GIPS week ... kind of

Four of us from our company (Chris Spaulding, Jed Schneider, and Steve Sobhi are joining me) are in beautiful Boston for the annual GIPS(R) conference. As we have for roughly the past 15 years, we are sponsoring this event. I didn't attend last year, and was told that I was missed, so I have returned!

I don't know if I'll report on much, but if something significant occurs, I will.

A question came up today (pre-conference) that I thought was interesting, though: must a compliant firm provide a composite presentation to an existing client?

There are two cases where I think this would apply (oh, and "yes" is the answer):

1. If the client asks for it. Would you REALLY consider denying such a request? That wasn't difficult, right?
2. If the client assumes the role of a prospect. By this I mean if an existing client is interested in another strategy the manager offers. For example, if the manager handles large cap growth, and the client is interested in considering the manager to handle their mid cap growth sector. The client is really now a prospect, at least for this new strategy, and therefore is entitled to the same treatment as any other prospect, and the manager is obligated to provide them with the materials they would for any other prospect.

How hard is that?

I actually think that the changes made to the 2010 version, where the definition of  client was broadened, may have added some confusion; unintentional, of course. I guess you could ask "When is a client not a client? When he/she is a prospect."

Make sense?