History of the GIPS Standards

The GIPS Standards were created to make it easier to compare different investment management firms. Without a standard, different firms would select the method which would make their performance look better. Firms comply with the GIPS® Standards to fulfill their ethical duty to fully disclose and fairly present performance, advance fair competitive practices within the industry, and respond to the demands of prospective clients and investors.

The forerunner of the Global Investment Performance Standards was the Association for Investment Management and Research–Performance Presentation Standards (AIMR–PPS). Created in 1987, this was a set of voluntary performance guidelines for investment management firms in the United States and Canada.

AIMR (Association for Investment Management and Research) was founded in 1990, when the Financial Analysts Federation merged with the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, which then became the CFA Institute.

In 1993, the first edition of the AIMR-PPS standards was published.

1995, the CFA Institute, formerly known as the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR), sponsored and funded the Global Investment Performance Standards Committee to develop global standards for calculating and presenting investment performance, based on the existing AIMR Performance Presentation Standards (AIMR-PPS®).

In 1997, the 2nd version of the AIMR-PPS standards was issued.

In April, 1999 the 1st GIPS Standards were published.

Due to the local regulation some countries had, some had additional requirements over and above those set forth in the first GIPS Standards.  In these cases, 'country versions' of the standards existed.  Meaning, the country would adopt the GIPS Standards as their core standards, then would supplement them with the additional provisions to meet their local requirements.  If there were differences, the local sponsor organization was required to provide a transition plan to eliminate the differences over a period of time.

In February, 2005, the 2nd edition of the GIPS Standards were published, of which created a single global standard for investment reporting.  

Any Country Version GIPS-compliant firms were granted 'reciprocity', meaning, for periods prior to 1/1/2006, the CVG history would be compliant for GIPS purposes.

In January 2010, the 3rd edition of the GIPS Standards were published and become effective 1/1/2011.

Any return information that applies to data beyond 2005, or presentations update after that time frame, time should not have 'AIMR-PPS' stated on it.

In June 2019, the GIPS 2020 Standards were published, with an effective date of January 1st, 2020.

The latest release marks an important milestone in the evolution of the GIPS Standards to ensure their relevance for all investment managers and asset owners. 

The GIPS Executive Committee and Technical Committee have authority to create subcommittees to facilitate the involvement of all country sponsors and key stakeholders in the ongoing development and promotion of the Standards. Click Here to learn more about the inner workings of the GIPS governing bodies.

*Information is created from a variety/multiple sources of CFA Institute materials.