RSM Fund Services+

What is fund administration?

Fund administration is a third-party service that handles the operational and financial aspects of investment funds. These services are essential for maintaining transparency, efficiency and investor confidence. Core responsibilities typically include:

• Net asset value calculation and financial reporting

• Compliance and regulatory reporting

• Investor services

• Treasury and cash management

• Middle office support

• Asset valuation

By utilizing advanced technology, fund administrators help fund managers streamline back-office operations so they can concentrate on investment strategies and performance.

How does RSM instill client confidence?

As advisors at a public accounting firm, the RSM Fund Services+ team must comply with all relevant standards issued by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, which include requiring a CPA to review certain deliverables before they are shared with a client. Further, strict controls and other process optimizations are embedded in our workpapers, not only ensuring accurate and timely information, but also allowing clients to expedite their reviews more efficiently and gain a high level of confidence in what is being produced by the back office.

How experienced are RSM advisors?

RSM Fund Services+ comprises a diverse team of experienced industry professionals. With former chief operating officers, chief financial officers and chief compliance officers on staff, RSM brings to each engagement the highest-caliber administrators, auditors and tax professionals, all offering deep industry knowledge and executive-level oversight.

We continue to hone our skills at every level through continued education and customized training, a commitment that has contributed to RSM’s high employee engagement and low turnover. In addition to our foundational fund accounting and investor relation competencies, RSM offers robust capabilities through an extensive network of resources to serve every fund’s specialized needs.

How does RSM staff engagements?

RSM Fund Services+ uses a managed capacity model to meet business demands efficiently. Our engagement teams are structured to enable faster response to unplanned emergencies; unlike many other fund administration providers, we do not functionalize team member roles, thereby allowing flexibility in task performance.

We appreciate that every fund is different and may have complex functions that cannot be easily automated, which is why our team members are carefully selected and trained prior to every engagement. At RSM, it’s all about creating a great client experience, beginning with the client meeting and approving of the engagement team prior to signing a statement of work.

At the start of the engagement, the RSM team immerses itself in understanding every aspect of the fund, from daily operations and investor relations to financial reporting. Through this approach, we develop customized services for the fund, and often for the management company and asset level as well.

How does RSM facilitate onboarding?

RSM works closely with the client to gain a thorough understanding of their current and anticipated reporting needs, giving careful consideration to industry best practices for fund and investor reporting. After thorough collaboration and consultation, we help the client select the onboarding approach that best meets the needs of their fund and legal entity.

While each client’s onboarding is unique, best practices include:

• Maintaining data quality. We confirm that all data is in a clean and easily transferable format.

• Sustaining data accessibility. We provide sufficient resources to sustain data accessibility during the transition process, either by prolonging the relationship with the preceding fund administrator or through a formal agreement.

• Preserving historical data for reporting. Options include:

  • Full general ledger transfer (most intensive). Every general ledger entry, regardless of significance, is transferred over to the new administrator’s technology as if the new administrator were the Day 1 provider.
  • Balance forward (least intensive). Data will be maintained by the new administrator; however, only balances as of a certain date are uploaded into the new administrator’s technology.
  • Hybrid (intensity dependent on historical data needed). Many clients choose this approach, in which certain historical general ledger data is transferred over while other, less significant information is treated as a balance forward.

What is RSM’s technology stack?

RSM’s best-in-class fund management solutions provide a single source of truth for data, seamless connectivity and operational agility. By leveraging the best of today’s technology, we can provide real-time quality control while automating and integrating back-office functions to enhance efficiency, transparency and responsiveness.

RSM Fund Services+ leverages a technology stack that combines industry-leading software and tools into one cohesive system. Solutions may include:

• Allvue Systems, a leading end-to-end fund administration technology platform that streamlines fund operations via integrated, cloud-based solutions designed to unify and automate workflows across the front, middle and back offices. The platform serves our clients’ entire ecosystem, including the management company, the fund general ledger, customer relationship management, investor portals, and reporting functions. In addition to leveraging the robust functionality of native Allvue, RSM has worked with Allvue to enhance our clients’ experience through Power BI, SQL Server Reporting Services and a client hub.
• PartnerSight®, RSM’s proprietary industry-leading allocation and tiering platform that handles complex partnership structures and relationships quickly and accurately, and integrates with Allvue to faciliate an efficient and effective transfer of data.
• Yardi, a robust real estate-focused fund administration platform that offers solutions to simplify managing property operations and financials for every real estate portfolio size and type.
• Workiva, a powerful cloud-based reporting platform that connects reporting and compliance solutions for accounting, finance, audit and internal controls. It helps streamline reporting processes, connect data and teams, and ensure consistency within a controlled, secure and audit-ready environment.
• BlackLine, cloud software that automates and controls financial close and accounting functions by unifying data and processes, automating repetitive work, and driving accountability through visibility.
• FLOW, a digital subscription document and onboarding tool designed to enhance the limited partner (LP) experience in an open-architecture and flexible application programming interface, providing operational leverage to the finance function by connecting investment managers with their LPs and service providers.
• Bill.com, cloud-based software that simplifies, digitizes and automates back-office financial processes to service the full lifecycle of a private fund.
• Emburse Tallie, a mobile and online expense management tool that automates every step of the expense management process for employees and approvers alike.