigate

01

Identify Your Governance Gap

Find the guide most relevant to your investment governance gap — IPS, mandate, manager selection, reporting or committee design.

02

Build the Framework

Each guide provides a structured approach to building the relevant governance component — from first principles to completed document.

03

Implement and Embed

Use the guides to implement and embed the governance framework — with the checklists provided to verify completeness.

04

Review Periodically

Each guide includes guidance on when and how to review and update the framework as circumstances change.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked

If you have more than one manager, more than one asset class, or more than one stakeholder with an interest in the investment outcomes — yes. Without a documented IPS, investment decisions are made against an implied and unstated standard, which means accountability is impossible and governance is illusory.
The Investment Policy Statement is the foundation — it defines objectives, constraints and standards. Without it, every subsequent governance document is incomplete. An investment committee with no IPS is a committee meeting with no agenda.
By designing governance that serves the investment process rather than adding overhead to it. Well-designed investment governance enables faster, more confident decisions — because authority is clear, objectives are documented and accountability is established. Bureaucratic governance is usually the result of poor design, not inherent to the concept.

Need Your Investment Governance Reviewed?

Our team reviews IPS documents, investment mandates and manager oversight frameworks — identifying gaps and building governance that actually works.

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