# GIPS

*Professional & Ethics — Finicade finance glossary*

GIPS (Global Investment Performance Standards) is the voluntary rulebook for reporting investment returns honestly and comparably. It exists because track records are trivially easy to flatter: show only the funds that survived, start the chart at the bottom, quote gross of fees. GIPS forces a firm to include every portfolio in a composite, use time-weighted returns, and disclose the method — so two managers' numbers mean the same thing. Compliance is optional, but institutional investors increasingly treat it as the price of entry.

**Also known as:** composites, fair-representation

**Related terms:** [Code of Ethics](https://finicade.com/glossary/code-of-ethics), [Fiduciary Duty](https://finicade.com/glossary/fiduciary-duty), [Holding-Period Return](https://finicade.com/glossary/holding-period-return)

**Taught in:** Charter Climb — GIPS & Applying the Code

Source: https://finicade.com/glossary/gips